Gondek grilled on city rezoning plan
Mayor promises she'll listen to concerns at upcoming hearing
It's still four weeks away, but Calgary city council's upcoming public hearing on citywide rezoning continues to weigh on residents' minds.
That much was evident Tuesday at the Fairmont Palliser, where Mayor Jyoti Gondek gave her state of the city address to the Rotary Club of Calgary Downtown.
After the mayor's 20-minute speech, the first two audience-submitted questions related to the city's contentious rezoning proposal — reflecting Calgarians' interest in the issue since it was first adopted as a part of the housing strategy council passed last September.
Gondek was asked why a proposal that would result in “such significant change” does not warrant a citywide vote, referring to a recent failed attempt by a minority of council to take the issue to a plebiscite, which would have been held in conjunction with the next municipal election in October 2025.
“Having council by itself make that decision, I think, is wrong and it goes against the principles of democracy,” the Rotarian said, followed by applause from roughly half the crowd.
Gondek said that when council convenes for the public hearing on April 22, they're legally obligated to remain “amenable to persuasion.”
“Until April 22, there is no indication of which way this is going to go,” she said.
She added that her decision will be rooted in what members of the public say, as well as what administration and housing experts say.
“Certainly, Calgarians' voices will be heard — you can rest assured on that.”
What's being proposed?
It is expected to be a days-long public hearing, where potentially hundreds of Calgarians will share their thoughts on a land-use bylaw amendment to change the city's base zoning district to residential grade-oriented infill.
More commonly referred to as RC-G, the district would allow for medium-density homes with ground-level entrances, such as duplexes, fourplexes and row houses, to be built on an individual plot of land in neighbourhoods currently zoned solely for single-family homes.
While it's already possible to build medium-density housing forms in “established” communities, the process first requires a property owner to apply for a landuse redesignation (also referred to as a rezoning) to the city.
If the rezoning is approved, the property owner then applies for a development permit.
Critics of blanket rezoning worry that densification would alter the character of Calgary's established communities. They also claim it would negatively affect property values, cause more parking/traffic congestion, and take away a neighbour's right to provide feedback during the land-use redesignation process.
Proponents argue the zoning change would speed up the process of redeveloping a property by eliminating the need for individual rezoning applications.
They also say it would allow for more affordable housing throughout the city, alleviating demand by increasing supply to help bring prices down.
Gondek seemed to channel that perspective when answering the second audience member's question on Tuesday, which asked if she feels property owners should have a say in decisions that could affect their property values.
“There's people who will argue that by creating zoning that allows for one, two, three or four units on a parcel, you're creating more supply,” she replied. “By creating more supply, you're easing the affordability issues we have in the market right now. That will allow for people to stay in our city instead of moving away.”
She also pointed out that all newer communities in Calgary — those built in the past 10 years — are already zoned to accommodate a range of mixed housing forms, including cottage housing clusters, duplexes, row houses, semi-detached and single-detached homes.
After Tuesday's event, Gondek told Postmedia she acknowledges the rezoning proposal has been polarizing.
“I think it's because a person's greatest asset is their home,” she said. “We've developed a society where housing isn't a right, housing is an asset. For that reason, people feel that their savings are tied up in their home and, therefore, their quality of life is tied up in there as well.”
But it's also caused confusion, Gondek added, as some Calgarians think it means multi-storey apartment buildings will start to be developed next to their single-family homes.
She said she hopes the public hearing can help clear up those misconceptions.
“We get everything under the sun when we hold a public hearing and it's important to listen to all of it to get a true feeling of how people are feeling,” Gondek said.
“The other thing it offers us is the opportunity to address concerns that may not be rooted in fact. That's not to say someone is misinformed, but they may have a piece of misinformation that's colouring their opinion of what this is.
“Case in point is when people say `I don't want an apartment block beside my house.' That's not what's being proposed.”