Blanket rezoning opened door to new row houses across Calgary. Here's how that's playing out

After city council's blanket rezoning was approved in May, planners received a wave of nearly 190 row house and other R-CG applications.

A CBC News analysis has found these are concentrated in four communities — Bowness, Glenbrook, Mount Pleasant and Capitol Hill — but with other sites sprinkled throughout 56 other neighbourhoods.

These developments have an average of four units, including basement and backyard suites. But we found one example of up to 10 units approved for a deeper-than average lot that previously had one single-family bungalow.

There were only 21 of these kind of applications during the same period last year.

Already, several permits have been appealed to the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board (SDAB), a quasi-judicial board that can revoke individual city permits.

While developers say the shading and parking issues will not be as extreme as some people think, one woman who canvassed her community said every new "For Sale" sign is now causing anxiety.

Debbie Kotlewski gathered signatures from 175 neighbours to support an appeal against a permit for a property next to her Renfrew house.

"You would not believe the angst that people are feeling," she told the seven-member SDAB review panel as she presented her case against the 10-unit complex in November. 

"If they see a 'For Sale' sign next to them … it could be them in my shoes, and they could be appealing a multi-family development right beside them."

The decision came down two weeks later. She lost. The only change required from the developer was to add frosting to the side windows. 

Allowing row houses and townhouses to be built on most residential lots in Calgary was part of the city's strategy to tackle rising housing and rent prices, which economists say has been fuelled by record numbers of people moving to Calgary.

The latest Statistics Canada data shows 76,000 people moved to Calgary between July 2022 and July 2023, and that grows to 96,000 if Airdrie and the other communities in the Calgary metropolitan area are included.

While Calgary's rental market is showing signs of cooling after three years of rising rents, industry experts say that trend will continue only if the building sector keeps up with building new supply.