Councillor Gian-Carlo Carra put forward a motion at a recent Calgary City Council meeting to examine the feasibility of redeveloping a small-scale sandstone quarry in the middle of the city where the rock was mined a century ago, the Calgary Herald reported.
The publication also stated the council will examine if there are potential suitors or businesses interested in quarrying at the location and engage with the public about reactivating the site.
Clearly having no concept of what the modern quarry professional is like, Carra reportedly joked with his fellow councillors: “I don’t know whether there is a quarry company operating in the mountains right now that might want to take it on, or whether it’s like a bunch of hipsters with beards saying, ‘ya, let’s become stonemasons’ …”
According to the Herald, Calgary earned the nickname “Sandstone City” due to the heavy use of the material in many of the city’s heritage buildings after it was quarried from the banks of nearby rivers.
Calgary’s first major fire in 1886 sparked a sandstone construction boom, a CBC News report from 2011 also stated.
Carra reportedly objected to Calgary purchasing sandstone from abroad to restore the old buildings.
As far as Quarry is aware, there are currently no proposals to set up similar quarries in the middle of Melbourne’s Brunswick, Fitzroy or South Yarra suburbs, Sydney’s Potts Point, Darlinghurst and Surry Hills hamlets, Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, Adelaide’s Bedford Park, and Perth’s Highgate and Northbridge sectors. However, there apparently would be no shortage of staff – aka ‘bearded hipsters’ – should Carra’s proposal prompt an international trend for inner-city quarries.