Last year, Calgary city council got itself into hot water with Calgarians by banning the traditional Canada Day fireworks display. This week, council will be in the middle of a fireworks display ignited by Calgarians who are concerned about the city’s proposal to introduce new zoning rules that will eliminate areas that are zoned for only single-family homes and open them up for the construction of row houses and multi-plex homes. Throughout the city’s history, single-family homes have been the dominant built form and continue to be, with numbers from the Calgary Real Estate Board showing, from April 1 to 20 this year, total sales in the city were 1,939 homes, with single-family homes making up 871 of that number. The pitch from the city is the ‘blanket rezoning’ proposal will address housing availability and affordability. The result is, as of Friday, more than 675 Calgarians were registered to speak at a public hearing that opens its doors in council chambers at 9:30 a.m. Monday with an additional 5,500 written submissions (13,000 pages) addressing the proposal, each of which must be read, noted and filed. Calgarians appearing in council will each have five minutes to present their cases, followed by responding to questions from city councillors. When everything is added up, it equals the largest and longest city council meeting in Calgary’s history, which will run from 9:30 am to 9:30 pm every day this week and likely into the weekend. There are likely to be some fiery exchanges that will make the Canada Day fireworks look like the candles on a six-year-old's birthday cake. Homeowners' concerns range from the new builds being larger (not taller) than single-family homes, decreases in property values, strains on infrastructure and parking, among others. Mayor Jyoti Gondek attempted to clear-up what she called “misperceptions” on blanket zoning on Friday. “There is a bit of a misperception that if this rezoning plan goes through that somehow there will be properties targetted, homes knocked down and new things built,” said the mayor in a Global News interview. “If this rezoning goes through, it simply allows the property owner in the future to build one, or two or three or four units if they choose to.” Meaning newly constructed houses could contain anywhere from one to four ‘homes', likely with one or two bedrooms each, plus, potentially, a ‘unit’ in the basement, as well as a secondary suite in the back yard. Currently, if a homeowner wants to change the zoning on his or her property, the city can’t talk about what the built form is going to be because it doesn’t know, said Gondek. "So the question that people generally ask from the community is what’s it going to look like, what’s it going to be that's next door to me or across the street from me, but we don't know because zoning simply allows for something to happen,’ she said. “What administration has proposed in this case is a change from what exists right now. It’s called a permitted use.” “What that means is that you will be able to see what is being proposed to be built. And you’ll be able to weigh in on that and people would be able to appeal it if they don’t think it’s appropriate. So we’ve actually made it more community friendly, you would see the development permit and be able to weigh in on it.” Gondek said any impact on communities will be felt over time. “It's not as though neighbourhoods will immediately go through change. Just as we see land use applications come forward on an incremental basis, this type of change will be incremental as well.” After all submissions have been addressed, councillors will direct any questions arising during the public hearing to administration, followed by a councillors’ debate, during which new amendments could be proposed, followed by a vote. “If the vote is against rezoning, then nothing changes,” said Gondek. “If the vote is an alternative motion, then we shall see what that looks like and if the vote is to approve what’s before us from administration, then it would take some time to implement those changes and we will very clearly outline to the public when they can anticipate when these changes would come into effect.”
Last year, Calgary city council got itself into hot water with Calgarians by banning the traditional Canada Day fireworks display. This week, council will be in the middle of a fireworks display ignited by Calgarians who are concerned about the city’s proposal to introduce new zoning rules that will eliminate areas that are zoned for only single-family homes and open them up for the construction of row houses and multi-plex homes. Throughout the city’s history, single-family homes have been the dominant built form and continue to be, with numbers from the Calgary Real Estate Board showing, from April 1 to 20 this year, total sales in the city were 1,939 homes, with single-family homes making up 871 of that number. The pitch from the city is the ‘blanket rezoning’ proposal will address housing availability and affordability. The result is, as of Friday, more than 675 Calgarians were registered to speak at a public hearing that opens its doors in council chambers at 9:30 a.m. Monday with an additional 5,500 written submissions (13,000 pages) addressing the proposal, each of which must be read, noted and filed. Calgarians appearing in council will each have five minutes to present their cases, followed by responding to questions from city councillors. When everything is added up, it equals the largest and longest city council meeting in Calgary’s history, which will run from 9:30 am to 9:30 pm every day this week and likely into the weekend. There are likely to be some fiery exchanges that will make the Canada Day fireworks look like the candles on a six-year-old's birthday cake. Homeowners' concerns range from the new builds being larger (not taller) than single-family homes, decreases in property values, strains on infrastructure and parking, among others. Mayor Jyoti Gondek attempted to clear-up what she called “misperceptions” on blanket zoning on Friday. “There is a bit of a misperception that if this rezoning plan goes through that somehow there will be properties targetted, homes knocked down and new things built,” said the mayor in a Global News interview. “If this rezoning goes through, it simply allows the property owner in the future to build one, or two or three or four units if they choose to.” Meaning newly constructed houses could contain anywhere from one to four ‘homes', likely with one or two bedrooms each, plus, potentially, a ‘unit’ in the basement, as well as a secondary suite in the back yard. Currently, if a homeowner wants to change the zoning on his or her property, the city can’t talk about what the built form is going to be because it doesn’t know, said Gondek. "So the question that people generally ask from the community is what’s it going to look like, what’s it going to be that's next door to me or across the street from me, but we don't know because zoning simply allows for something to happen,’ she said. “What administration has proposed in this case is a change from what exists right now. It’s called a permitted use.” “What that means is that you will be able to see what is being proposed to be built. And you’ll be able to weigh in on that and people would be able to appeal it if they don’t think it’s appropriate. So we’ve actually made it more community friendly, you would see the development permit and be able to weigh in on it.” Gondek said any impact on communities will be felt over time. “It's not as though neighbourhoods will immediately go through change. Just as we see land use applications come forward on an incremental basis, this type of change will be incremental as well.” After all submissions have been addressed, councillors will direct any questions arising during the public hearing to administration, followed by a councillors’ debate, during which new amendments could be proposed, followed by a vote. “If the vote is against rezoning, then nothing changes,” said Gondek. “If the vote is an alternative motion, then we shall see what that looks like and if the vote is to approve what’s before us from administration, then it would take some time to implement those changes and we will very clearly outline to the public when they can anticipate when these changes would come into effect.”
