Calgary developers are set to build a new luxury neighbourhood in Ricardo Ranch, one of Calgary’s last remaining wetlands.
Nostalgia Townlet is one of three new neighbourhoods in the area. Jayman Built, the developer of Nostalgia, says it will focus on “well-being, safety, nature, and meaningful connections,”
Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek told Postmedia that the development has “so many components of sustainability, so much capturing of the beauty of nature.”
Nostalgia will also host what Jayman Built claims will be “the most prestigious private social and athletic club in North America.”
Ricardo Ranch is beloved by birders, fly fishers, and outdoor lovers. It’s also home to Calgary’s last heron rookery and is habitat for the bank swallow, a threatened species in Canada.
“A special place in my heart”
Amber Payliss, a nature photographer, has spent countless hours in Ricardo Ranch.
For her, the area is otherworldly.
“As you walk away from the Deerfoot Extension Bridge into Ricardo Ranch, you’re kind of leaving the buzz of the city,” she tells TheRockies.Life.
She speaks of the tall cottonwood trees that line the river’s side channels. Migratory bird species pass through the area on their journeys north and south. The Bow River sometimes produces waves of early morning fog that invade the river banks.
Birds, Beavers, and a Battleground
Payliss is one of dozens who have called on the city and on developers to do more to protect the sensitive wetland in Ricardo Ranch.
The river valley area is a flood zone. The 2013 flood in southern Alberta ate away at the Bow River’s banks. In 2022, the CBC reported that more than 97% of Ricardo Ranch’s three new neighbourhoods are at risk of flooding in the next 25 years, according to the city’s maps.
A video promoting Nostalgia Townlet and posted on social media featured images of Ricardo Ranch in its current natural beauty.
When Payliss reached out to the developer on social media asking them what their plan was to protect the natural area, her comment quickly disappeared.
“They deleted it and they blocked me,” she says.
Others told the same story. Questions such as how the developer planned to protect the heron rookery, and what kind of assessments they’d done to ensure they would keep the natural area intact, were deleted.
Payliss says that for several days, the company deleted comments that weren’t in their interest.
“It fosters distrust and it honestly starts fueling the anger more,” she says.
Following the push back from Calgarians about the deleted posts, the company stated that they will once again allow respectful comments on their social media posts.
Jayman Built did not respond to TheRockies.Life’s request for comment on the matter.
Rookery at risk
The area structure plan for Ricardo Ranch’s development dates back to 2017. When the development passed through city council for approval in 2022, many Calgarians came together to try and fight it.
This grassroots movement called for developers to keep a wildlife corridor along the Bow River. Nathaniel Schmidt was part of the effort.
“There was a provincial policy that recommended a 1,000 meter radius around the [heron] nests because [herons] are quite sensitive to disturbances,” he tells TheRockies.Life.
Those fighting the development primarily wanted to make sure this radius was respected. Herons are territorial birds, and have been known to leave their nests if development gets too close.
However, the developers got permission to dissolve this radius and build within 750 meters of the rookery.
“We need housing, but there certainly needs to be thoughtfulness as far as where we develop and how we develop,” Schmidt says.
“Important conversations to have”
In 2022, city councilors told the CBC it was too late to change the development plans.
“These are important conversations to have,” Ward 12 Councillor Evan Spencer said of the movement against the development proposals. “But blowing it up at the last moment, I have real concerns about that.”
Payliss, however, asserts that “not a lot of people knew what was going on at Ricardo Ranch.” She says the public engagement process kept many Calgarians in the dark about the developer’s plans.
Citizens like Payliss would like to see elected leaders and developers be more transparent about development plans before they are approved by council.
She also wants Calgarians to work together to advocate for the better protection of Calgary’s environmentally sensitive areas.
Benefit versus cost
Schmidt, a former defense lawyer who is now running for Ward 8, says that Alberta’s current housing development model is part of the problem.
“The responsibility of much of the housing that gets built now in Canada is through the market,” he explains.
Whereas even thirty years ago the government took a much more active role in building houses, today developers call the shots.
He says that luxury developments such as Nostalgia Townlet are “the part where [developers] make the most profit that then subsidizes the rest of the development as lower-cost houses.”
Urban sprawl
Those who would like the Nostalgia development plans to be changed have a solution to Calgary’s housing problem: build upwards.
Much of Calgary is suburban. Big homes and big backyards are the norm. But living more closely together helps both people and nature.
Denser living means less time spent commuting, and therefore less money spent on gas. It means living closer to grocery stores and hospitals. When services are closer, people tend to walk more and are therefore healthier.
Denser living also means that more natural areas can stay intact.
Schmidt notes that Calgary has already begun to shift toward higher density housing.
“It’s about continuing on that trajectory, focusing more on the building up side of things.”
