Community association planning committee has pulse on changes
Recently a former neighbour who moved to Sunnyside shared with me a copy of the February 2017 Hillhurst Sunnyside Voice (community bulletin) as she thought I would find it interesting to see all of the new development projects in the community. Indeed I was!
I was surprised to see a twopage spread with summaries of five major projects at various states of development: Royal Bank, 413 10th St. N.W. Former CBC site, 1724 Westmont Blvd. N.W.
Russell Red “Glo” Project, 916926 2nd Ave. N.W.
Sunnyside Grocery, 802 2nd Ave. N.W.
Truman Condo, 922, 926 and 928 Memorial Dr.
This got me wondering how much time the Hillhurst Sunnyside Planning Committee must be spending with developers, city and community to gather information, listen to presentations, discussing how city policies and plans are being followed, understanding the short and long-term the community-at-large implications and then responding to the application.
Then I thought — this is just one community. What about all the other inner-city communities where new infill projects are routinely being proposed. This got me wondering how they find qualified volunteers who are willing and able to spend the time to do all of this work.
Having served on the City of Calgary’s planning commission, I know first-hand how hard it is to understand all of the city’s plans, policies and zoning regulations, as well as how detailed the development application documents can be.
A quick check of the Hillhurst Sunnyside website revealed they have a paid staff member to help with urban planning issues, as well as a paid communications person to help with sharing and receiving information.
Hmmm … now I wondered how many other communities have a paid urban planning position, so I thought I’d check in with Lisa Chong, Hillhurst/Sunnyside’s urban planning co-ordinator since 2013 to learn more about what she and the volunteer planning committee do.
Q&A WITH CHONG
Q What is the role of the Hillhurst/Sunnyside’s planning co-ordinator?
A I co-ordinate all of the community’s education and engagement activities with respect to planning issues — infill developments, heritage, safety, public spaces and public realm. This includes not only co-ordinating planning committee meetings, but numerous guest presentations to the community not only on developments, but a variety of issues. I also spend significant time on planning communication by way of community newsletters — Voice, monthly e-newsletters and social media posts.
We also do our best to engage with the community and make sure their feedback is discussed and incorporated into our formal feedback to developers and the City of Calgary.
Q How many people are on the Hillhurst/Sunnyside planning committee?
A Approximately 16. But people come and go depending on their interest and what is on the agenda. At one time I had 60-plus people on the email list. Typically, we have about 10 members at each meeting and anywhere from 2 to 50 interested guests. At max, we’ve had 65 people attend one of our guest presentations.
We also have folks we consider community leaders who we ask for input on specific issues. In addition, there are volunteers who help with the distribution of leaflets to households immediately adjacent to proposed developments.
Q Can you share with me the qualifications of committee members?
A Members are not required to have specific qualifications but are required to keep up with planning education (Federation of Calgary Communities’ Partners in Planning courses, newsletters and other forms of communication).
Some are longtime residents; others have lived in Hillhurst-Sunnyside for a few years. We have a mix of homeowners and renters and from single-family homes and condos, with ages ranging from 30s to 60s.
The planning committee team draws from a pool of members with professional skills, observational and learned skills: architecture, planning, engineering, development, heritage, local business, law, oil and gas, sustainability, arts, education and entrepreneurial.
OK! This is just one of 151 com- munity associations in Calgary.
I wondered what does the citywide picture look like, so I contacted the Federation of Calgary Communities (FCC) to find out more. Turns out the FCC has two full-time urban planners on staff to help community associations with planning issues and to co-ordinate education programs. Carrie Yap, one of the FCC planners, was more than pleased to answer my questions.
Q How many community associations have standing planning committees?
A There are approximately 95 communities with standing planning committees that actively participate in the planning process. Participation in the planning process is different with each community association depending on their capacity and the magnitude and controversy of developments in their community.
She confirmed Hillhurst Sunnyside is the only community association with a full-time planning co-ordinator.
Q How many volunteer hours are contributed each year by planning committee members?
A This is a difficult number to determine, when you take into account all of the various tasks associated with dealing with planning issues, it is not just the work of the planning committee members.
We estimate each community will contribute approximately 12,000 to 15,000 hours of planning associated work every year performing the following tasks:
1. Reviewing development applications,
2. Preparing formal responses back to the city,
3. Preparing presentations to the city,
4. Researching applicable policies, meeting with developers or builders,
5. Attending engagement sessions on local or citywide projects,
6. Getting acquainted with new policy or land uses,
7. Notifying neighbours or residents of new developments,
8. Hosting engagement sessions or open houses for residents,
9. Building relationships with their councillor and project file managers
10. Attending council or City of Calgary committee meetings.
No wonder many community association board and committee members suffer from volunteer fatigue.
Doing the math that’s a whopping 12,000 to 15,000 hours per year contributed by community volunteers to deal with planning issues.
Side note: In chatting with a couple of other planning committee chairs and other planning professionals, this number seems high.
Q How many project per year are reviewed each year? Which communities are the busiest?
A The federation does not track how many projects per year are reviewed by each community. However, we have seen a direct correlation between policies the city is working on and a community’s life cycle with how active a community is with planning issues.
The busiest planning committees are the ones dealing with major redevelopment projects or major City of Calgary planning initiatives like the Main Streets Initiative and Green Line Corridor.
Based on the information on the city website, for the month of January 2018, a whopping 467 applications (development permit, land use amendments, or subdivision applications) were circulated to our community associations.
LAST WORD
Leslie Evans, executive director of the Federation of Calgary Communities says, “Planning committees and community associations are one of Calgary’s hidden gems.
They are the people that help build community character, advocate for your neighbourhood needs, and they do it without any recognition but simply because they love their community and this city.”
However, not everyone shares Evans’ opinion. Not all community associations are created equal, not all are as engaged as Hillhurst/Sunnyside. This will be the subject of a future column.