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Calgary city council will consider a repeal of citywide rezoning during a public hearing next month, but some Calgarians are concerned about development permit applications related to the policy being processed ahead of a decision.
The policy, which has been in effect since August 2024, changed Calgary’s land-use bylaw to make residential grade-oriented infill (R-CG) the default residential zoning district across the city, which allows for a more housing types, including single-detached, semi-detached, duplexes and rowhouses on a single property.
In December, city council voted in favour of kickstarting the process to repeal the policy after many councillors and the mayor ran on a platform to scrap it during the October civic election.
The move requires a public hearing, which is scheduled for March 23.
“They’re just trying to push this stuff through because of the hearing,” said Steve Zacher, who lives in Mount Pleasant. “The last time we had the hearing, 75 per cent of the people spoke against it.”
Between October and January, the City of Calgary has received 375 development permit applications related to citywide rezoning, a 27 per cent increase over the same time period last year.
One of those applications is on Zacher’s street, which proposes a new four-unit rowhouse with four secondary suites and a garage.
Accoring to Zacher, neighbours are concerned with the proposal’s potential impacts on parking and traffic to a nearby park and pool facility frequented by daycares, as well as laneway access and privacy issues.
“This is just a big mess,” Zacher said. “They’re not paying attention to what any of the existing neighbours are.”
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Sara Austin, a resident in the southwest community of Springbank Hill, also wants city council to hold off on an approval to a development proposal in her neighbourhood until after the public hearing.
Although the proposed townhouse development isn’t related to the citywide rezoning policy, as it requires a different zoning change by city council later this month, Austin said city council was elected on a clear mandate to work with community to support densification “where density makes sense.”
“They made their position clear, we now need the mayor and our councillor to work with us to stand with our community and to reject this proposal,” she told Global News.
Ward 4 Coun. DJ Kelly told Global News that the city is following the process laid out by provincial law to repeal citywide rezoning, and that development permit applications must be accepted by the planning department until a potential change in the rules.
“I can understand why a lot of Calgarians might be frustrated that something that’s being built next door to them in nine months time might not be legal to build that anymore,” Kelly said. “But as it stands right now, that’s the law of the land.”
According to city data, it takes an average of 81 days for development permit application related to citywide rezoning to be processed and approved.
Shameer Gaidhar with the Calgary Inner City Builders Association said the situation with citywide rezoning has created uncertainty in the industry, but the effects of it won’t be seen for a few more months.
“The new purchase of land, that has really stopped. Industry is uncertain with what’s going to happen,” Gaidhar told Global News. “We’re going to have a shortage again of development permits and building permits in the established areas for homes.”
The motion to repeal citywide rezoning directs city administration to revert the city’s land-use bylaw to what it was prior to the previous city council approving citywide rezoning, but would exclude properties that had development permits approved prior to the motion or any currently under review in the permit process.
Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot said he was concerned there would be an influx of development permits after the motion was introduced, but noted city council pushed to have the public hearing as early as possible under provincial legislation.
Chabot said he sympathizes with people affected by redevelopment ahead of the public hearing, but said the city won’t be accepting development applications to “hold the land in perpetuity.”
“Those applications have to be processed by August,” Chabot said. “Anyone who is coming forward with an application, they have to do it with the intent of actually developing the site.”
If city council votes in favour of repealing citywide rezoning following the public hearing, the changes are expected to come into effect in August.
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