CALGARY — Hundreds of Calgary homeowners have had their lives turned upside down because a monstrous three-storey townhouse project now occupies the lot next door where once stood a nice, quiet single-family home and a friendly neighbour.
The townhomes were enabled by Calgary’s blanket upzoning bylaw which was approved by the previous city council almost two years ago.
People in single-family homes with a townhome complex containing up to eight residences have been traumatized because they’ve lost sunshine beaming onto their backyard patios.
The new neighbours next door peer down from their towering townhomes into what was once a private area for homeowners to relax and get away from life’s pressures.
Homeowners have had to all of a sudden fight for a parking spot in front of their homes.
They go to sleep worried about the potential of a water main break due to Calgary’s ancient infrastructure and water pipes perhaps not being able to handle increased use brought by eight more toilets and eight more shower heads.
Additional garbage bins clog the streets.
But, apparently the homeowners’ worries and stresses don’t compare to the stress and anguish Calgary city councillors are going through as they approach the debate of whether or not to fully repeal blanket upzoning, or put lipstick on the pig and merely revise it.
Feel sorry not for city councillors, however, because the city’s DEI captains in administration have come up with a nice, woke therapy program to calm their frayed nerves.
The program includes therapy dog visits, so councillors can pet their worries away.
There are dedicated counselling sessions, face-to-face with an expert, where tears can fall and hand wringing may take place.
Immediate help is available 24/7 through a dedicated phone line, in case the specter of enraged homeowners disturb their sleep.
At what cost to taxpayers is the program? We don’t know, but the absurdity of it speaks for itself.
I have nothing more to add. Talk amongst yourselves.
