Quote:
Originally Posted by timun
I do agree it's kinda gross, but you need to own up to the fact you're the one who said "I'm on the CA board (and thus know the people involved), and they're a small minority of wealthy white NIMBYs" in the first place. If you don't want to talk about 'em don't bring 'em up, and especially don't bring 'em up just to trash 'em.
As I wrote before, I think City administration stepping in to help summarily toss aside a restrictive covenant—to in effect get involved in civil property rights dispute—is a precedent that will lead to unintended consequences. There are places all over the city that have restrictive covenants for a variety of reasons. I think not only of the area I highlighted in Mount Royal that, to me, very obviously received special treatment in a complete about-face of the way the issue in Banff Trail has been treated. Pretty much any neighbourhood built in the last 25 years has restrictive covenants, setting out everything from lot coverage and set backs to utility rights-of-way and park spaces. Nearer to my house I think of River Park, which was private land donated by Eric Harvie to the City of Calgary on the condition that it remain a park; when is a politically-connected, financially-motivated developer going to challenge that restrictive covenant and do whatever the #### they want with a space that was set aside as a public "good"?
"Let's just do it and stop asking" is a super-dangerous and frankly irresponsible way of thinking about development. Part of me thinks "screw it, forget land use bylaws: let 'er buck!" And then we'd find out how people really feel about development in their proverbial back yards...
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I don't want to talk about the people involved anymore because I have nothing good to say about them. As Fighting Banana Slug says, there is a specific situation in Banff Trail that needs to be addressed and it is not a slippery slope to rampant over-development. It is not the same as a park in your area being developed into condos. I think it is irresponsible that the city is letting this small group of people slow down progress that needs to happen because they don't want the development to be in their (and my) backyard, even if that means replacing a meth lab with a safe place for people to live.