Hi, we are moving to Calgary in may/june time (visa's permitting) and I need to choose an area to live in for my family. We have 3 boys, twins of 12 and a 7 year old they enjoy most sports and outdoor activities. They also need a good school as the twins are dyslexic they attend a mainstreem school but need a school which will be sympathetic to their needs. We would like to be part of a community rather than the urban sprawl. I need to be fairly near a big hospital (or the university) as I am an ITU nurse and will be looking for work in critical care or teaching, whereas my husband will be working for Calgary Police. Can anyone offer any suggestions please? I really would like to get it right 1st time and not keep unsettling our boys. Hope someone can offer us a few pearls of wisdom (fingers crossed)

Personally don't live in Calgary but have friends who do. I work for Stryker Orthopaedics so I will ask some sales reps in the West for best area.

Arbour Lake! NW.

It's got the lake for the kids: boating, swimming, fishing and skating depending on the seasons (covered by a small yearly charge), and also the YMCA leisure centre. It's near the LRT and a good selection of shops. It's close to Foothills Hospital, and right across from the Canada Olympic Park. it's convenient for day trips to the mountains. It has a new junior school opened a year or two back ...

http://www.calgaryarea.com/nw/arbourlake/arbourweb/

[QUOTE=rugbymum;8339077]Hi, we are moving to Calgary in may/june time (visa's permitting) and I need to choose an area to live in for my family. We have 3 boys, twins of 12 and a 7 year old they enjoy most sports and outdoor activities. They also need a good school as the twins are dyslexic they attend a mainstreem school but need a school which will be sympathetic to their needs. We would like to be part of a community rather than the urban sprawl. I need to be fairly near a big hospital (or the university) as I am an ITU nurse and will be looking for work in critical care or teaching, whereas my husband will be working for Calgary Police. Can anyone offer any suggestions please? I really would like to get it right 1st time and not keep unsettling our boys. Hope someone can offer us a few pearls of wisdom (fingers crossed)[/QU
No trouble at all- any time. Calgary is set into 4 quadrants (SE,SW,NW,NE). For children with special needs I don't really have much info on services or the "best" place to live, but for a nurse I would live in either the SW or NW as the distance to the hospitals from either quadrant is very convenient. These however can be the most expensive.

The only quadrant I would avoid is the NE as it is the lowest SES; crime really isn't an issue in Calgary but if its going to occur, it will be the NE.OTE]

Here's a handy map of the Calgary quadrants so you can get your bearings
http://www.calgaryarea.com/

I'd echo the other poster - probaby North West or South West would be best, with perhaps a bit of the South East if you were looking to work at the Rocky View hospital, or perhaps even Cochrane off the NW of Calgary if you don't want to be in the City.

In a lake community - for all the reasons AR stated above.

There's a large new hospital being built on the southern edge of Calgary that, when it eventually open, would make Okotoks and SE/most of SW Calgary a very friendly commute. Certainly, we know of folk that commute to Rockyview General and Foothills from Okotoks but we think, along with some of the other suggestions above, that if your working life will be based around those particular hospitals or the Uni, then the NW and SW quadrants would be a better place to start your search than the SE or Okotoks.

Going into some short term rental accommodation for a week or two, while you tour different areas to figure out where will work best for you, could be a good strategy. Drop us a line if you want some suggestions on that.

Kind regards,

Eamonn & Janet.

The problem with the lake communities or Okotoks is that they are on the periphery. That is limiting in terms of which hospitals or police stations you can work at - I wouldn't fancy commuting from Arbour Lake to South Calgary Hospital, for example, even though I like Arbour Lake, which is where my wife teaches. We faced the same dilemma when looking for a house, in that Corissa could have ended up teaching anywhere in the city. For that reason, we chose somewhere fairly central and with good road links.

We ended up in Westgate, which is very good for me to commute downtown by public transit. If that hadn't been a concern, we probably would have gone slightly further west. The communities west of Sarcee Trail between the Bow River and Glenmore Resevoir all have good road links to the rest of the city and have lots of families. The schools have very good reputations. Even though there are no lake communities in the area, Westside Rec, Calgary Olympic Park, Optimist Arena & Athletic Park, Glenmore Resevoir (sailing club), Weaselhead Flats, the Paskapoo slopes, the Bow River, Bowness Park, Heritage Park and Edworthy Park offer just about everything that you could want. The community associations tend to have good services for families as well. The area is also very convenient for getting out the mountains, with Banff less than an hour's drive away.

You need to come to Calgary to check out the City for yourself as all of the communities have the potential to tick all your boxes. You said you didn't want to be part of the urban sprawl. That is Calgary!

This is true.

E&J

I agree...You should always come out and see for yourself....not always a good idea to ask such an important question on a public internet forum..

The areas in the South-West are great family areas with plenty of green space (fish creek, canyon meadows, shawnessy). Generally speaking West = good East = bad. However there are some exceptions.
The North-East is predominantly an asian area and the South-East is an area of people with 'lower incomes'.
The South-West has great access to the main trails into downtown and within easy reach of the malls and superstores.

I lived in an area called Bridgeland which is a nice area closer to downtown but would be more limited for schooling and family sized housing.

As someone higher up in this post mentioned Okotoks is a nice family area a bit further South (approx 45km) so that may be worth considering if you don't mind longer commutes.

It's OK to ask, but in the end you do have to decide for yourself, as (to a large extent), all you get are opinions.

when i was in calgary i lived in an area called glamorgan just off richmond rd called gainsboro drive.great area i thought shops and malls within walking distance.i was working at the uni it was around 20-25 mins on the bus.

maybe have a look at this area and good luck

This post is so full of generalizations and inaccuracies I really don't know where to start.

So those that live in Mackenzie Lake/Auburn Bay/Chaparral (to mention a few) have low incomes? - what a joke!