A Go Fund Me page has been started by a group of Calgarians who are troubled by the recent passing of the blanket up zoning bylaw by Calgary City Council. The bylaw was passed despite a vast majority of Calgarians letting council know, over the course of the longest public hearing ever in council chambers, that they against the bylaw. The page has been organized by Robert Lehodey, who says on the page, “I am one of a group of lawyers, community activists and concerned citizens who are gravely troubled with the initiatives and direction of the current Calgary City Council.” “Our primary concern relates to Council's Blanket Up Zoning By-Law where zoning for single-detached and semi-detached homes across the entire City have been scrapped and replaced with zoning that would permit up to 12 residential units on a single residential lot with minimal parking and documented negative impacts on neighbourhoods, existing infrastructure and the environment.” The group’s concerns also include the failure of council to hold a plebiscite that would allow Calgarians to have the final say about blanket up zoning, an unfair administrative and public hearing process that focused solely on council’s view and the unsubstantiated final decision council. A report from city administration this week said the cost of the public hearings has come in at $1,275,000, so far, with the potential of another $5 million added to implement amendments to the original motion. In a media scrum this week, Coun. Sonya Sharpe estimated a plebiscite would cost about $50,000 if added to next year’s civic election. “We have decided to start this fundraising drive to cover legal fees and associated costs, including any other experts and communication costs relating to all court applications challenging the City of Calgary's Blanket Up Zoning decision and failure to hold a plebiscite,” says Lehodey on the website. “This will include applying to the Court to prohibit the City of Calgary from implementing the Blanket Up Zoning until the Court’s judicial review of our legal applications.” A Friday update to the page says, “Thanks very much to all who have contributed to this GoFundMe initiative! Today our lawyer is filing the application seeking judicial review of the City’s approval of Blanket Up Zoning and Council’s second decision not to hold a plebiscite regarding that rezoning decision. Approximately 280 Calgarians from all over the city have signed on as co-applicants and many more were keen to do so but we wanted to keep to our filing schedule of today. We are at approximately 33% of our current fundraising goal so more to do on that front. Stay tuned for more updates. Thank you for any assistance you can provide to Help Fund Legal Challenges to Calgary's Blanket Up Zoning.
