Calgary shines bright in Shadow Protection Areas

Did you know Calgary has shadow protection areas?

Stephen Avenue Mall, Olympic Plaza, and Century Gardens are just a few place protected from the shadows of potential future developments.

“They’re in places where we know there’s going to be a lot of Calgarians coming together to experience things like festivals or even just a day out with the family,” said Lisa Kan, the leader of the land use bylaw team. “They’re always used in situations where we want to protect that area for more sunlight for folks to enjoy that area.”

She says new developments in specific areas have to undergo a shadow study to submit with their initial application.

The rules have been in place since before 1980, and predominantly affect areas downtown.

“A lot of our rules in the downtown allow for really tall buildings and if you look at Stephen Ave, for example, a lot of them are quite lower than what the maximum is,” Kan explained. “So we want to make sure that anything new going in doesn’t provide a bigger shadow than what’s already there.”

While they seek to protect popular gathering areas, there are also ecological concerns when it comes to the Bow River.

“One of the things for the Bow River Pathway is obviously that ecological component of it with fish and wildlife and everything. Our Bow River is a wildlife corridor so we want to make sure that we’re giving as much sunlight to that area as possible,” said Kan.