New Community Growth
On July 26th, Council voted on the business cases for five new communities, as recommended by City administration. The motion to allow these five new communities to move forward passed 10-5. I voted in favour and I can explain why.
The overall goal of Calgary’s Citywide Growth Strategy is to guide how and where Calgary invests in growth to achieve the long-term vision described in the Municipal Development Plan and Calgary Transportation Plan, and Council’s priorities of economic, social and climate resiliency. Please see below for some key points regarding this motion.
1. Calgary is a growing city, and needs to respond to accommodate population, business and employment growth – throughout the city, and more specifically in new community, established community and industrial areas. For example, over the 2023-2026 period, Calgary’s population is expected to grow by 22,000 people annually, or an additional 88,000 people in total, equivalent to the populations of Airdrie and Chestermere combined.
2. Growth carries benefits, but also risks. Growth helps build the places Calgarians love, it supports jobs, and provides the opportunity to be innovative in city building. Leveraging growth can be part of the solution to create a more equitable and climate resilient city that supports the needs of all Calgarians. But growth also carries significant costs and expectations. A well thought-out growth strategy helps achieve the benefits while mitigating the risks.
3. The five new community business cases were only one part of a Citywide Growth Strategy report that also included both established area capital investments and industrial area capital investments. All motions in support of these investments passed, and I voted in favour.
4. Out of 19 business cases submitted, the five new community business cases were identified because they will help address market demand and improve housing choice in strong market sectors, leverage previous capital investments made by The City, and help support activity and amenities in key centres.
5. The five new community business cases will trigger no new capital investments, meaning that no new infrastructure must be built to develop them, so their immediate cost to the City is minimal.
6. The five new community business cases identified are also those that most leverage their proximity to existing development and services and include several that feature innovative approaches to stormwater and natural areas.
7. New community development carries many climate risks as the city expands outward and investments in previously approved communities continue to increase roadway capacity and vehicle level of service. However, contemporary new communities have evolved to offer many solid innovative technologies for buildings and have laid the groundwork for more sustainable mobility options.
8. Directing growth towards the Established Area could result in emissions savings; however, any measures to limit suburban expansion must be combined with proportional efforts to facilitate redevelopment in the Established Area in order to avoid unintended consequences such as spiking housing prices or increasing social inequity.
Not only has much changed in the last decade in terms of “sprawl subsidy” – note that none of the five new community business cases identified will trigger new infrastructure investments – but current city-building practices are a marked improvement over historical practices in terms of both GHG emissions intensity and vulnerability to climate-related risk.
That said, significant further efforts are required to align growth and development patterns with The City’s 2050 net-zero goal and risk mitigation objectives as detailed in the Climate Strategy and Action Plans. I supported the Climate Strategy at Council, as well as the Climate Declaration last December, and will continue to work in pursuit of a more equitable and sustainable Calgary.