THOMAS: Calgary city council, don't mess around with peoples' homes

On Tuesday, Calgary city council chambers will be the scene of a public hearing that will rival last year’s public hearing on the blanket up-zoning bylaw in terms of intensity. The bylaw eliminated all areas of the city zoned only for single-family homes and at that hearing, over two weeks, 736 Calgarians presented in council chambers and 6,101 written presentations were submitted, with more than 76% voting against the bylaw. Regardless, members of council, Mayor Jyoti Gondek and Cllrs. Kourtney Penner, Courtney Walcott, Gian-Carlo Carra, Richard Pootmans, Raj Dhaliwal, Evan Spencer, Jennifer Mian and Jennifer Wyness all voted in favour of the bylaw. Voting 'no', were Cllrs. Sonya Sharp, Andre Chabot, Dan McLean, Sean Chu, Terry Wong, and Peter Demong. At the centre of council’s public hearing agenda on Tuesday and the one that will get the lion’s share of attention is the West Elbow Local Area Plan. (WELAP.) Local area plans are designed to ‘guide’ the development of communities over the next 30 years and WELAP is a big one, incorporating 16 communities in the southwest corner of Calgary’s inner city. The communities include, alphabetically, Altadore, Bankview, Cliff Bungalow, Elbow Park, Erlton, Garrison Woods, Lower Mount Royal, Mission, Rideau Park, Roxboro, Scarboro, South Calgary, Sunalta, Upper Mount Royal, the portion of North Glenmore Park north of Glenmore Trail SW, and the portion of Richmond east of across from Crowchild Trail SW. .Some of the most valuable land in the city is in these communities, each with primarily single-family homes. (Many are heritage homes.) Single-family homes are not looked upon fondly by the city’s planning department, and these communities are the department's target to drastically increase residential densities. According to the city, it sees “a diversity of new housing at different building scales”, meaning four-storey multi-residential buildings, with up to 16 residences in each and 16 to 20-storey high-rise apartment buildings, each with 100 to 120 apartments (or more) without increasing infrastructure capacity. The city says these towers will rise on what it calls the ‘main streets’ of 10 Ave. SW (Sunalta,) 17 Ave. SW (Lower Mt. Royal,) 33 Ave. SW (South Calgary,) Macleod Tr. SW (Erlton,) 4 St. SW (Mission,) and 14 St. SW (Upper Mt. Royal) Meanwhile, adds the city it will be “exploring opportunities for neighbourhood commercial uses along secondary streets and nodes.” The plan has raised the ire of the community associations involved, mostly due — they say — to a lack of proper consultation about the increased densities and the effects it will have on the communities. .A letter signed by a majority of the community associations reads, in part, “Generally our communities are in favour of following the planning principles outlined in the (municipal development plan) which encourages “moderate intensification in a form and nature that respects the scale and character of the neighbourhoods.” “Regrettably, we do not believe that the final version of the West Elbow Local Area Plan reflects these principles.” The letter goes on to say, and I paraphrase, the consultation process was no more than putting lipstick on a pig. “This letter is intended to convey our strong sense that, overall, this process was more about the city claiming (emphasis in original) it engaged with West Elbow residents, citing numerous meetings and countless hours of discussion, than actually valuing meaningful input.” “Our voices have not been heard. This one-size-fits-all approach to urban planning fails to acknowledge and respect the distinctive characteristics of each community.” The communities are not opposed to development, understanding the city has growth challenges that need to be met. .And to those who continually say, whatever it takes, Calgary needs more housing supply, Calgary has a huge supply of housing. The Calgary Real Estate Board announced this week that active listings in the city were 5,867 in April, a 115% increase from April 2024. Further, Calgary home builders are on a four-year roll of record-breaking construction starts. Rather, what Calgary has is a housing affordability crisis. This isn’t being solved by the blanket upzoning bylaw and WELAP isn't going to contribute either. Remember, the 16 communities have some of the most valuable land in the city because of their locations. Even one-bedroom apartments in those 20-storey high rises, will be sold at market values. The communities want WELAP sent back to the infrastructure planning committee to be fined tuned and to have it genuinely listen to residents' concerns, and recommendations. Calgarians are the city’s clients but lately have been treated more like an ATM that increasingly sees more and more money withdrawn by property taxes. Calgarians deserve to know where all that money is going. Perception is reality and if the residents in the West Elbow communities feel they have been ignored, the city must act in their favour. Calgary city council and city administration should not be prioritizing money over its citizens’ concerns, particularly when it hurts them in their homes. On Tuesday, council must vote to send WELAP back to the infrastructure and planning committee, so that the committee can genuinely listen to residents’ concerns and recommendations.

THOMAS: Calgary city council, don't mess around with peoples' homes

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