Councillors to hold special meeting to debate rezoning plebiscite

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Calgary city council will hold a special meeting on Wednesday to debate a motion to send the blanket rezoning proposal to a plebiscite.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek called the special meeting, which requires 24 hours’ notice, following a technical review of the notice of motion by members of the executive committee on Tuesday afternoon.

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The intent of calling a special meeting was to expedite the process of notifying Calgarians with thousands of mail-outs whether an upcoming public hearing on the rezoning plan will go ahead on April 22, according to Gondek.

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“It feels like a handful of days, but for people who are perhaps not aware that this is coming, the sooner we get those letters in the mail to them, the better off we are,” she said. “I also don’t want it to be the case where Calgarians feel like we delayed getting information to them, when in fact, the delay was resulting from a notice of motion.”

The notice of motion, introduced by Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean last week, calls on administration to “plan for and prepare a vote of the electors on citywide blanket rezoning,” which would be held in conjunction with Calgary’s next municipal election in October 2025.

Five council members signed onto McLean’s notice of motion — Sonya Sharp, Terry Wong, Andre Chabot, Sean Chu and Peter Demong.

As part of the housing strategy that council approved last September, the city is proposing to change Calgary’s base residential zoning district to Residential Grade-Oriented infill (RC-G). The aim is to boost density in pre-established neighbourhoods that are currently zoned for single-family housing.

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The RC-G district would allow for homeowners to develop medium-density housing forms, such as duplexes and row houses, on their properties without first applying to the city for a land use redesignation.

A public hearing on the issue was scheduled for April 22, but if McLean’s motion is approved on Wednesday that meeting would be cancelled.

If the motion doesn’t gain council’s majority approval, the public hearing legally requires at least 30 days’ public notice.

While proponents claim blanket rezoning would help limit Calgary’s suburban sprawl and improve housing affordability by adding to the city’s overall housing supply, critics argue the change would alter the character of established neighbourhoods and lead to a development free-for-all.

“Nobody ran, the mayor included, on a platform of upzoning or rezoning the entire city,” McLean said.

Tuesday’s meeting was to consider motion’s technical merits

When the notice of motion was introduced at Tuesday’s meeting, it was for a technical review rather than a formal debate, which would have taken place at the following week’s regular council meeting on March 19.

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However, during the technical review, Ward 3 Coun. Jasmine Mian suggested a special meeting of council as soon as possible to discuss the motion’s merits.

“This is a big issue that Calgarians really care about, and the councillors bringing this forward, I know they really care about it, too,” she said. “The sooner we can make a decision, the better it is. It doesn’t matter what side of the issue you are when it comes to a plebiscite, I think the sooner we can decide that, the sooner we can either move forward with not having to continue town halls and not sending out notices to affected residents, or we can continue that process.”

The committee ultimately voted 8-4 to hold the special meeting on Wednesday at 4 p.m. Councillors McLean, Chabot, Wong and Chu voted in opposition.

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