CALGARY — The Marda Loop commercial and business district in Calgary’s southwest community of Altadore made headlines last year for all the wrong reasons.
The area was under construction for two years, which according to the city was “to create a space attracting visitors and prioritize pedestrian experiences.”
It did anything but, as road closures kept traffic snarled, parking was non-existent, and shoppers gave up trying to get to the shops and services, a number of which closed forever or relocated.
At the same time, parts of the Stephen Avenue Mall downtown were closed for construction, interfering with businesses there, and now there are fears the same could happen to businesses near the Bearspaw South Feeder Main repairs.
To counteract interruptions there, Calgary’s Infrastructure and Planning Committee (IPC) approved a report from city administration called the Business-Friendly Construction Policy.
The policy “clarifies what Calgarians can expect from city-led construction projects,” and sets clear objectives guiding how aspects such as customer access are considered when construction projects are planned and put into action.
The city introduced a policy in 2024, named the Main Streets Business Support Grant, that provided a one-time grant to support businesses in Marda Loop, but the report tabled by administration said the program didn’t achieve its stated goal, despite more than $1.3 million doled out over the course of the program.
“Most businesses (71%) self-reported using funds for general operating costs, while one-third used funds for intended business-led initiatives,” read the report.
Of the new policy, administration said “there is reputational risk it could create an unrealistic expectation that construction impacts can be fully avoided given construction inherently being disruptive.”
Such policies work in other cities which could become a blueprint for Calgary’s proposed policy, said Kayode Southwood, with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, who presented at IPC Wednesday.
“We’re really hoping the city will take a hard look at municipalities like Montreal and Quebec City,” said Southwood. “They have a construction mitigation program that looks at how much loss a business is experiencing and it scales the funding support based on that.”
“Business owners want to see better communication with the city through business liaisons, and they also want customers to be able to access their stores better because that will ultimately allow them to retain some of the revenue lost.”
Outside council chambers, Ward 13 Cllr. Dan McLean agreed that better communications are required.
“It’s a little reactive,” said McLean. “We should have been proactive. We need a one-dig policy. We’ve always talked about that. There’s nothing more frustrating than having a road ripped up, paved down and then ripped up again.”
Mayor Jeromy Farkas concurred.
“In recent years, we’ve seen many projects that haven’t seen the level of coordination that local Calgarians and business owners should expect,” said Farkas. “We want to say if there’s a certain timeline, we can be held to that timeline.”
Administration’s report will be forwarded to a regular meeting of council for further consideration.
