Calgary city council passes amended rezoning bylaw after longest meeting ever held
CBC
A bylaw to rezone most of Calgary's residential areas and allow higher-density housing was passed by city council in a 9-6 vote Tuesday night, along with numerous amendments to the original proposal.
The vote comes after the longest ever meeting of city council, which began on April 22, and was focused on the proposal to rezone all of Calgary's residential areas that only allow for single-family homes. Over three weeks, it included multiple 12-hour days, 736 speakers and 238 panels — which marked the city's largest-ever public hearing.
Couns. Dan McLean, Sean Chu, Peter Demong, Terry Wong, Sonya Sharp, and Andre Chabot voted against the motion to approve the bylaw.
Those in support of the bylaw spoke to its ability to eliminate bureaucratic processes allowing Calgary to adapt to a growing population, help those in precarious housing situations, and reinforce other aspects of the housing strategy.
"This is the removal of a significant barrier," said Coun. Evan Spencer.
"The rezoning unlocks the creativity of Calgarians as we respond to our housing challenges. We get more freedom with our land in terms of how we want to be involved in participating and addressing the challenges that we face as a city."
Coun. Courtney Walcott said that if the rezoning bylaw was not passed, it would undermine the rest of the city's housing strategy.
"If you were to pull the rug out from under the housing strategy, what you're effectively doing is you're making the other solutions less effective because you're reducing people's mobility," he said.
"People are stuck in affordable housing, in apartments ... the availability of those other options is just not there. Because of the price escalations we're seeing, people who are in single detached homes, they're struggling to actually even consider how to downsize."
Mayor Jyoti Gondek voted in favour of the bylaw.
"This decision is important for ensuring that Calgarians can live in our city not only with choice but with dignity," she said.
During debate, councillors who opposed the bylaw referenced Calgarians who spoke out against the measure, worries about hasty and unwanted development, and concerns that the bylaw wouldn't actually address affordability issues.
"Will blanket upzoning increase supply? Most definitely," said Coun. McLean.
"It'll increase the supply of duplexes, of row houses, they're selling $600,000, $700,000, $800,000. Definitely not affordable."
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