On Monday, Calgary city council’s executive committee voted 13 to 2 in favour of putting the wheels in motion to repeal the city’s blanket upzoning bylaw, by approving an amended Notice of Motion (NOM) be sent to the regular meeting of council on Dec. 15.
The language in the decision, as well as comments from the two dissenters on the committee, have caught the attention of Calgarians For Thoughtful Growth (CFTG), a group of concerned citizens who challenged the bylaw in court and are awaiting a final decision on appeal.
Of major concern is undermining community concerns, said Robert Lehodey, KC, and a spokesman for the group.
“We have reviewed both the initial draft of the notice of motion and the amended notice of motion that was ultimately approved,” said Lehodey. “We understand that council will debate the NOM at its meeting on December 15, 2025 and, if approved, it will be directed to city administration to prepare the necessary amending bylaw to be considered in another public meeting in March 2026.”
“While we view the initiation of the repeal process as good news, there are specific problems with the language of the NOM which may make further harm to established communities.”
Lehodey feels draft language in the NOM can be viewed as “an invitation to developers to stuff the application box with further rowhouse, townhouse and similar multiplex applications prior to the outcome of the March public council meeting.”
"As such, the NOM provides for a form of ‘grandfathering’ for applications under the blanket rezoning R-CG for all permits then in the queue,” he said. “The language in effect provides an exemption to applications under the blanket upzoning R-CG designation for any parcels that are included in an application or permit or permit submitted before the first reading of the amending bylaw.”
"This encourages a flood of applications prior to that first reading which will be after March 2026. This is not good planning and not good transitional management,” adding, “Proper planning given the support from Calgarians for repeal would be to pause applications pending the outcome of the expected March 2026 public council meeting.”
The language includes an exemption for parcels of land with approved land use redesignation, by bylaw.
“While we anticipate that there will not be many residential land use amendments that will qualify for this exception, we found this language confusing because land use redesignations are to be approved by council and it suggests that council will continue to make land use redesignation approvals until the repeal bylaw is in place,” said Lehodey.
The solution, he said, is “council should self-impose its own political moratorium on land use redesignation approvals in all areas that were previously R-C1 and R-C2 until the repeal bylaw is in place.”
CFTG also feels the original date for the public hearing on the repeal bylaw of Feb,17, be reinstated.
"This matter needs to be addressed by council sooner (than March) given the developer exemptions and redesignation concerns,” said Lehodey.
The two votes against the NOM came from rookie councillors Myke Atkinson (Ward 7) and Nathaniel Schimdt (Ward 8).
“Councillor Schmidt has stated that he voted against the NOM because he has a duty to protect the city from legal jeopardy” said Lehodey. “His concerns are without merit. CFTG is continuing its appeal of the 2024 blanket upzoning bylaw so any potential city legal exposure already exists.”
“Should that appeal be successful the city may be exposed for every single permit it has approved under the blanket upzoning bylaw.”
Atkinson spoke on CBC on Tuesday, making many of the arguments in favour of blanket upzoning which were presented at the public hearing in April and May of 2024, according to Lehodey.
“Councillor Atkinson's published election platform was focused on pushing densification elsewhere in the city other than in his Ward 7,” said Lehodey. “It seems clear that he is not listening to all Calgarians, and it is noteworthy that in his ward he was elected with only 37% of the votes cast.”
CFTG, through Lehodey, reminds all councillors, and especially the 10 new members of council, they must keep an open mind on the concept of returning to the previous low density land use districts.
“This is a fundamental legal requirement for any such planning matter,” he said, adding its clear after the election, the majority of Calgarians want blanket upzoning to be gone.
“We note that mayoral candidates Jeromy Farkas, Sonya Sharp and Jeff Davison all campaigned on repealing blanket upzoning, receiving collectively 228,984 votes of a total of 348,865 votes cast meaning 66% Calgarians have clearly spoken.”
For more information, visit www.calgariansforthoughtfulgrowth.com.
