City officials break ground at 15,000 square foot library in Sage Hill

City and Calgary Public Library officials broke ground at the Symons Valley Centre Library in the northwest community of Sage Hill on Wednesday afternoon.

Construction on Phase Two of the project is underway which will see a 15,000 square-foot library, multi-modal street, underground parking facilities, and outdoor community space.

This project speaks to the biggest opportunities and responsibilities that Calgary has as it approaches two million residents, said Mayor Jeromy Farkas

Your weekday lunchtime roundup of curated links, news highlights, analysis and features.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

“That’s something that the northwest knows well, especially communities like Sage Hill, Nolan Hill, Evanston, Kincora, Sherwood, all of these areas have welcomed thousands of new neighbors and families in the recent months and years,” Farkas said. “And that’s really exciting because what it means is that people right now at this moment in time are choosing Calgary.”

But growth comes with a responsibility and Calgary needs to ensure that city infrastructure is growing in tandem with the population, he said.

“The Symons Valley Centre is being developed on seven acres of city-owned land with $43 million of investment in these first phases, and its heart will be a new permanent library serving northwest Calgary,” Farkas said. “But this project is more than a building. We’re building a community commons and a green space, a new main street that will make it easier to move around and access the site, and we’re preparing this land for future housing, mixed use development, and eventually better transit connections.”

Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness thanks the community for their patience and advocacy for the project after four years of work since getting elected in 2021.

Building the amenities needed for her constituents remains a challenge, she said.

“The unfortunate truth is I am building out and up at the same time,” Wyness said. “You see that we’re surrounded by five to 15 story (buildings) across the street, there’s 34 more towers coming in, and so we just don’t have the services. I do not have the transit, (or) the libraries, to meet the growth of people choosing to live in the suburbs. Building a library like this allows us to show that we have not forgotten about where people are choosing to live.”

Demand for the space is reflected by the high usage of the temporary library in Sage Hill Crossing, said Calgary Public Library CEO Sarah Meilleur.

The space was opened in 2017, but only as a way to fill the gaps until the new space opens in two years.

“This library and the users of this library circulated over 180,000 books last year,” Meilleur said. “This is a community of readers. When we come, when we host story times, the entire library gets to participate in story time, and it’s hard for people to find seats (…) and space that they need because it’s just too small. We’re so excited for the new 15,000 square foot Symons Valley Library.”