Mind the generation gap in Calgary's debate over zoning and townhouses

It was gearing up to be a battle for the ages: Calgary's big rezoning debate over permitting fourplexes in any and all neighbourhoods in the city, with hundreds of speakers expressing opinions across more than a week of hearings at city hall.

It has often appeared as a battle of the ages. It's hard not to notice the generation gap between the Calgarians fighting for the change, and those fighting against it.

One didn't even need to step inside city hall chambers or flip on the hearing's livestream to see the apparent differences.

In the plaza outside city hall on Monday morning as the public hearings began, a few dozen community association activists from the city's various corners wagged signs and sported black-and-white buttons that said, "NO Blanket Rezoning YYC." 

At noon that day, another crowd gathered to demonstrate in favour of the measure recommended by Calgary's affordable housing task force, many carrying a political action group's placards saying, "All Calgarians deserve homes." 

This was a noticeably younger group, more millennials and Gen Zs.

As the debate unfolded, one could crudely split the debating lines into younger or older, or into the haves and have-nots. The divide is between those who have and don't have homes they own.

Many Calgarians opposed to the plan were homeowners, worried about the zoning that could come to their own neighbourhoods, if one could develop duplexes, townhouses or row houses in almost any residential district. 

They expressed worry that more density amid their standalone houses could clog their streets with traffic, parking, recycling carts and tall skinny homes — while ripping out old trees and overburdening nearby schools in the process.

The residents who support citywide rezoning often aren't homeowners, but hope to be. They'd like more of a chance to join those neighbourhoods the others are scrapping to preserve as is, without the potential upheaval of subdivided lots for extra homes.

Disruption? Change? Potential for struggles to find guest parking on one's block? "That doesn't supersede the need to have a roof over our head," Alex Williams said in an interview.

He's a 28-year-old who rents an Acadia house with three roommates, and recalls having to couch-surf for months with friends and family until  he found a place. 

"The idea of being homeless with thousands of dollars saved seemed insane," he said. The idea of finding a home to buy? Seems nice, though he understands why homeowners who've had what they've had for a while are less amenable to change in their neighbourhoods.

One speaker was rankled by the very fact that renters were injecting their voices into this debate. Others who came out in favour of rezoning warned of the disproportionate privilege of older homeowners who bought property well before prices spiralled out of reach for many.