Varsity Fire Station redevelopment could make room for affordable housing complex

The City of Calgary is looking at replacing Varsity's 46-year-old fire hall with a new multi-service facility that could include space for affordable housing.

The fire station currently sits on a nearly four-acre plot of land, near schools, a C-Train station, and retail and office space.

"It's a growing community under dynamic change. There's many adjacent developments that are requiring us to consider the needs for fire delivery and we've got a city-owned piece of land that we want to utilize more effectively," said facility planning manager LaurieBoucherat a development information session onWednesday.

"So all of those things come together for a great opportunity."

The new fire station would allow for additional space to service the growing community, support both fire and EMS crews, and have space on site for a waste and recycling hazardous materials drop off.

Currently, the fire station serves 28,300 people, but if Calgary continues to grow at projected rates, it could serve 52,160 by 2043.

The city is also proposing a 48-unit affordable housing complex for the site, operated by the Calgary Housing Company, with surface parking provided.

TeresaGoldstein, manager of affordable housing for the City of Calgary, says the complex would be a mix of one, two and three-bedroom apartments geared towards families.

"By coming into Varsity and coming into this area where there's existing transit, schools and employment areas, large employment areas, we know that this sets up affordable housing for success as well," she said.

Other proposals for the site include child-care services, city workspaces or public/community spaces.

Planning is still in early stages there are no designs yet for what the fire station and affordable housing might look like and the city will be taking feedback between Feb. 2 and 16 on the project's website.

The land use re-designation application will be submitted in spring 2018, and construction is set to begin in 2020.

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