Council approves plans for former Midfield Mobile Home Park

The area is highly desirable inner-city land close to schools, parks and amenities

Article content

City council took a look Monday at the development planned where the Midfield Mobile Home Park once stood.

The area, which will be called Midfield Heights, is planned to have a mix of homes and businesses, including some non-market housing to offer some more affordable options.

There were 183 lots on the former city-owned mobile home park along 16th Avenue N.E., but the city moved to close it in 2014 to fix aging sewer and water pipes. All the residents were made to leave in the years that followed, and the last home was demolished in 2018.

At the time, residents were offered $10,000 to leave and a maximum of $10,000 toward the cost of moving their mobile home, but for many, it wasn’t that simple. Some couldn’t find new parks that had room for them, so they had to look at other options. They largely ended up scattered across other parts of Calgary, or they moved away entirely.

Article content

The area is highly desirable inner-city land close to schools, parks and amenities.

New plans are intended to include an estimated 1,060 residential units, a public park and services close to the MAX Orange line. There are also plans to include a nod to the former municipal airport in the area by naming the streets after clouds: cirrus, stratus and nimbus.

Council approved the land-use change to allow the development Monday, and Mayor Naheed Nenshi said there isn’t a set timeline for development yet, but it could happen quickly.

“I said when we closed Midfield that obviously, that land would be redeveloped some day, but we weren’t in a rush,” he said.

“Now, a lot of people have been thinking hard about how can we create a real jewel of a community on the former site of that mobile home park, how can we make sure there’s still good affordable housing there — and that’s what council approved today.”

masmith@postmedia.com

Twitter: @meksmith