Following the city’s largest-ever public hearing, Calgarians will learn whether City Council heard their concerns and abandoned a proposal for city-wide rezoning in a week.
Councillors will be able to question city administrators at a special meeting on Monday. After that, councillors will vote on the proposed motion and any amendments that might be put forward.
Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek has said she thinks the debate could last two to three days.
Gondek closed the hearing on Monday night after hearing from 736 speakers and 238 panels. City council received another 6,101 written statements, now part of the public record.
The proposed bylaw is one of around 80 recommendations in the City of Calgary’s housing strategy, which would amend the base residential zoning district.
Currently, the majority of residential areas are zoned to only allow single-family homes by default. Under the change, single-family homes, duplexes, triplexes, and rowhouses could be built.
Ward. 13 Councillor Dan McLean told True North the proposal means a bungalow could be torn down and replaced with 12 units. He said city infrastructure wasn’t built to handle the demand for water, parking, and garbage.
“There’s some big issues here to consider,” McLean said on the Alberta Roundup.
He also said the proposal is causing “chaos” in the market, and that city and developers will benefit from the policy and subsequent new builds and property taxes. He said he suspects some amendments will be put forward to try and “water down” the rezoning efforts so fewer units can be built on a property.
“In my opinion… it’s going to come down to one or two councillors,” he said of the vote.
Calgarians are no longer allowed to submit to speak before council but can still provide written submissions for the public record at calgary.ca/publicsubmissions.
