‘Heart-wrenching’: Former Eau Claire resident reflects on losing home to undetermined Green Line

River Run condos in Eau Claire are getting demolished while the future of the Green Line still remains unclear. Margot Rubin reports.

By Margot Rubin and News Staff

A former resident of Calgary’s Eau Claire neighbourhood is reflecting on losing his community as his former home gets torn down to make way for a transit project that may never become reality.

The demolition work on the River Run town houses that sit between the Bow River Pathway and the former Eau Claire market began on Thursday.

The homes were originally being torn down to make way for a Green Line LRT that was expected to include a station at Eau Claire. But, Calgary City Council voted to wind down the Green Line project in the fall after the province said it would pull its $1.53 billion in funding.

The province recommitted the money weeks later pending an agreement on a realignment of the transit line. That newly proposed realignment currently excludes Eau Claire.

A former owner of one of the River Run units says its hard to watch the demolition.

“It’s just heart-wrenching,” says Patrick Lindsay. “I knew everyone in all the units. We will never have that again.”

Lindsay says he was always skeptical of the city’s intentions.

“I don’t think it was necessary,” he says. “I just think they wanted to because they are comfortable with putting homes into the landfill to make something shiny and new.”

Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek said Thursday there are still ongoing conversations about the Green Line running through Eau Claire one day.

“We continue to be engaged with the provincial partners and we have had a working group meeting that was quite productive,” she says. “We continue to move forward to figure out how we can get the Green Line moving, and what that alignment will look like.”

While the future of Eau Claire remains unclear, the demolition work in the area is expected to be completed by February.

A report on the new Green Line LRT alignment was made public in December and included some renderings on what parts of the transit line could look like.

The province contracted AECOM in July to come up with an alternative route for the Green Line through downtown. The new proposal has 12 stops running from 7 Avenue SW downtown to Shepard station in the southeast — including an elevated track through downtown.

Calgary city council has said the new proposal does not include costs on financial and legal risks that, according to the city, would take the project over budget.

The full report from AECOM can be found here.

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