Calgary city council is on its annual summer hiatus, with no meetings until September 8 when the executive committee will meet, followed the next day by a full meeting of councillors at a public hearing. Meanwhile, businesses are suffering, some closing. In Marda Loop, where a $75 million lawsuit was filed against the city because a construction project, scheduled to last 12 months, is in its second year. Also heading to court is a lawsuit against the city by a group called Neighbours for Richmond Knob Hill (N4RKH) that challenges the city’s massive high-density rezoning on the site of the former Viscount Bennett High School. And, yet to be settled is a lawsuit supported by hundreds of Calgarians with legitimate concerns about the disruptive blanket upzoning bylaw. The ramifications of council decisions over the last 12 months remind one of the legend of the burning of Rome, with some councillors doing their best imitations of Nero watching the flames. The most contentious issue is blanket upzoning. It has affected Calgarians in all parts of the city and Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek sat down last week, with her explanation of how blanket upzoning came into being. It sounded much like a new Grimm’s fairy tale. .In terms of the bylaw, Gondek said, “I’ll talk about the current state by explaining how we got here. We used to have all of these rezoning applications come one-by-one to council, to a public hearing, so anytime someone wanted to change their land use up to RCG [Residential Grade–Oriented Infill], which allows for multiple homes on one parcel (of land) it would come as an individual item.” “So there was the time that was spent by the public coming in; there was time spent by council and administration on each of these items and each of those items could be appealed at that time too.” This writer remembers the days of those public hearings. They oft times pitted Calgarians against developers and against each other and usually focused on seeking permissions to build secondary and backyard suites. They could be long, drawn out days, but they were fair, giving Calgarians a place to speak their peace about their piece of land. And listening to Calgarians was and still is the number one duty of Calgary city councillors, some of whom have forgotten it. Mayor Gondek says nothing has changed. .“So what we’re seeing now is the same process,” she said, referring to the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board (SDAB) at City Hall, where Calgarians line up and file affidavits against proposed multi-family homes being built next to their single-family homes. It isn’t the same process, obviously, and it has resulted in a delay of issuing permits to developers, who are now complaining about increased costs because of the delays. And now, cue the fairy tale. “When it comes to rezoning the most important thing to remember is we need a city where people can live in the neighbourhood of their choice throughout their life, and the last thing I want is for someone who has being living in a place for 40 years and they need to downsize their home and they have no options in that community when everything they know is there, so really it’s about building community and allowing for people to have homes at all stages of their life.” And they all live happily ever after! Here’s the truth about blanket upzoning. It’s tearing neighbourhoods apart. .Homeowners having lived in the neighbourhood for 40 years are being offered bags full of money by developers and are selling their homes, because parking is at a premium and their children and grandchildren have nowhere to park when they come to visit. So these old farts buy a new condo in a new community, perhaps closer to the kids and grandkids and all the amenities new communities offer. From the point of view of alleviating Calgary’s "housing crisis" blanket upzoning will never be the answer. Calgary doesn’t have a housing supply crisis, it has a housing affordability crisis, which will never be solved by blanket upzoning in established neighbourhoods. Gondek didn’t mention the dark side of her fairy tale. The federal Liberal government, through its housing accelerator fund, cut a deal with the City of Calgary, promising $228.5 million dollars as well as bonus money, for the construction of new multi-family homes. Only multi-family homes. Not single-family homes. But, Gondek’s fairy tale is in its early days. .“Is it too early to know if upzoning is working. There are indications that we have been advancing housing. We are the leader in housing starts in the nation and I can tell you some of the upzoning work did assist with that but again, this is a long term plan,” she said. “It’s something that will happen over the life of the community. It’s not going to be sudden, it’s going to happen overtime to make sure that communities have the capacity to house people at all points of their life.” And back to real life. The dramatic increase in new home starts is a direct result of thousands and thousands of people moving to Calgary over the last two years. Builders have kept up, with record-breaking starts numbers, and even the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) has said blanket upzoning had very little to do with the increase. In fact, CREB has called for blanket upzoning to be repealed. “We favour a community-focused, grassroots engagement approach to planning, development, and addressing Calgary's housing shortage,” said CREB in a statement highlighting its top five housing related issues in the fall election. “This is the most effective way to preserve neighbourhood uniqueness and maintain affordability while considering local market dynamics and economic growth." That election is on October 20, with three mayoral candidates, Sonya Sharp, Jeromy Farkas, and Jeff Davison all saying they will repeal blanket upzoning if elected. Vote wisely and save your neighbourhood.
