Calgary commercial real estate and business advocacy groups are seeking to block the province’s requirement to elevate the downtown section of the Green Line.

But their quest potentially became more difficult late Tuesday night after city council approved the provincial government’s revised route for the future LRT line. Despite the approval, the downtown alignment’s design remains to be finalized.

The local BOMA and NAIOP Chapters, the Calgary Construction Association (CCA) and the Calgary Downtown Association called the elevated-track plan “reckless” in a letter to Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen, according to multiple reports. Connect CRE has not obtained access to the letter.

The province’s route revision, which eliminates city-approved downtown tunnelling, has been met with skepticism from CRE industry leaders.

“The province’s new plan for the Green Line is leading to a sense of rushing,” CCA President Bill Black told CBC. “Too many question marks are still there.”

Black added that “the routing of the elevated line will have a significant impact on the look, feel and operability of downtown.”

A months-long dispute between the city and province over the entire 46-kilometre route’s design and cost has left many proposed CRE projects in the lurch. Some projects are already underway in areas where station projects previously approved by the city have been scuttled due to the province’s revisions.

The four groups’ concerns about the elevated section include soundproofing, assessment values, building safety, and potential tenant loss downtown, according to the reports.

“We don’t know how vibration, noise, privacy will be mitigated. We don’t have the impact of shadowing,” BOMA Calgary Executive-Director Lloyd Suchet told CBC. “An elevated train line is not conducive to street-level activity.

“And so, we have serious concerns of how this will impact those businesses and residents along the route as well as the safety issues this type of infrastructure could create, particularly the shadowing and at night.”

Guy Huntingford, NAIOP Calgary’s strategic initiatives director, told CBC that the elevated-tracks plan fails to answer his set of questions.

“We want to make sure that [the Green Line is] something that the city of Calgary can be proud of, and so above ground just doesn’t cut it,” he told CBC. “The biggest issues are assessment and market values. Have those been considered? Those (buildings’ landlords) pay a great amount of property taxes. What’s going to happen to that and to the city budgets?”

The Green Line is slated to be constructed from Shepard in the southeast to a grand central station in the Victoria Park area near the future Scotia Place arena and event centre. However, the province’s mandated elevated downtown section remains subject to further public consultation and study.

The route plan, as it stands now, still requires final provincial approval. If it’s granted, construction could begin along the line’s southeast stretch this year, Postmedia reported. Functional, in other words detailed, planning of the downtown section is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.

The city said in a news release that it will begin work immediately on the functional plan.

During Tuesday night’s council meeting, Mayor Jyoti Gondek and councillors Courtney Walcott, Jasmine Mian, Kourtney Penner, Raj Dhaliwal and Jennifer Wyness generally dissented on a series of votes leading up to the approval, Postmedia reported. There was minimal celebration afterward, according Postmedia.

Also, the city’s news release on the approval was much less effusive than those that announce major project approvals.

Mayor Gondek told reporters that the city’s previously conducted research shows that an elevated downtown section “doesn’t work.”

As Connect and other media outlets previously reported, the province’s revised route is expected to cost at least another $1.3 billion on top of the agreed $6.2-billion price tag.

The provincial government has threatened to pull its $1.5-billion funding commitment if the proposed elevated section is not part of the final design.

“We’re being held hostage on our own project,” Mian said during the council meeting.

“I will not be seeking re-election in October, and this decision is the last straw for me.”

But Coun. Evan Spencer supported council’s approval, stating that construction needs to begin, Postmedia reported.

David Duckworth, the city’s chief administrative officer, also welcomed council’s move.

“The Green Line is a critical piece of transportation infrastructure and an investment in Canada’s fastest-growing city,” he said in the city’s news release. “Today’s decision helps us plan and build for Calgary’s best future.” 

Rendering: AECON