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Quarry Park is a mixed-use community in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. For 50 years it was a gravel extraction site in the southeast quadrant of the city, surrounded by residential communities but used solely for industrial gravel production. In 2005, the land was purchased by a local development corporation and evolved into the community that it is today. With over 400 acres of community land, Quarry Park is now home to a market, a variety of residential developments, riverside green space and corporate office buildings including Imperial Oil [1] and Remington Development Corporation. [2]
Throughout Calgary, nearly 800 kilometers of pathways connect citizens to the natural landscape of the city. [3] Over 10 kilometres of paved paths run throughout the community of Quarry Park allowing residents to cycle, run, walk, rollerblade and simply enjoy the abundant green space found throughout the community. Punctuating the development's focus on natural spaces is a 50-acre environmental reserve connected to the community and Calgary's renowned pathway system.
Due to its location in southeast Calgary, Quarry Park contributes to the increasing number of reverse commuters traveling from the downtown core to suburban locales for daily work. While the majority of traffic flows into downtown on any given morning, the abundance of major corporations in Quarry Park bring commuters to a different area of the city, decreasing congestion along the standard traffic routes. Reverse commuters often face fewer traffic problems than standard commuters, and encounter less congestion on public transportation. [4]
Built on the banks of the Bow River, Quarry Park has been designed based on many flood mitigation strategies to ensure the community does not face devastation at the hands of flooding. The Bow River flooded in the spring of 2013, causing major damage to many areas in Calgary and its surrounding communities. [5] Quarry Park, despite being located in an evacuation zone, remained completely dry. [6]
The engineers of Quarry Park studied polders extensively, which are low-lying areas near water and often found in the Netherlands and other seaside countries. [7] Based on the engineering of polders, [8] Quarry Park was built with an insulated, reinforced riprap berm designed to withstand a one-in-100 year flood event. Other precautions were also taken including a stormwater lift station to discharge rainwater into the Bow River, and overland canals to divert and filter water. [9]
Since inception, Quarry Park has been making an environmental impact and statement with many important accomplishments. An example of this is the use of recycled materials in Quarry Park construction such as demolished and crushed asphalt, or concrete and aggregate from roads, parking lots and buildings. Quarry Park West, an office building home to TD Canada Trust Commercial Banking, is a LEED Gold Certified building and boasts a green roof. All Quarry Park buildings currently under construction are being constructed to LEED standards. Quarry Park employs an innovative process for stormwater management including a linear pond and creek system that transports and cleans water before it flows back into the Bow River.
A storm drain, storm sewer, surface water drain/sewer, or stormwater drain is infrastructure designed to drain excess rain and ground water from impervious surfaces such as paved streets, car parks, parking lots, footpaths, sidewalks, and roofs. Storm drains vary in design from small residential dry wells to large municipal systems.
Kananaskis Country is a multiple use area west of Calgary, Alberta, Canada in the foothills and front ranges of the Canadian Rockies. The area is named for the Kananaskis River, which was named by John Palliser in 1858 after a Cree acquaintance. Covering an area of approximately 4,000 km2 (1,500 sq mi), Kananaskis Country was formed by the Alberta Government in 1978 to provide an assortment of land uses and designations including resource extraction, recreation, power generation, residential communities, public land, and protected areas.
Permeable paving surfaces are made of either a porous material that enables stormwater to flow through it or nonporous blocks spaced so that water can flow between the gaps. Permeable paving can also include a variety of surfacing techniques for roads, parking lots, and pedestrian walkways. Permeable pavement surfaces may be composed of; pervious concrete, porous asphalt, paving stones, or interlocking pavers. Unlike traditional impervious paving materials such as concrete and asphalt, permeable paving systems allow stormwater to percolate and infiltrate through the pavement and into the aggregate layers and/or soil below. In addition to reducing surface runoff, permeable paving systems can trap suspended solids, thereby filtering pollutants from stormwater.
The Bow River is a river in Alberta, Canada. It begins within the Canadian Rocky Mountains and winds through the Alberta foothills onto the prairies, where it meets the Oldman River, the two then forming the South Saskatchewan River. These waters ultimately flow through the Nelson River into Hudson Bay. The Bow River runs through the city of Calgary, taking in the Elbow River at the historic site of Fort Calgary near downtown. The Bow River pathway, developed along the river's banks, is considered a part of Calgary's self-image.
The Glenmore Reservoir is a large reservoir on the Elbow River in the southwest quadrant of Calgary, Alberta. It is controlled by the Glenmore Dam, a concrete gravity dam on the Elbow River. The Glenmore Reservoir is a primary source of drinking water to the city of Calgary. Built in 1932, with a cost of $3.8 million, the dam controls the downstream flow of the Elbow River, thus allowing the city to develop property near the river's banks with less risk of flooding.
Nose Hill Park is a natural park in the northwest quadrant of Calgary, Alberta which covers over 11 km2 (4.2 sq mi). It is the fourth-largest urban park in Canada, and one of the largest urban parks in North America. It is a municipal park, unlike Fish Creek, which is a provincial park. It was created in 1980.
The Elbow River is a river in southern Alberta, Canada. It flows from the Canadian Rockies to the city of Calgary, where it merges into the Bow River.
Downtown Calgary is a dense urban district in central Calgary, Alberta. It contains the second largest concentration of head offices in Canada, despite only being the country's fourth largest city in terms of population. The downtown is divided into several residential, commercial, corporate, and mixed-use neighbourhoods, including the Financial District (CBD), Eau Claire, Chinatown, East Village, Beltline, and the West End.
Parkdale is a mature, inner city neighbourhood in the city of Calgary, Alberta along the north bank of the Bow River between the communities of West Hillhurst and Point McKay. It is bounded on the south by the Bow River, 28 St NW to the east, Shaganappi Trail NW to the west and on the north by 16th Avenue. Parkdale is in close proximity to both the Foothills Medical Centre and the Alberta Children's Hospital constructed in 2006, as well as the University of Calgary. Memorial Drive provides access to downtown Calgary and to Highway 1 which leads to the Rocky Mountains. Parkdale was annexed to the City of Calgary in 1910 when Calgary began to experience a "major economic and building boom." The boom ended in 1913 and further development of the Parkdale Addition as it was called, was halted because of World War I. Following World War II in the 1950s the dominant housing type that characterized Parkdale, was the bungalow. By 2014 Parkdale, like other inner city communities in Calgary, was experiencing gradual gentrification with small cottage-style bungalows being replaced by spacious flat roofed, Prairie School Frank Lloyd Wright inspired infills attracting young families with children away from the long commute suburbs to inner city ease of access to downtown, transit and work.
Sunnyside is an innercity community in Calgary, Alberta located on the north side of the Bow River immediately adjacent to Calgary's downtown. The community partners with the neighbouring community of Hillhurst to form the Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Association. The combined communities have an area redevelopment plan in place, revised in 2009.
Varsity is an established neighbourhood in the Northwest quadrant of Calgary, Alberta. It was developed in the 1960s and early 1970s on a plateau to the north of the Bow River valley, and is primarily composed of Single-detached dwellings on wide lots. The neighbourhood comprises three major areas: Varsity Acres, Varsity Village, and Varsity Estates. Varsity is bounded on the north and east by Crowchild Trail, on the west by the Bow River, and on the south by 32nd Avenue NW. It borders the neighbourhoods of Silver Springs and Bowness on the west side, and both Montgomery and the University of Calgary campus on the south side. The easternmost portion of Varsity contains the University of Calgary Research Park.
Bridgeland-Riverside, formerly known as Bridgeland and Germantown, is a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is located northeast of Downtown Calgary. It is bounded to the south by the Bow River, to the east by Deerfoot Trail, to the west by Edmonton Trail and to the north by the community of Renfrew.
Prince's Island Park is an urban park in the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is developed on an island on the Bow River, immediately north of downtown Calgary.
Bowness Park is a 30-hectare (74-acre) urban park on the Bow River in Bowness, a neighbourhood in the northwest quadrant of the City of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is popular in the summer for picnics and boating, and in winter for ice skating on the lagoon and the canal which feeds it.
Downtown East Village more commonly known as simply East Village, is a mixed-use neighbourhood within the eastern portions of downtown Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is contained within the city's Rivers District. Containing the earliest-settled land in the Calgary area - Fort Calgary - East Village was for years a mixture of high-rise residential, commercial, and industrial development. Much of the parkland currently surrounding Fort Calgary was industrial as recently as the 1960s. Construction of the city's light rail transit Blue Line, coupled with the closure of 8th Avenue at Macleod Trail in the early 1980s by construction of the massive Calgary Municipal Building, resulted in East Village being "cut off," figuratively speaking, from the rest of downtown. As a result, it became home to many rundown properties and vacant lots over the years, and a severe crime problem.
John Dale Hodges is a municipal level politician in Calgary, Alberta, Canada who served as Calgary City Council Ward 1 Alderman for thirty years—from 1983 until his retirement in 2013. The east Bowmont Park was renamed the Dale Hodges Park in recognition of his many contributions to the city as "Calgary’s longest-serving member of council" including his role in protecting and creating parks such as east Bowmont Park, Nose Hill Park, and Baker Park and the establishment of the Enmax Legacy Parks Program.
In the days leading up to June 19, 2013, parts of southern and central Alberta, Canada experienced heavy rainfall that triggered catastrophic flooding described by the provincial government as the worst in Alberta's history. Areas along the Bow, Elbow, Highwood, Red Deer, Sheep, Little Bow, and South Saskatchewan rivers and their tributaries were particularly affected. A total of 32 states of local emergency were declared and 28 emergency operations centres were activated as water levels rose and numerous communities were placed under evacuation orders.
Brookfield Place is a skyscraper located in downtown Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The complex is home to Brookfield Place East, a 56-storey 247 m (810 ft) office tower, which upon its completion in 2017, became the tallest building in Calgary, exceeding The Bow.
Bowmont Park or Bowmont Natural Environment Park is a 192 hectares urban park on the northern bank of the Bow River in the northwest of the city of Calgary in the communities of Bowness and Montgomery. 'Bowmont' is a combination of their names. The Park was created in the 1980s. The escarpment formed by the Glacial Lake Calgary, runs the length of the park. Both Silver Springs and Varsity communities are perched at the top of the escarpment overlooking the Bow River and are access points to the Park. Bordering the northern banks of the Bow River, the park is includes "grasslands, gullies, valleys, a waterfall with a lookout, off-leash dog-walking areas, hiking, walking and cycling trails, access to the river for swimming and fishing, and more. The most recent expansion of Bowmont Park, Dale Hodges Park which was opened to the public in June 2019, includes innovative public art in the form of sculpted land structures that treat stormwater before it enters the Bow River through the outfall.
Dale Hodges Park is a 40.4686 hectares natural environment urban park, stormwater treatment, and public artwork in northwest Calgary, Alberta—an expansion of Bowmont Park— where stormwater from eight northwest upstream residential communities flows slowly through "water structures and landforms" inspired by "natural river morphology as well as hydrologic and sedimentation processes" that serve as filters. The park, which is connected to the regional pathway, has a boardwalk, cycling and walking trails, the Nautilus Pond, a polishing marsh, a wet meadow, man-made streams, vantage points of the Bow River, and wildlife habitat.