Calgary city hall set for largest-ever public hearing as blanket rezoning debate arrives at council
CBC
Calgary city council is bracing to hear from hundreds of people during what's anticipated to be the city's largest public hearing — ever — on Monday.
The highly anticipated hearing is centred around blanket rezoning and a strategy the city hopes will improve housing affordability, but a number of communities worry it will fundamentally change the character of their neighbourhoods.
Nearly 650 people had signed up to speak as of Thursday, with an additional 5,155 written submissions.
"This has become connected to some of the pretty deep polarization that's out there," said Lori Williams, a political scientist at Mount Royal University's policy studies department.
"This has become a bit of a flashpoint."
So how did Calgary get here?
In 2022, the City of Calgary developed the Housing and Affordability Task Force. The proposal for blanket rezoning was one of the group's recommendations and it became a key part of the city's housing strategy, which was approved in September 2023.
Much of the controversy surrounding the strategy, if it's approved, centres on the fact that it would allow for different housing types, such as townhomes and six-plexes, to be built in neighbourhoods that currently only allow single-family homes.
The city says that blanket rezoning is a response to missing-middle housing, meaning that there's a gap in available housing options for those hoping to upgrade from an apartment, but not quite ready for a single-family home.
According to the city's Housing Needs Assessment, approximately 84,600 Calgary households were forced to shell out more than 30 per cent of their total income on housing in 2021, meaning that one in five households struggled to afford their housing costs.
As a response to this 2023 report, city council held a three-day public hearing in September, where 162 residents shared their concerns about the housing crisis.
This marathon meeting resulted in councillors voting 12-3 in favour of a new plan for housing, knowing that blanket rezoning — in other words, amending the land-use bylaws — was part of that pitch.
But before the zoning bylaws can be amended, the new plan has to go through this week's public hearing process.
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek told CBC News on Thursday that council needs to listen.
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This First Person column is the experience of Mehdi M. Kashani, who lives in Toronto. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
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