Council OK's housing project on site of former Viscount Bennett School

Calgary city council has agreed to move forward with plans to build eight residential buildings on the site of the former Viscount Bennett School, after a lengthy public hearing on Tuesday.

The developer, Minto Group, applied to rezone the space to accommodate 1,231 to 1,509 housing units across eight buildings. The plan includes three 16-storey towers.

Council voted 9-5 in favour of the land use redesignation application for the 4.6-hectare lot along Richmond Road and Crowchild Trail S.W.

"This is exactly the place that we need to put this, in terms of meshing with other core city priorities and the way that our system is built to operate," said Ward 12 Coun. Evan Spencer, who voted to support the project.

The site is "steps" away from a bus rapid transit stop on Crowchild Trail and a primary bike pathway, the Minto Group says.

Some residents say development plans are too dense

At the city council meeting, more than a dozen Calgarians spoke out against the project, dubbed "2501 Richmond."

"The Viscount Bennett site offers an opportunity for smart, sustainable growth. But the Minto proposal is not it," said Richmond resident Marnie Evans. 

"The density is too high, the green space too low, infrastructure analysis incomplete and the community has not been heard. This is not the way we should be building Calgary's future."

Speakers also expressed concern over the potential traffic impacts of the redevelopment project.

The Richmond Knobhill Community Association published its own redevelopment plan in January, based on community feedback gathered at an open house. It recommended building a maximum of around 400 units on the site. The proposal also called for maintaining four acres of green space. 

Meanwhile, Minto Group said it went above and beyond with community outreach.

"What we did is we went beyond meeting the typical expectations for private developments and land use applications in terms of the depth of transparency, in terms of information sharing," said Martha McClary, who worked with Minto Group on the project. 

Coun. Andre Chabot was among those who voted in opposition, citing some of the concerns raised by residents.

"There will be a greater and greater demand for green space, and trying to buy it in the future will be impossible," said the Ward 10 representative.

The development company has significantly scaled back from its original plans for 2501 Richmond. In 2023, it proposed building more than 2,500 units on the site and buildings up to 30 storeys tall. According to a written statement from Minto, it made those changes "based on community feedback" and evaluated the proposal against multiple existing city policies.

Minto purchased the land from the Calgary Board of Education in 2023. The school building was shuttered by the CBE in 2018.

Minto Group's next step is to apply for a development permit.