Councillors aim to take citywide rezoning proposal to a plebiscite

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Six Calgary city councillors are hoping to take the contentious issue of citywide rezoning to a plebiscite during the next municipal election.

Ward 13 councillor Dan McLean said he will introduce a notice of motion for a technical review at next Tuesday’s executive committee meeting that calls on administration to “plan for and prepare a vote of the electors on citywide blanket rezoning.”

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If McLean’s motion is ultimately approved at a future council meeting, the plebiscite would be held in conjunction with the next municipal election on Oct. 20, 2025.

“Not one councillor campaigned on a mandate for upzoning the entire city,” McLean said Thursday. “That will affect every single property owner and taxpayer in the city.

“Something this consequential, I think, should go to the people for a vote of the electors.”

Five councillors are co-sponsoring the notice of motion, including Sonya Sharp, Terry Wong, Andre Chabot, Sean Chu and Peter Demong.

“This is something that is going to impact every single Calgary homeowner . . . to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars of their investment money,” Demong said. “I think it would be prudent of us to say, ‘Are you in favour of this or not?’”

What is blanket rezoning?

The proposal to change Calgary’s base residential zoning district to Residential Grade-Oriented infill (shortened to RC-G) was one of the directives included in the city’s housing strategy that council approved last September.

A method to boost density in previously developed neighbourhoods that currently only permit single-family housing, the RC-G district allows for medium-density homes, such as duplexes, four-plexes and rowhouses, to be built on an individual parcel of land.

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RC-G also allows for the development of secondary suites and backyard suites.

The city has conducted consultation on the rezoning proposal since January, including mailouts and in-person information sessions.

Staff at those sessions claimed blanket rezoning would not only increase Calgary’s density, but also streamline the process homeowners have to follow if they want to redevelop on their property, as it eliminates the need for individual rezoning applications (though a development permit may still be required).

The city also claims a base RC-G district would help with Calgary’s housing affordability as it allows for more units overall, thus increasing supply to reduce competition.

But McLean questions those impacts, and says there are better ways to address Calgary’s housing crisis.

“I have nothing (against) density, but it should be done in the right places — along transit-oriented corridors,” he said. “But maybe not in the middle of an established community.”

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Blanket rezoning would change the character and fabric of established communities, he added, and such a drastic change should require a mandate of Calgarians.

“I’d just like to hear what the people have to say,” he said. “What I’ve heard from many residents — and I know my fellow councillors have as well — is that the public is feeling they’re not being listened to. What better way to show them we are listening than by having a plebiscite?”

He also pointed out the city has held plebiscites on hot-button issues before, such as the decision to reinstall fluoride in Calgary’s drinking water and the decision whether or not to bid on hosting the Olympics in 2026.

Rezoning proposal includes council’s approval at public hearing

While council adopted the housing strategy last September, they’d have to approve the blanket rezoning component separately at a public hearing, as it would result in changes to the city’s land use bylaw. That public hearing has already been set for April 22.

If a majority of councillors vote in favour of McLean’s motion, the public hearing would be cancelled.

Some councillors have already spoken out about McLean’s notice of motion, including Ward 3 representative Jasmine Mian.

In a reply to McLean’s post on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, Mian pointed out that all of Calgary’s newer communities built in the last 10 years are already zoned at a base RG, or low-density mixed housing. This district accommodates a range of mixed housing forms, including cottage housing clusters, duplexes, rowhouses, semi-detached and single detached homes.

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Speaking to reporters Thursday, Mian called the idea of a plebiscite on the rezoning proposal a delay tactic that would push the discussion ahead, potentially becoming a wedge issue during the next election.

She said she’d prefer to hear what Calgarians have to say at the April 22 public hearing.

“The benefit of a public hearing is that everyone can come and speak to it,” she said. “Even folks who are against the rezoning, I’m not convinced a plebiscite is the right direction to go if you want to oppose it.”

Federal money contingent on rezoning

Last November, the City of Calgary received $228 million from the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) to streamline thousands of new home builds in the coming years.

Before approving the city’s application to the HAF, federal housing minister Sean Fraser told Mayor Jyoti Gondek last September that the funding would be contingent on parts of the housing strategy being approved — including the removal of “exclusionary zoning” policies.

Neither Mian, Demong nor McLean could answer Thursday if the federal funding would be withdrawn or impacted if council chooses to pursue a plebiscite, though McLean acknowledged it’s possible.

“The province is talking about how they’d like to see the money coming through the province and not directly to the city,” he noted. “Myself, I will not be bribed by the Trudeau government to change my zoning laws. That’s what I see it as.”

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