Hundreds Rally Against Proposed Blanket Rezoning Bylaw in Calgary
Around 100 people gathered in front of Calgary City Hall on Monday to protest a proposed blanket rezoning bylaw that would allow for more housing types in residential areas. The bylaw, which is part of the city’s housing strategy, aims to simplify the development process and increase housing supply.
However, opponents of the bylaw argue that it would negatively impact the character of their neighborhoods and lead to overdevelopment. They say that the city has not done a good job educating residents about the proposed bylaw and that they feel their voices are not being heard.
The public hearing on the bylaw is expected to last several days, with over 741 people registered to speak. City officials maintain that the bylaw is needed to address the city’s housing affordability crisis, as home prices have increased significantly in recent years.
City officials say the bylaw would ‘simplify the process’ for landowners and developers and would remove six months from the development process. However, opponents say that the bylaw is not needed and that there are other ways to address the city’s housing affordability crisis.
The proposed bylaw is one of around 80 recommendations in the City of Calgary’s housing strategy, which will change the base residential zoning district to include more housing types like rowhouses and fourplexes. Currently, the majority of residential areas are R-C1 and R-C2 by default, which only allow single-family homes. The recommendation would change the base zoning type to RC-G, which allows for single-family homes and duplexes, triplexes, and rowhouses.
