Rezoning Vote
After nearly four weeks of the Public Hearing on Rezoning, Council voted to pass the motion to for rezoning, but with several amendments that have implications for our ward.
I should start by emphasizing that rezoning, even with no amendments will have little immediate effect on Ward 3. At the townhall I hosted on April 15th, we discussed all the reasons why the probability of redevelopment in Ward 3 is low. These include the fact that our housing stock is new, we have many curvilinear roads without lane access and far fewer perfectly rectangular parcels like you see in the inner city grid. In addition to this, I supported an amendment that increases the parking requirements for all ward 3 communities. When you increase parking requirements, it effectively downzones the parcel. If you need more parking, you can’t fit as much housing. With this amendment, Ward 3 communities could see single family parcels redevelop into duplexes (when market conditions permit in 15-30 years) but 4 side by side rows will not be viable. The rules will likely change again in the next 30 years, but that’s where things stand now.
In the inner city, the story looks different. Parcels will be able to redevelop into singles, duplexes, rows and townhouses. This is positive and will ensure that the inner city has a wider variety of low-density housing like we already see in RG communities in Ward 3.
Here’s a list of all the amendments that were passed by council:
• Rowhouses are now a discretionary use – this means rowhouse applications need to be reviewed and evaluated for multiple factors and their development permits are subject to neighbours’ input.
• Local Area Plans in parts of the city seeing the most townhouse and rowhouse development should be prioritized. Read more here.
• Admin will engage with communities that have completed Local Area Plans to determine if amendments are needed.
• Admin will explore ways of addressing privacy concerns we heard about from residents.
• Council will receive regular updates on the rezoning and its impacts on housing supply.
• Row and townhouses can have basement suites or a backyard suite, but not both.
• Bring back the municipal census for inclusion in the upcoming budget (this was cut as a cost saving measure in previous years).
• Increase parking requirements for suburban communities including all of Ward 3.
The City has a full FAQ page here, but I wanted to pull out and address some common concerns my office has received from residents.
Did we vote to rezone in order to quality for the Housing Accelerator Fund?
No. The Federal government required a public hearing and exploration of this topic as a contingency of funding, but a passing vote was not required.
Why not just build on the outer edges of the City?
Greenfield, or outer city development, is still happening alongside densification, as is transit oriented development. The city supports all of these. However, the further we build out, the further all infrastructure and core services have to be administered. This adds extra cost to the building process, as developers have to pay additional fees to help support this servicing, and it adds additional cost to the taxpayer long term. A duplex in in the inner city costs less to service than a single family home on the outskirts. Most of our established neighbourhoods are below their peak population and can support more growth.
What about school capacity?
As Calgary houses more people, school capacity is a significant concern, but this concern exists no matter how we build. The city sets asides lots of lands for schools, but the province has to fund them. Calgary has not received its fair share of education funding despite a third of our property taxes going to the province for this purpose. I’ve heard from Ward 3 parent councils regarding their significant concerns about the lack of education funding and will be echoing their concerns to the Minister.
Final Thoughts
Calgary is seeing unprecedented growth both through interprovincial and international migration, and this means Calgary needs more homes. Before this vote, the vast majority of land was zoned as RC-1 (single family only).
All of the yellow was previously zoned for single family lots only.
When houses in older neighbourhoods reach the end of their lifespan, it takes a very long time for them to be rebuilt due to restrictive zoning. If a developer wanted to take one of these lots and place a duplex on it, they would have to first apply for a land-use change, adding an additional cost and timeline to redeveloping. This vote cuts out those additional demands for duplexes and triplexes, while still maintaining discretionary use for town and rowhouses.
I believe it’s important that we think about how we want Calgary to look well beyond the present. In 50 years, do we want to continue to center our population growth only on the outskirts of the city, or do we want to spread density evenly throughout all communities? Single family homes will continue to exist, but variety of housing type will increase to meet the increasing variety of people who call Calgary home.