Harvest Hills golf course to close, despite no re-zoning approval from city
Posted Feb 3, 2016 2:29 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Residents in the north end community of Harvest Hills are upset about what many consider the sudden announcement that there will be no golf at their neighbourhood nine-hole course for the upcoming season.
An email sent out by the course’s former operator Monday bore the news that last season was the last season.
Stuart Cantrill chairs a citizen’s group, Calgarians for Responsible Development, against the re-zoning of the land for development by Quantam Place and Cedarglen.
He characterized the closure, with city approval still pending, as presumptious.
“They assume that the city is going to rezone the golf course. They’re still in the application phase at this point, so nothing has been decided by any means,” Cantrill said. “So, they just flat out say that it’s going to be closed for the year. I mean, that’s a busy golf course.”
“We don’t believe that the MDP (Municipal Development Plan) plan from what the city proposed (sic) involoved the cannibalizing, cherry picking and destruction of recreational assets in the city,” Cantril added. “Our cities and communities were designed for a reason, to have that proper lifestyle, balance of green space, recreation and proper densification.”
He added that residents in Harvest Hills were under the impression the course would be open through the approval process between the City of Calgary and the developer, but managing principal Chris Ollenberger with Quantum Place has prepared a detailed response to city concerns to be presented this week.
“We believe that we have addressed all of the City of Calgary’s questions and comments on the application. We will be proceeding forward to Calgary Planning Commission and then subsequently Council sometime this year,” Ollenberger said, indicating it could happen as early as this spring.
The plan calls for 500 multi-family and 200 single-family homes to be built.
Ollenberger told 660 NEWS that they are being as sensitive as they can to the concerns of residents and believes they’ve made good concessions, including landscaping, trees and buffers.
It’s a battle that has been going on for just over a year. Harvest Hills residents have been engaged in a big way with nearly every second lawn featuring a ‘Save Our Golf Course’ sign in hopes that the city will say no to allowing homes to be built on the green space.
Find out more information about the development, here.
