City of Calgary may close a street to build a parking lot for a church

Congestion around a northwest park and ride lot has the City of Calgary looking at building a parking lot on an underused road to help out a nearby church.

Under the terms of a 2006 agreement, the city is obligated to provide Journey Church with 175 parking spaces.

The parking agreement was part of the deal the city reached when it bought church land in 2001 for the future development of a park and ride lot in Rocky Ridge, next to the Tuscany LRT station.

The city allows churchgoers to use the park and ride lot. The lot contains 292 parking spots in total, including reserve and scramble parking spaces.

The arrangement works fine on Sundays but on weekdays, it's a different story.

Lot often full

Marcia Andreychuk, a planner with the city's real estate and development services, said before the pandemic, growing demands for the parking spots meant it has become tougher for church guests to find a place to park.

"They don't have access to the park and ride as the lot is often full," she said.

So the city is proposing to fulfil its parking obligation by closing the 60-metre stretch of 104th Street N.W. and converting it into a 25 stall parking lot.

It would do the work and then designate the parking for churchgoers, seven days a week.

Andreychuk said although the unpaved dead end road has no municipal purpose, the city would still retain ownership.

"There will be an agreement, like a lease or a license of occupation [for the church]. It will be on a nominal basis as opposed to a market rate," said Andreychuk.

Typically such lease arrangements involve the party to an agreement paying the city $1 or $10 a year.

She said the parking arrangement will be permanent.

Other options considered

Other options were looked at. She said the city considered building a parkade at the park and ride lot, putting in angled parking on Eamon Road and acquiring land to expand the park and ride lot.

In the end, both parties agreed to go with closing the road and putting in a parking lot there for the church's exclusive use.

The pastor at the Journey Church did not return calls from CBC News about the situation.

There is one neighbouring property owner who uses 104th Street to drive onto their land.

Andreychuk said the city will be providing vehicle access to that property through the proposed parking lot.

It is believed the city will spend a few hundred thousand dollars to develop the new lot for the church.

The Calgary Planning Commission has approved the land use change for the road.

City council will discuss the road closure and arrangement at a meeting in late July.

If it's approved, this would be the second recent parking lot paid for by the city for others to use.

Stampede parking lot

Earlier this year, the city built a new parking lot on land owned by Remington Development Corporation on 11th Avenue S.E.

That lot, worth $1.5 million, will be used by the Calgary Stampede.

The arrangement was part of the city's agreement with the owners of the Calgary Flames and the Stampede to build a new downtown arena in Victoria Park.

The city acquired the land for the arena from the Stampede.