Citizens residing in the houses surrounding the now shutdown Shawnee Slopes golf course in South Calgary are worried that the course’s closure will result in a severe drop in their property value.

The reason for the closure is somewhat tight lipped, but developers, Geo-Energy Enterprises Ltd., say that the golf course will be replaced with a public park.

Alongside the plan to redevelop the course into a park is the developers’ idea of adding an additional 1400 homes with the park.

According to Geo-Energy Enterprises, the land is currently a “living landscape,” and will be transformed into a “livable landscape,” according to a paragraph on its website, www.shawneepark.ca.

But many residents that were fine with their homes backing on to a golf course are not interested in a home that overlooks a park or another backyard.

Many residents have taken to the streets of their community wearing green t-shirts with the slogan “Save Calgary’s Recreation Land.”

This is a clever way to protest this issue. If the residents were complaining about the real problem I doubt many people would listen. Could you imagine a bunch of well-dressed citizens protesting a drop in property value, as they will no longer have their prized homes backing on to a golf course?

The overall consensus from town hall meetings of concerned residents seems to be that a golf course is not a park. They paid for a house on a golf course and that is how they intended to sell it.

This closure can be compared with the current LRT expansions going on in Calgary. only with an opposite effect.

With all the efforts from the city to improve the LRT system, they are finding a rather unexpected but positive offshoot—a jump in many house property values.

Research posted on the website Real Estate Investing in Canada claims it will not be just the houses near a station that will be affected positively. They explain it as a three tier system. The first, houses directly affected, the second being houses that are in surrounding communities of an LRT station, and finally, houses that feel the ripple effect of the LRT expansions, such as Airdre, Okotoks, and Cochrane. The LRT will bring more foot traffic and business to an area, making it more walkable, livable, and desirable.

Change happens; it comes with living in a new city. Sometimes the change benefits the thickness of your wallet, sometimes it doesn’t. Buying a house is a gamble. It doesn’t matter if you buy a house close to an LRT station, or one on a golf course.

While I realize these two are not in direct comparison, the point is, stop complaining about change, it happens. If you want the same old same old, move to the country or buy a house in the mountains. Honestly though, it probably will not matter where you go. The city, and the changes that a city brings will eventually catch up with you.