The marathon public hearing is about a proposed change to allow homeowners to redevelop their single-family home into other low-density housing forms without first applying for a land use redesignation.
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Ten days in, the end was finally nigh for the City of Calgary’s longest public hearing on Friday morning, with fewer than 100 speakers left to present their case on a proposed change to zoning regulations.
At that point, council had heard from 611 people about the citywide rezoning proposal. Of the 965 speakers registered to date, 262 had not responded when called upon.
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With 92 people left to speak and a growing attrition rate as of Friday, there was a slight chance council could hear from remaining speakers before the weekend, depending on the number of no-shows.
But Mayor Jyoti Gondek pointed out that just because the light at the end of the tunnel is in sight doesn’t mean the vote is occurring any time soon.
“I think we all know trying to predict when a meeting is going to end is a dangerous game,” she said. “It depends how many more people still need to speak, and we have to respect the public. We’ll see how long that will take.”
The marathon public hearing is about a land-use bylaw amendment that, if approved, would see Calgary change its default residential zoning district to residential grade-oriented infill (R-CG). The change would allow homeowners to redevelop their single-family home into other low-density housing forms, including duplexes, fourplexes and row houses, without first applying for a land-use redesignation.
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The R-CG rezoning proposal, which is a component of the city’s housing strategy, has generated fierce debate, as it would increase densification in established communities that are currently zoned solely for single-family detached housing.
With nearly 1,000 registered speakers representing both sides of the debate, the public hearing that began on April 22 has been Calgary city council’s longest meeting.
Similar to this week, next week will see other commitments that could postpone council’s verdict. The event centre committee is scheduled to meet Monday morning for a private update on the $1.2-billion capital project, and there’s a regularly scheduled public hearing with more than 40 items planned for Tuesday that could last into Wednesday. One of those public hearings is to formally repeal the single-use items bylaw, which received backlash from the public and some councillors in January.
That all means that apart from Monday afternoon and evening, council will likely not revisit the blanket rezoning discussion until May 9 — a day that also includes a Calgary planning commission meeting in the afternoon.
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After every speaker has presented, council will receive another report from administration that recaps the public hearing. That will be followed by deliberations, when some councillors are expected to propose amendments to the rezoning proposal.
Ward 12 Coun. Evan Spencer confirmed he has some amendments lined up, in the hopes of finding a compromise that considers the concerns of those both for and against blanket rezoning.
“I have my eyes on a battery of amendments — ones I’ve contributed, and others I know others are bringing forward and rebounding off their colleagues,” he said. “It’s going to be tricky to weed through all the work because there’s going to be a huge divergence of opinion in terms of how we move forward.
“It’s not an easy proposition, but one that hopefully makes sure all the voices we’ve heard over the last three weeks are honoured.”
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