Firstly I have no new update, other than this July summary, on the Calgary Parks filing of the Re-designation Application DL2018- 0062 converting the Community’s existing Reserve (S-SPR) Park land bounded by 10th Street and 32nd Avenue into S-CRI (Special Purpose – City and Regional Infrastructure) classification and then the proposed expansion of the Queen’s Park Cemetery (“QPC”) onto these lands. These Reserve Lands are currently being utilized as an Off-Leash Dog Park. The original application was filed March 19. After overwhelming opposition to this application from individuals and the Community Association as well as Alderman Sean Chu, City Parks agreed to “slow down” the process.

Two “drop-in engagement” sessions took place at Highwood Community Hall April 25 and May 9. The comment period for residents was held open till May 25. Calgary Parks, after our recent inquiry, has stated

“When we say the application is on hold no further work will proceed on the land use redesignation until after the report to Council and Council direction in the fall….The report developed by Parks will outline background previous reports, options and alternatives considered, and the remaining capacity of Queen’s Park cemetery and the status of new cemetery development and land acquisition.”

The full text may be found here.

We anticipate that this “report” is in answer to our numerous submissions on the operation of QPC and reflects a continuing desire on the part of Calgary Parks to ultimately proceed with their application. We will await the publishing of this report and respond accordingly.

We are now halfway through summer with our next community events scheduled for September.  First will be the Fall Cleanup allowing disposal of excess materials from summer renovations and garage purges. Following that will be a new event. A fall Family BBQ with a South American cooking theme will highlight a day for residents to gather, party and share summer experiences. A detailed description of planned activities is presented within the newsletter.

A list of currently scheduled fall events at the Community Hall are as follows:

Community Cleanup                Sept. 9

Fall Family BBQ                      Sept. 22

Halloween Party                     Oct. 27

Lego Contest                          Nov. tbd

Please check our website for updates and details of all events. Volunteering for setup, takedown or general assistance is an excellent way to make sure such events continue and to meet other members of the community. Please contact cambrianheights@gmail.com for more information on volunteering.

We continue to be urgently in need of the following part-time volunteer positions:

• Secretary for Board & Annual General Meetings
• Social Activity Organizers
• Planning & Development Committee Members
• Casino Fundraising Organizer 

Job descriptions and experienced past directors are available to guide and ease the transition into community service. For more information please contact president@cambrianheightscommunity.com .

The next meeting of the Board will take place September 10th. All residents are welcome to attend and share any concerns, questions or ideas you may have for our community. These meetings take place at the Georgina Thomson City building on 14th Street and Northmount Drive at 6:30 PM.

Remember Participation Builds Your Community.
Daryl Connolly, President CHCA

The continuing focus of the Community remains the filing of the Re-designation Application DL2018- 0062 converting the Community’s existing Reserve (S-SPR) Park land bounded by 10th Street and 32nd Avenue into S-CRI (Special Purpose – City and Regional Infrastructure) classification and then the proposed expansion of the Queen’s Park Cemetery (“QPC”) onto these lands. These Reserve Lands are currently being utilized as an Off Leash Dog Park. The original application was filed March 19 with responses required by April 13 to City Planning and Development. With an overwhelming opposition to this application from individuals and the Community Association expressed in emails to Planning and Development, City Parks as well as Alderman Sean Chu, City Parks agreed to “slow down” the process.

Two “drop-in engagement” sessions took place at Highwood Community Hall April 25 and May 9. The comment period for residents was held open till May 25. Calgary Parks continued however to disguise this Application as a dog park issue and presented the expansion of the QPC onto the second largest Park Reserve lands within Cambrian Heights as their sole right. They sought in their engagement sessions to address only two issues; alternative off leash dog areas and annotating the application process. No attempt was made to justify the need for QPC expansion and the annexation of this Park forever. The Community Association provided members outside the Hall for both these meetings to answer questions and explain the issues to residents attending the sessions. A photo from the first meeting is shown where the only true engagement with Parks and Planning representatives took place informally in the parking lot.

As pointed out last month this coercive approach to “annexing” these Park Lands is a repeat of Calgary Parks efforts in 2005-6 to expand the QPC into these lands. Details of this history and how the Community Association successfully fought this application may be found on our website (www.cambrianheightscommunity.com). In July 2006 City Council instructed Calgary Parks to not proceed with the acquisition of these lands for QPC expansion but rather to search out lands in the southern part of the City for a new cemetery. That of course was 12 years ago. They have failed to complete that mandate and want our Community to pay the price.

The Community Association continued through May to lobby Calgary Parks to withdraw the Application. Repeatedly Parks officials have quoted inventory within the existing boundaries of QPC to be 2-3 years. That is with the current 2017 practice of selling pre-needs burial sites at twice the rate of at need sites. This artificial “demand” could be easily reduced to extend further the existing life of QPC. This is against the scheduled opening of the City’s new cemetery in south Calgary slated for late 2019. We are apprehensive, since there has been no future plans provided, of a desire by Calgary parks to continue to expand QPC over the years to satisfy the demand for an inner City cemetery at the expense of park lands in our community. At the writing of this letter the Planning department will be making a recommendation to the Calgary Planning Commission (“CPC”) in June/July and the further recommendation of CPC going to City Council in the Fall. At that point Council will allow presentations or submissions by interested parties. We encourage all residents to follow developments closely on our website and by joining our facebook page (Cambrian Heights Community) which may be easily accessed from our website.

On a positive note the first Jane’s Walk held in our Community on May 5 was a resounding success with over 50 attendees with children and dogs walking the neighbourhood. A picture of the attendees leaving the Community Hall is shown. Thanks to organizers Pablo Policzer and Jodi Dixon everyone learned of the community history and met some of the original homeowners within Cambrian Heights dating back to 1956. At the end everyone returned to the Community Hall for refreshments and conversations with new friends.

The Annual general Meeting was held on May 15 with higher attendance than is usually the case. The Park issue discussion plus attendance by Alderman Sean Chu and representation from our MLA Craig Coolahan made it an evening well worth attending. Our presentation and the Community financials have been added to the website for your reference.

A complete list of currently scheduled special events at the Community Hall are as follows:

Community Cleanup Event     Sept. 9

Fall Family BBQ                      Sept. 22

Halloween Party                     Oct. 27

Please check our website for updates and details of all events. Volunteering for setup, takedown or general assistance is an excellent way to make sure such events continue and to meet other members of the community. Please contact cambrianheights@gmail.com for more information on volunteering.

Due to a lack of volunteers we are not holding our Stampede Breakfast in July. It is unfortunate but an undertaking to prepare and feed 200-300 people involves a pre-commitment of residents and we cannot rely on the same few people for all our social programs.

We continue to look for volunteers who may have a specific interest in:

• Secretary for Board & Annual General Meetings
• Social Activity Organizers
• Planning & Development Committee Members
• Casino Fundraising Organizers

All the above have specific job descriptions and experienced past directors who can guide and ease the transition into community service. For more information please contact president@cambrianheightscommunity.com .

The next meeting of the Board will take place September 10th. All residents are welcome to attend and share any concerns, questions or ideas you may have for our community. These meetings take place at the Georgina Thomson City building on 14th Street and Northmount Drive.

Remember Participation Builds Your Community.
Daryl Connolly, President CHCA

The major issue that has arisen in our Community was the filing of the Redesignation Application DL2018- 0062 converting the Community’s existing reserve (S-SPR) park land bounded by 10th Street and 32nd Avenue into S-CRI (Special Purpose – City and Regional Infrastructure) classification and then the proposed expansion of the Queen’s Park Cemetery (“QPC”) onto these lands. These reserve Lands are currently being utilized as an Off-Leash Dog Park. The application was filed March 19 with responses required by April 13 to City Planning and Development (giyan.brenkman@calgary.ca). Further, the City of Calgary Parks announced there would be an “informational session about the cemetery expansion” on May 9 from 6-8 PM at the Highwood Community Hall.

This coercive approach to “annexing” these park lands is a repeat of City Park’s efforts in 2005-6 to expand the QPC into these lands. At that time the Community Association successfully fought this application based on these lands having been part of the Cambrian Heights Community since 1956 and had been assigned Reserve Status as parkland or green space for the community. In combination with the Reserve Status the Community demonstrated that according to the Provincial Municipal Government Act (“PMGA”), the City would have to pay into a special fund the market value of the land estimated at the time of between $6.5 – $9.0 million. Accordingly, in July 2006 City Council instructed City Parks to not proceed with the acquisition of these lands for QPC expansion but rather to search out lands in the southern part of the City for a new cemetery. That, of course, was 12 years ago.

So once again, City Parks is asking to do the same thing and is doing so without proper consultation with the Community involving reasonable timeframes for evaluation and response. With an overwhelming opposition to this application from individuals and the Community Association expressed in emails to Planning and Development, City Parks as well as Alderman Sean Chu (sean.chu@calgary.ca), the City Parks suspended their application on April 6. At the writing of this letter City Parks has indicated they are evaluating the application and will be holding engagement opportunities on the previously announced May 9 date and on possibly April 26. We strongly encourage all residents to attend and make your opinions heard. The City puts significant value on these types of meetings feedback. For updates involving this issue, residents should go to the City website (www.calgary.ca) and search QPC Expansion or LOC2018-0062.

While recognizing the space limitations of QPC all inner-city cemeteries have finite room for expansion. This public cemetery is over 80 years old and has served the City residents well. Now it is reaching capacity and there exists the new cemetery east of the Ralph Klein Park in the south. This is scheduled to be ready for interments by 2020. QPC has ample room to accommodate the next few years especially if bulk sales of “reserved” plots are ceased. Responses from residents copied to the Community Association has been 100% against the loss of this large park space for reasons of active year-round social recreation on the lands, the retention of this park as a Reserve for future generations, the need for inner-city communities of green space and the precedent this may establish for future annexation of the nearby public tennis courts and baseball ball field adjacent to the QPC to cover short-term needs. Once a cemetery, these park lands are forever lost.

I attach a picture of the three children who obtained over 100 names on a petition against the QPC expansion within a week or so of its announcement. Such community spirit is worth applauding. A second online petition gathered over 500 signatures can be found at www.change.org and search Cambrian Heights.

We encourage all residents to follow developments closely on our website and by joining our Facebook Group (Cambrian Heights Community) which may be easily accessed on our website. At the upcoming Annual General Meeting on May 15 at the Community Hall, we will also be updating the status of the City Parks plans and our response.

A complete list of currently scheduled special events at the Community Hall are as follows:

Jane’s Walk May 5
Annual General Meeting May 15
Stampede Breakfast or July 14
alternatively a Fall BBQ September 22 or 29
Community Cleanup Event Sept. 9

Please check our website for updates and details of all events. Volunteering for setup, takedown or general assistance is an excellent way to make sure such events continue and to meet other members of the community. Please contact cambrianheights@gmail.com for more information on volunteering.

We are currently evaluating whether to re-instate our Stampede breakfast that was suspended due to the kitchen renovations last summer. As an alternative, we are investigating the possibility of hosting a family Fall BBQ in September as a replacement. Please voice your opinions by contacting the community at the previously identified email address.

We continue to look for volunteers who may have a specific interest in:

Secretary for Board & Annual General Meetings
Social Activity Organizers
Planning & Development Committee Members
Casino Fund Raising Organizers

All the above have specific job descriptions and experienced past directors who can guide and ease the transition into community service. For more information please contact president@cambrianheightscommunity.com.

The next meeting of the Board will take place May 7th. All residents are welcome to attend and share any concerns, questions or ideas you may have for our community. Please contact us at our email address for the specific time and place.

Remember Participation Builds Better Communities.

Daryl Connolly, President CHCA