Glenmore Landing redevelopment defeated by vote at Calgary council

Calgary city council has defeated a motion to rezone a piece of land in Glenmore Landing to allow for a high-density development in the area.

Council voted 8-6 to defeat the controversial proposal.

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Mayor Jyoti Gondek and Couns. Evan Spencer, Kourtney Penner, Courtney Walcott, Gian-Carlo Carra and Jasmine Mian were all in favour of the rezoning.

Couns. Peter Demong, Dan McLean, Jennifer Wyness, Raj Dhaliwal, Terry Wong, Sean Chu, Sonya Sharp and Andre Chabot all voted against it.

The plan was put forward by RioCan Management, the company that owns the land around the Glenmore Landing shopping centre.

It sought to rezone it to allow for six mixed-use towers to be built in phases over the next 15 years. In the decades that followed, RioCan planned to build nine more.

Several dozen members of the public spoke in council chambers against the idea on Wednesday, saying that they were fighting for their parklands and were opposed to the development that would bring 1,165 residential units to the community.

(Supplied/City of Calgary)

Ahead of the vote, Ward 11 Coun. Penner made an empassioned plea for her colleagues to support the idea.

"What I would hope my colleagues have heard was that this application moves our city toward meeting our goals. What I would have hoped they heard was that I did listen to the residents," she said.

"I may not have agreed with all their assertions and renderings that were inaccurate with all their displays of old shadow studies. I may not have agreed with that, but I responded every single time with information, facts, the process and how to get involved."

Penner said she remains "committed to city building" and "forging paths forward."

"We have heard from Calgarians about where they want development and this is it."