Although rare exceptions prove the rule, Calgary’s newer residential developments have the eye appeal of soiled sweatsocks.

You’ve got your earth tones, ad nauseum.

Larry MacDougal, Business Edge
Mark McCullough of Canada Lands Co. at new affordable housing project.

You’ve got your front-entry double garages, spilling on to streetscapes like bellies over belts.

You’ve got your big stucco boxes. And enough alliterative street names to trigger a goat’s gag reflex.

It’s been a town in desperate need of a fresh residential vision. But who would’ve imagined such a vision would emerge from a (gasp) Crown corporation?

Yet that’s what transpired at Garrison Woods, the ultra-livable “urban village” that sprung from the ashes of CFB Calgary.

The story of Garrison Woods, which has earned every possible award of merit short of the Victoria Cross, is positively dripping with poetic irony.

First, in 1995, the feds grabbed the military base, presumably as punishment for Calgary’s chronic allergy to the Chretien Liberals.

Then, adding insult to injury, they sent in a Crown corporation to skim the maximum profit off the top of 450 luscious acres.

Known as the Canada Lands Company, it was spun from a former real estate subsidiary of CN Rail and came to Calgary with a new mandate and zero track record.

Utter the phrase “Crown corporation” and most local citizens will make a face, like they tasted rancid ratatouille.

Think of Canada Post. Via Rail. The Canada Council. A list like this could give anybody hives.

But watch out for the Canada Lands Company. If these people don’t smarten up, they’ll give Crown corporations a good name.

First thing to specify is, this is a “non-agency” commercial corporation, with no access to federal dollars.

The company also enjoys a Midas touch. Since 1995, CLC has turned back $250 million to the federal government’s consolidated revenue fund.

OK, nothing may replace the base in the hearts and minds of Calgary residents. But at least the feds gave us something valuable in return: a blueprint for living that every commercial land developer should be encouraged to emulate.

Not that the process has been a tiptoe through tulips. A citizens’ planning advisory committee from South Calgary/Altadore had to be convinced that traffic, density and integration issues would be addressed in good conscience.

Early on, the distrust was palpable.

“I’ll be candid. We weren’t terribly well received at first by the civic administration,” conceded Mark McCullough, the company’s GM for Alberta real estate.

“Initially, the city felt it should handle all the planning itself. Other people were unhappy the base had moved to Edmonton. It certainly didn’t get us off to a great start,” he admitted.

But McCullough will also tell you nothing beats walking the talk.

“Once people could see that we could deliver in a timely and orderly way, the community bought in,” McCullough said.

Due credit should go to the core planning team, which included McCullough’s people, senior city planners, architect Dan Jenkins, plus brainstormers from Edmonton-based Stantec Inc. (transportation analysis); Brown and Associates (land use planning); and the IBI Group (marketing, landscape architecture).

Ground was broken on the 160 acres (1,600 housing units, two private schools, plus 12 acres of public parkland) east of Crowchild Trail in the spring of ’98, almost immediately after council crossed the last T on the agreement.

And now that most of the grunt work is complete, a drive – better yet, expend some shoe leather – through the instant neighbourhood brings home an appreciation of intelligent planning in action.

Well-built houses and condos, streets named after Second World War battles, spruce-lined boulevards, pedestrian-friendly thoroughfares, even an interpretive walk allowing strollers to refresh their knowledge of Canada’s military contributions.

Original prices ranged from $120,000 for a modest apartment up to $500,000-plus for a single-family dwelling that backs on to Flanders Park.

McCullough admits the desirability of most neighbourhood properties has already driven up prices. But he says more affordable units - including lofts and nanny suites positioned atop single-dwelling garages – will be worked into the next phase of the CFB Calgary project, poised to gear up on the west side of Crowchild.

This step means fresh challenges, including development of separate sites, north and south of the so-called ATCO lands. Besides, additional land owners are involved, including the city and Mount Royal College.

But a guy who works for a profitable Crown corporation probably thinks anything is possible.

“We are getting a good commercial return,” McCullough nodded. “I never apologize for making a profit. You make a profit, you pay your taxes and you buy civilization. Right?”