In May, a majority of City of Calgary councillors gave the middle finger to a majority of Calgarians who objected to blanket zoning being brought into law, ostensibly to solve the housing crisis in the city. Now, groups of Calgarians are figuratively returning the single-finger salute to council through restrictive covenants. More on that in a minute, but first, some background. Blanket zoning eliminates areas that are zoned solely for single-family homes, the most sought-after type of home in Calgary. A record number of concerned Calgarians participated in a public hearing in council chambers in April, either in person, on line or in written statements, with the vast majority indicating they were against blanket zoning. In a damning indictment of democracy, Mayor Jyoti Gondek and Cllrs. Penner, Walcott, Carra, Pootmans, Dhaliwal, Spencer, Mian and Wyness voted in favour of blanket zoning, claiming it would add needed housing in the city. But standing in the shadows was Trudeau’s housing minister, Sean Fraser, dangling a cheque for $228 million in front of city council with the caveat blanket zoning must be approved before that cheque was delivered. Saying no to the Liberals’ bribe were Cllrs. Sharp, Chabot, McLean, Chu, Wong, and Demong. The bylaw allows owners of single-family homes to sell their homes to developers who would demolish the single-family homes and build multi-unit housing in their place. Developers are allowed to construct buildings with as many as eight different homes in each building, with no requirements to include additional parking for owners’ vehicles. It's a massive parking problem waiting to happen for everyone on the street, but it also adds up to eight additional toilets, eight additional showers/bathtubs, eight additional kitchen sinks, eight additional dishwashers — you get the idea — to the underground infrastructure. Obviously, Calgarians came face-to-face this summer with what happens to aging infrastructure when additional pressure is applied to it. City officials, claiming to be ‘in the know,’ said blanket zoning would add 750 new homes every year, alleviating the ‘housing crunch’ in Calgary and making homes more affordable. Those ‘in-the-know' officials don’t know what they don’t know. Building 750 new homes per year can’t happen. From demolishing a home, cleaning up the debris, running checks on the infrastructure, getting the site ready for construction, navigating the city’s clogged bureaucracy of getting permits and approvals and actually building the new units is at least a two-year project. Two years of aggravation for neighbours who will need to navigate streets clogged with construction equipment and put up with the noise. More affordable housing? That coin is still in the air. In addition to the purchase price, developers face all the costs associated with the new units, from demolition to completion to selling the units, or renting them, and the associated costs. Plus, homeowners who are selling almost always ask for more than the home is worth, but imagine what they’ll ask if they sense the buyer is going to make a big profit on the sale. Look up. Look ‘way up. And look to the group of Calgarians in the southeast community of Lake Bonavista who are using restrictive covenants to protect their neighbourhood. Restrictive covenants are legal contracts between neighbours that can prevent the construction of certain types of buildings. The covenants are attached to land titles, meaning they stay in place even when the property owners change. They're also known to be challenging to remove, reports CBC, adding, “In Lake Bonavista, the goal is to legally prevent developers from tearing down single-family homes for multi-family developments, though residents have agreed to allow secondary suites in basements and garages.” "I think a lot of people are very uneasy about what's happening in the community," Karen Robinson, a volunteer for the committee running the Lake Bonavista restrictive covenant initiative told CBC. She added she is hopeful at least 60% of homeowners in the community sign on in order to prevent developers from buying multiple lots side-by-side to build larger developments. Curtis Marble, the lawyer representing Lake Bonavista residents, told CBC 15 to 20% of the community has agreed to get the restrictive covenant registered to their land titles, at a cost of $500 per household. Marble said his staff has registered about 70 households, adding restrictive covenants are quite common in Calgary but often people don't realize it's on their land title because, in most cases, there wasn't any reason to enforce them in court until recently. "Given that the city's zoning laws were, until recently, in many of those neighbourhoods consistent with what the restrictive covenant was saying, it simply wasn't necessary to go to court," Marble, a partner with Carbert Waite LLP, told CBC, adding his firm is also working with Chinook Park, Kelvin Grove and Eagle Ridge on their restrictive covenant initiative among other communities in the city. In order for a restrictive covenant to get removed, Marble told CBC all parties who have signed the agreement would have to agree to do so. Or someone could file a court application, arguing that the covenant is no longer enforceable "because people have stopped following it, people have stopped complying with it or it's somehow contrary to the public interest." In a statement, the City of Calgary says it doesn't enforce or determine the validity of restrictive covenants. Instead, they're private civil matters that are to be dealt with between the landowners subject to the agreement.
