Hounsfield Heights/Briar Hill is an inner suburban neighbourhood in northwest

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

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. Located north of the Hillhurst and West Hillhurst communities, the boundaries of the district are 16th Avenue N (

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (Canadian French, French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the A ...

)to the north; 14th Street W to the east; Lane north of 7th Avenue N to 19th Street W and 8th Avenue N to the south; and

Crowchild Trail Crowchild Trail is a major expressway in western Calgary, Alberta. The segment from the 12 Mile Coulee Road at the edge of the city to 16 Avenue NW (Trans-Canada Highway, Highway 1) is designated as Highway 1A by Alberta Transportation ...

, 12th Avenue N, Juniper Road, and 22nd Street W to the west. Lions Park

C-Train CTrain (previously branded C-Train) is a light rail system in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Much of the system functions as a high-capacity light metro, while in the downtown free-fare zone, trains run like a modern tram with a dedicated right-of ...

station and North Hill Centre are located within the community. In the early 90s, a gas station located in the North Hill Centre parking lot was found to have been leaking fuel, contaminating the soil and groundwater in Hounsfield Heights with

benzene Benzene is an Organic compound, organic chemical compound with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar hexagonal Ring (chemistry), ring with one hyd ...

and

1,2-Dichloroethane The chemical compound 1,2-dichloroethane, commonly known as ethylene dichloride (EDC), is a chlorinated hydrocarbon. It is a colourless liquid with a chloroform-like odour. The most common use of 1,2-dichloroethane is in the production of vinyl ...

. The community is built on an escarpment and is popular for its views of downtown to the south and the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

to the west. The area has a rich history. It was once part of the Riley family homestead. Thomas Riley and his wife Georgina Hounsfield Riley and their children settled there in 1888. Their home, Hounsfield Lodge, was situated on the present site of the Bethany Care Centre. Lions Park LRT 1

The community was annexed by the city of Calgary in 1906, and it was established as a neighbourhood in 1953.

Demographics

In the City of Calgary's 2012 municipal census, Hounsfield Heights/Briar Hill had a population of living in dwellings, a 0.9% increase from its 2011 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2012. Residents in this community had a

median household income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of und ...

of $59,502 in 2000, and there were 7.8% low income residents living in the neighbourhood. As of 2000, 15.1% of the residents were

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

s. A proportion of 21.5% of the buildings were

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

s or

apartment An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...

s, and 21.6% of the housing was used for

renting Renting, also known as hiring or letting, is an agreement where a payment is made for the use of a good, service or property owned by another over a fixed period of time. To maintain such an agreement, a rental agreement (or lease) is sig ...

Crime

Education

In 2006, there was one school in the district: * Briar Hill Elementary School - Public

Sears Plume

In the early 90s, a gas station located in the parking lot of North Hill Centre and operated by Sears Canada was found to have been leaking fuel into the soil and contaminating the nearby groundwater. The leak occurred for at least two decades, leading to a large underground plume of gasoline. Because of this, it was necessary to create several monitoring sites and extraction wells in the east side of Hounsfield Heights. As of 2020, the sites consist of 127 groundwater monitoring wells, 7 extraction wells, and various meters installed in residential homes. Preliminary analyses of contamination levels indicate that

and 1,2-DCA concentrations will decay to acceptable levels within 15 years.

References

External links