Highland Park golf course condo plan worries some north Calgary residents

People in some north Calgary neighbourhoods are fighting for changes to a proposed condo development on a former golf course.

About 50 people from neighbouring communities gathered on Thursday nightto talk about plans for what used to be theHighland Park golf course.

A Vancouver-based developer wants to build more than 2,000 condo units on the land, which is bordered by Fourth Street N.W. on the west and McKnight Boulevard to the north.

Marvin Quashnick, vice-president of the Thorncliffe-Greenview community association, says he has several concerns.

"Mostly around water. There's amenity space at play. And there's also the issue of how much an inner-city community can absorb in terms of density and construction impacts, that sort of thing," he said.

Elise Bieche, the president of the Highland Park community association, says 530 trees will be lost.

"They're going to try to cover up the natural springs with dirt. And they're going to ram as many people in there as they possibly can," she said.

Bieche says she isn't against developing the area, but she thinks the current proposal is too large.

Ajay Nehru, president of Maple Projects Development, the company that owns the land, says the condos at Highland Village Greenwill improve the area.

"It's very much a community. What we're saying is, is the people that we're likely to attract are people that probably aren't in Highland Park today."

Highland Village Green will include a "vibrant, natural park corridor and a parks system" with approximately 25 per cent of the plan area intended as publicly accessible open space, developers say.

The proposal goes before city council in early July.