Calgary councillor to bring forth motion on Nose Creek greenbelt

The advocacy of the Save Nose Creek, newly dubbed the Nose Creek Preservation Society after officially being recognized as a society earlier this year, appears to have paid off as Calgary Ward 3 city councillor Jasmine Mian told the group at its AGM on Sunday that she will be introducing a Notice of Motion to start the process of potentially turning the area around Nose Creek into a future green zone.

Save Nose Creek has been asking for the past two years that the City of Calgary, and potentially Rocky View County and Airdrie, considers creating a green corridor extending along the river from south of Calgary all the way through to the city limits in the north with the hopes of one day establishing an inter-urban park.

Mian’s motion states: “Be it resolved that Council directs Administration to develop a Nose Creek Corridor Playbook to guide the creation of a regional park in the Nose Creek Corridor. Administration should report back in Q1 2025 on the status and final strategy by Q1 2026. The Playbook is a framework for future park planning and should incorporate outreach, engagement and produce key findings, proposed focused areas, recommendations, policy recommendations, and an overall comprehensive, cross-corporation strategy to protect, enhance and connect the Nose Creek Corridor.”

Mian’s proposed motion would be introduced to Calgary city council by the end of October, and also included clauses pertaining to active outreach to the City of Airdrie and Rocky View County.

“Council directs Administration to collaborate with Airdrie and Rocky View County to consider this proposal in the development of the Joint Planning Area 1 context study,” it reads in the third action clause. 

Mian said she expected the notice of motion to begin the process which would likely take the next two years to produce the Playbook, and then Administration would start working on an infrastructure and planning strategy to carry out the vision if approved by council. 

She urged Nose Creek Preservation Society members to reach out to City administration and her council colleagues to express support for the plan.

"It would be great to send an email or something like that to say, ‘we really value this,'” she said. “And, of course, anyone wanting to come to the council meeting at the end of October in council chambers … It would be great if you could be there for moral support.”

Mian’s announcement was met with enthusiastic applause from members of the Preservation Society.

Nose Creek Preservation Society president Andrew Yule said seeing his group’s advocacy begin to pay off in this way makes the ongoing effort worthwhile.

“Some days you just feel like you aren’t going anywhere; you are just spinning your wheels,” he said. “And then other days you have the councillor come to you with a Notice of Motion. And so, it has been a wild ride, but we are excited to see where this goes. The fact Coun. Mian wants to put forward this Notice of Motion for a Playbook for Nose Creek is huge.”

Yule said his organization has been knocking on a lot of doors at city hall and at the provincial government level too, but this is the first significant proof, alongside recent concessions won on the plans for the 128th Avenue bridge, the group’s advocacy is getting through to those who have the power to make decisions about the Nose Creek area. 

“It’s what we have been asking for the last two years,” stated Yule “And that is collaboration between development, collaboration between municipalities. It’s starting to see some fruits, and we are excited to see what happens.”

Yule said his group has been raising awareness generally about the increasing encroachment of development in Calgary’s northeast toward Nose Creek, and major transit projects which have the potential to severely disrupt the ecosystem balance in the creek valley.

“We try not to get frustrated, but instead try to get involved, and try to collaborate with these developments, because that’s all we can do.”

Banner year, but more work to do in Rocky View and Airdrie

Yule said 2023-2024 was a banner year for the Nose Creek Preservation Society as it increased its presence, incorporated as a society and broke new ground on gaining donations and members.

Yule said his organization’s goal this year is to reach 100 active members, encourage more donations as it strives for official charitable status, and bring in more volunteers to help run programs and participate in advocacy efforts.

In Airdrie and Rocky View County in particular, Yule said there was more work to do. The Balzac Highway 566 off ramp expansion is of concern for its plan to once again reroute and confine the creek at that point. 

“The Transportation minister said they would look at the ability of being able to have a pathway underneath,” explained Yule. “We were requesting for a nature preserve underneath, but that’s probably not going to happen. But they were going to look into mobility pathways underneath. That’s a small win, but we’ll see what happens.”

And Yule also hoped for renewed discussion between Airdrie, Rocky View and the City of Calgary on a proposed TransCanada Trail link which goes along the Nose Creek valley now that the City of Calgary seems to be ready to start talking about a proposed inter-city greenbelt.

Both Rocky View County and the City of Airdrie tabled cooperation plans to construct the TransCanada Trail last year.