Coun. Jasmine Mian said her motion was inspired by the Nose Creek Preservation Society – a group that formed in 2022 with the objective to “save” Nose Creek from negative impacts brought on by the area’s impending industrial development.
Building on the advocacy of a grassroots non-profit society, a north Calgary councillor wants the city to explore the feasibility of establishing a park within the Nose Creek Valley.
Ward 3 Coun. Jasmine Mian will bring forward a notice of motion to next week’s executive committee meeting that directs administration to return to council in 2026 with a Nose Creek Park “strategy” that outlines, among other goals, the possibility of preserving some of the green space surrounding the creek as an inter-urban park.
In addition to the pitch for a public park, Mian’s lengthy notice of motion includes several goals, such as “protecting, connecting and enhancing” Nose Creek’s ecological network of more than 1,300 species, as well as coordinating future capital investments to improve the creek’s water quality, stabilize its slopes, remove invasive species and remediate the creek’s meandering.
It also seeks to protect archeological and culturally significant sites near the creek, including the provincially designated Balzac Site.
The city currently has three area structure plans (ASPs) that will guide continued development near the creek; the Aurora Business Park ASP; the Stoney Industrial ASP just north of Country Hills Boulevard; and an ASP for new communities north of Stoney Trail.
“They (residents) recognize development will happen and I think it’s about preserving the ecology of the area but also ensuring folks can use the area in a way that isn’t destructive to the natural habitat,” said Mian, who attended Nose Creek Preservation Society’s AGM on Sunday.
While she didn’t initially support the idea of bringing a park to the Nose Creek Valley, due to the ASPs’ industrial and commercial focuses, Mian said she changed her mind when the idea emerged of allowing residential areas within the Aurora Business Park.
“It’s looking at more residential instead of industrial, which means that people are going to live in this area,” she said. “If people are going to live here as opposed to just businesses and warehouses, we have to be much more concerted about ensuring we have park space for folks.”
For Andrew Yule, the president and founder of the Nose Creek Preservation Society, the upcoming vote by council is a sign that his group’s two years of lobbying efforts to save the creek are finally starting to pay dividends.
In 2023, the stewards pitched the idea of establishing an inter-urban green belt in the creek valley to better protect wildlife, while also lobbying all three orders of government to consider preserving some areas of the valley as a regional, provincial or national park.
“Our goal has always been to get all the stakeholders at the table and discuss a cohesive plan for Nose Creek. That’s what we’re seeing in Coun. Mian’s notice of motion: a game plan, a strategy, for the Nose Creek Valley that connects some of these projects.”
Mian’s notice of motion will undergo a technical review next Tuesday, meaning councillors will only consider if the motion is legally sound. If it passes the review, the motion will return to council later in October for a more fulsome discussion and vote.