The Calgary communities seeing effects of citywide rezoning the most and least

The policy is called citywide rezoning, but are the effects being seen citywide in Calgary? Citywide rezoning, approved by the previous council in the spring of 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 variety of housing types, including single-detached, semi-detached, duplexes and rowhouses on a single property. Earlier this month, the new city council voted in favour of kickstarting the process to repeal the policy, and revert the city’s land-use rules back to what it was prior to citywide rezoning taking effect. “What Calgarians have told this council is that the blanket rezoning, one-size-fits-all approach, hasn’t worked to deliver the housing at a speed, at a scale and at a price point Calgarians can afford,” said Calgary mayor Jeromy Farkas. New data from the City of Calgary shows there have been 478 development permits enabled by citywide rezoning since the policy took effect in August 2024, which created 1,904 units. Prior to the approval of citywide rezoning, those developments would’ve required a public hearing before the property’s zoning could be changed to make way for the development permit. According to city data, the bulk of redevelopment spurred by citywide rezoning are in Ward 11 with 66, Ward 6 with 63, Ward 9 with 60, Ward 4 with 58, Ward 1 with 55, and Ward 8 with 34. Rowhomes and townhomes are the dominant development in each of the wards. The area with the most redevelopment from citywide rezoning is Ward 7, according to the city data, with 127 developments including 75 rowhomes and townhomes. Coun. Myke Atkinson, who represents Ward 7, said the area has been disproportionately impacted by the amount of redevelopment even prior to the approval of citywide rezoning. “Citywide rezoning allows for some of that redevelopment in other areas of the city,” he told Global News. Get daily National news Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy . “My concern is that when we repeal citywide rezoning, we’re actually going back to a time where the bulk of that development just falls back on the backs of the folks living in Ward 7.” However, the development permit data shows there are some wards that have experienced very little redevelopment from citywide rezoning, and others that have seen none at all. The majority of the councillors representing those wards voted in favour of repealing citywide rezoning, including Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean, one of the policy’s staunchest opponents. Ward 13 saw one townhouse/rowhouse redevelopment over the last year, according to the data. “That’s just the start,” McLean told reporters. “Once you have a few on Elbow Drive or in Canyon Meadows, then its cascading even more.” Ward 12 Coun. Mike Jamieson, whose communities haven’t had any citywide rezoning driven redevelopment, said his opposition comes from how the policy was approved by the previous city council after an historic public hearing that saw the majority of the more than 730 speakers opposed to the...

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