Citywide Blanket Upzoning: Public Hearing: Daily Summary and Panel Timing Forecast
This section is intended to help speakers estimate when their panel will be scheduled. This webpage will be updated daily; please check regularly for the a daily summary and the latest forecast.
HOWEVER this it is only an estimate and speakers should check the City Live Agenda to confirm how many panels have been completed or are in progress.
Speaker Coordination: To help coordinate our speakers would like to track who is speaking and on with panel. We ask you to complete this registration form which will generate a tracking sheet.
Please contact development@elboyabritannia.com if you have any questions.
Dailly Summary
Day 1, Monday April 22: 9:30 to 11:15: Council business, Administration Presentation. 11:30 to 9:30: Panels 1 to 15, as per forecast. Total 675 speakers,135 panels, 8 days.
Day 2, Tuesday April 23: 9:30 to 9:45: Panels 16 to 32, as per forecast. Some confusion re speakers not showing up on time. Mayor Gondek shuffled, combined panels, and allowed “late” speakers to join different panels.
Day 3, Wednesday April 24: Panels 33 to 52. Panels are being combined which is speeding things up a bit. Your panel may be a bit sooner than yesterday’s forecast. An additional 140 speakers have registered: Total 905 speakers, 181 panels, 11 days.
Day 4, Thursday April 25: Panels 53 to 67. Calgary Planning Commission Meeting, 1:15 to 4:00, no panels. The panels are taking less time: the forecast has been revised to add two extra panels per day. Your panel will be sooner than previously forecast.
Day 5, Friday April 26: Panels 68 to 90.
Day 6, Saturday April 27: Panels 91 to 115. 23 additional Panels, 345 speakers. Total 202 Panels, 1,020 speakers. Regular Council Meeting Tuesday April 30, morning, no hearing. Community Development Committee Meeting, Wednesday May 1.
Day 7, Monday April 29: Panel 116 to 137. Additional 50 speakers, Total 212 Panels, 1,060 speakers.
Day 8, Tuesday April 30: half day, regular council meeting in the morning: Panels138 to 150.
Day 9, Wednesday May 1: half day, Community Development Committee in the afternoon: Panels 151 to 163.
CITYWIDE BLANKET UPZONING
On April 22, 2024, at the Public Hearing Meeting of Council, the Mayor and Council will vote to revise the Land Use Bylaw to eliminate our current R-C1 Contextual One Dwelling Districts and replace them with R-CG Residential-Grade Oriented Infill Districts throughout Calgary.
A R-CG property could have 4 Rowhouses on a typical 50 ft lot, with the potential for each unit to have a secondary suite. Lot coverage will go from 45% to 60%. Parking is only required for 50% of the dwelling units.
Any house in Calgary house could be replaced with 8 dwelling units with 4 parking stalls.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
The Public Hearing is an opportunity for Council to hear directly from Calgarians regarding their views on the proposed rezoning changes. The following are some of the things that you can do.
1. Write directly to Mayor Gondek and ALL City Councillors to express your thoughts on Blanket Upzoning. These letters can be sent at any time. (email contact information below)
2. Write a letter for the Hearing. It must be received by noon on April 15, 2024, to be considered as part of the agenda for the Public Hearing. Use the “Public Submission to City Clerk's Office” outlined below
3. Sign up to speak at the Public Hearing Meeting of Council on April 22nd. Your presence and perspectives are important to show the Mayor and City Councillors. You can attend in person, online(phone) and/or submit a comment or letter. We highly recommend that you sign up to speak and attend in person.
Search “Calgary Council Meetings”. Click on “Council and committee agendas, minutes and video”.
Click on the “Submit” or “Speak” button.
You will be taken to the “Public Submission to City Clerk's Office” webpage.
Complete the on-line form. Below are the relevant questions and responses.
Public Submission to Clerk’s Office on-line Form
Are you speaking on behalf of a group or Community Association? (required): click on: O No
What do you wish to do? (required): click on: O Request to speak or O Submit a comment
What meeting do you wish to comment on? (required): dropdown: select Council
Date of meeting (required): input: 2024-04-22
What agenda item do you wish to comment on? (Refer to the Council or Committee agenda published here.): input: Land Use Amendment Citywide
Are you in favour or opposition of the issue? (required): click on: O In favour or O In opposition or O Neither
Attachments: you can upload any documents you want (6MB). These will be included in the in the package sent to the councillor before the Hearing and will be included in the public record.
Comments - please refrain from providing personal information in this field (maximum 2500 characters). These will be included in the in the package sent to the councillor before the Hearing and will be included in the public record.
Support Documents
These documents provide additional information and guidance to help you with letters and speeches. Click on the links to take you to the document.
Infrastructure Report : outlines potential infrastructure issues. The additional infrastructure required to support growth should be identified at the Local Area Plan stage. This process can take a deeper look into the facilities required to support growth and capital costs for investments in growth can be determined. A business case can then be put forward to Council to determine whether it is prudent to budget for the infrastructure required based on both the costs of the infrastructure and the revenue that will be derived from the increased densification.
Development Advocacy Report: This document summarizes key messaging regarding Blanket Upzoning issues.
Speech Template: This document provides guidance on preparing a speech for the Public Hearing
EBCA Letter Submission to the April 22 Hearing: This document outlines the EBCA's position with respect to Blanket Upzoning and was provided to Council for their review.
Mayor and Councillor contact information:
Mayor Jyoti Gondek https://www.calgary.ca/council/mayor/dyncrm-mayor-contact.html
Ward 1 Sonya Sharp Ward01@calgary.ca
Ward 2 Jennifer Wyness Ward02@calgary.ca
Ward 3 Jasmine Mian Ward03@calgary.ca
Ward 4 Sean Chu Ward04@calgary.ca
Ward 5 Raj Dhaliwal Ward05@calgary.ca
Ward 6 Richard Pootmans Ward06@calgary.ca
Ward 7 Terry Wong Ward07@calgary.ca
Ward 8 Courtney Walcott Ward08@calgary.ca
Ward 9 Gian Carlo-Carra Ward09@calgary.ca
Ward 10 Andre Chabot Ward10@calgary.ca
Ward 11 Kourtney Penner Ward11@calgary.ca
Ward 12 Evan Spencer Ward12@calgary.ca
Ward 13 Dan McLean Ward13@calgary.ca
Ward 14 Peter Demong Ward14@calgary.ca
The City of Calgary’s Housing Strategy 2024-2030
The Mayor and Council approved the Calgary Housing Strategy September 16, 2023. Council directed Administration “to propose citywide rezoning to a base residential district, or zone, the R-CG District”. This is being implemented through the Rezoning for Housing initiative. Rezoning for Housing expands the rezoning to “citywide rezoning a base district, or zone, to R-CG, R-G, or H-GO.” R-CG and H-GO applied to mature communities like Elboya Britannia. R-G applies to new communities.
The current base residential district for Elboya and Britannia is R-C1. R-C1 only allows Single-detached Dwellings (houses) to be built (or rebuilt) in our communities. Citywide rezoning will eliminate R-C1 and change our district (zone) to R-CG. R-CG will allow Single-detached Dwellings, Semi-Detached Dwellings, Rowhouses, Townhouses, Duplex Dwellings and Cottage Housing Clusters. R-CG also allows Secondary Suites an Backyard Suits with new and existing development
ANY HOUSE IN ELBOYA COULD BE REPLACED WITH 4 ROWHOUSES, 4 BASEMENT SUITES, 4 parking stalls.
IN BRITANNIA, WITH LARGER LOTS, THIS COULD BE 6 ROWHOUSES, 6 BASEMENT SUITES, 6 parking Stalls.
On April 22, 2024 the Mayor and Council will hold a Public Hearing and Vote to approve revising the Land Use Bylaw LUB to implement the Citywide Rezoning.
EBCA believes that citywide rezoning will have negative, unpredictable, cumulative and irreversible impacts on our neighbourhood character, quality of life, and environment (loss of tree canopy and greenspace).
Citywide Rezoning will also eliminate any future meaningful citizen or Mayor and Council influence on redevelopment. A developer can submit a Development Permit Application to the Planning Department to tear down a house and replace it with a multi-unit development. If it complies with the LUB rules for R-CG, the Planner will approve it. The neighbours may submit comments to the Planner which may, or may not influence the Planner’s approval. There is no public hearing. A neighbour could appeal the development at the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board SDAB. However this is costly and recent experience suggests major changes to a development are rarely approved.
Home is Here: Calgary’s Housing Strategy: Mayor and Council: public hearing and voting history
June 6, 2023: the Housing and Affordability Task Force presented their recommendations to Council. EBCA submitted a letter to the Mayor and Councillors. Below are some excerpts from the letter:
June 7, 2023: Council directed the incorporation of the Task Force recommendations and actions into a refreshed Housing Strategy.
September 14, 2023: The new Housing Strategy was presented at the Community Development Committee Meeting. More than 580 individual Calgarians and groups shared their lived experiences with the housing crisis and opinions on the strategy’s recommended actions either in-person or via written submission.
September 16, 2023: The Housing Strategy was approved with amendments.
October 4, 2023: The Land Use Bylaw was revised with changes to the R-CG and H-GO District to align them with the Strategy.
March 7, 2024: Calgary Planning Commission: “Calgary’s Housing Strategy 2024-2030- Land Use Amendment Citywide” report was approved and forwarded to the April 22 Public Hearing Meeting of Council.
March 12, 2024: Council Executive Committee: Motion re “Plebiscite on City Wide Blanket Rezoning”: Six councillors (Mclean, Chabot, Sharp, Chu, sponsored a motion to hold a plebiscite to ask all Calgarians if they agree with the proposed rezoning.
March 13, 2024: Emergency /meeting of Council: The motion was defeated at an Emergency Meeting of Council called by Mayor Gondeck
April 22, 2024: Public Hearing Meeting of Council: If the CPC report is approved by Council, the R-C1and R-C2 districts will be deleted from the LUB and replaced with R-CG or H-GO.
EBCA Letter to Mayor and Councillors, June 2, 2022
“The Elboya Britannia Community Association supports the City taking steps to improve Calgary’s housing affordability. However, the Housing and Affordability Task Force Recommendations (the Report) was created by a task force with limited participation and a focused point of view. The Report does not give details, analysis, or data to justify the recommendations, and there was no public or resident input.
We do not support the Report as is. We ask that it be shelved until a more fulsome analysis, and supporting data, is provided, and public engagement conducted.
We offer some specific issues with the recommendations outlined in the Report.
Conclusion
The Housing Affordability Task Force Recommendations should be shelved until a more fulsome analysis with supporting data is provided, and public engagement conducted because:
1. it will not solve affordability problem
2. it undermines the MDP, LAPs, LUB, and forcibly changes the property rights of thousands of Calgarians.
We have statutory processes in place for a reason, and they should not be arbitrarily revised based on a report written by unelected individuals, with very limited citizen input and a focused point of view.
We urge the Mayor and Council to not accept the Report, and to instruct the Administration to revise the Report by deleting Recommendation 1 and review the remaining recommendations with a more fulsome, data driven, and balanced analysis involving public consultation. “