Credit to 'LiveWire'

A group of Calgary councillors is expected to push ahead with a plan to get citizen buy-in via plebiscite for the controversial citywide rezoning bylaw coming later this spring, LiveWire Calgary has learned.

A Notice of Motion is likely to come forward for technical review at the March 12 Executive Committee meeting that will ask councillors to consider a plebiscite on the zoning issue, and have the vote coincide with the 2025 municipal election. It’s believed six councillors have signed on, though the agenda has not yet been made public.

April 22, 2024, has already been set aside for a public hearing on the introduction of a base R-CG residential district city-wide. The R-CG district would allow for single-detached, semi-detached, rowhouses and townhouses to be built on all Calgary residential properties. 

This proposed change was a part of the housing strategy approved last September. The issue was contentious during the debate, and there were attempts to exclude it from the strategy before that document’s final approval.

Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean said that for an issue this big, one that could affect all single-family residential property owners, there should be a vote.  McLean said he’s repeatedly stated support for the democratic process playing out on an issue like this.

“We’ve done plebiscites, or votes of electors… On the Olympics, we’ve done it on fluoride, and neither one of those has as big an impact as something like blanket upzoning the entire city,” he said.

McLean has questioned the public engagement process on development in Calgary, and recently posted to social media a question to administration about how public input influences development decisions. He mentioned situations like Glenmore Landing, where there was a coordinated effort to oppose a land sale that was a precursor to the redevelopment of that land, however, it’s still moving ahead.

“We’ve seen over and over again, where the city seems to have, some would say, predetermined outcomes,” McLean told LWC.

(Editor’s note: The Glenmore Landing redevelopment would not qualify under a change to R-CG land use, as proposed in the upcoming public hearing).

Constituents want the decision in their hands: Coun. Wong
Ward 7 Coun. Terry Wong, who said he was signing on to the Notice of Motion being put forward, said he’s heard clearly from residents that they want a voice on the matter beyond a public hearing.

That became more apparent as Wong participated in three public town halls through February and the start of March.

“(During) The three town halls it was very clear, by the constituents that attended, and it was over 150 people attended, that they wanted this decision to be brought power to the people,” Wong said.

Wong said the zoning change affects hundreds of thousands of Calgary households.

“It affects people’s livelihoods, the community wellness, the asset wealth, the places where people raise their families,” he said.

“A decision like that shouldn’t be just a land use public hearing.”

Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra said those who decide to go the route of a plebiscite are avoiding making the difficult decisions they were elected to make. Still, he understood the tactic.

“I would suggest that on the one hand, if you felt like this proposed rezoning was an existential threat to the city and you felt like you were going to lose it on the floor of council, this is a pretty good gambit to maybe stay the executioner,” he said.

Carra suspects the future of the rezoning issue hinges on the initial eight that approved the housing strategy staying galvanized in their support for items in that document.

As far as comparing to other issues that have gone to plebiscite in Calgary, Coun. Carra said that the housing and land-use issue is extremely complex. It’s an issue that is rife with “weaponized disinformation,” he said.

“I would say because we live in a representative democracy, where these are incredibly complicated issues that we can’t expect the average citizen to take the time to become sufficiently expert in, and so we elect representatives whose job it is to become experts in these issues and make the decisions that are hard to make because they’ve been tasked with becoming experts,” he said.

Previously, the federal government had indicated that federal housing accelerator grants were conditional on Calgary taking certain steps to enable more housing options. Among those conditions was the move towards citywide rezoning.  Calgary did later receive a funding commitment after the housing strategy was approved by council.

It was a similar condition put in place March 5, 2024, in Airdrie, where the feds agreed to provide $24.8 million for 900 units. The City of Airdrie was to also pursue base zoning changes to allow up to four units on residential land, along with other conditions.  

If the item is approved on technical merit at the March 12 Executive Committee meeting, it would still require approval at a full meeting of Calgary city council.

PS. I would encourage you to contact Terry Wong with your support.