Calgary rezoning hearings to enter week two

Calgary’s public hearing on rezoning is set to begin again Monday, but council says more research is needed as misinformation has reared its head throughout the week.

Close to 500 Calgarians have presented their thoughts, ideas and suggestions on how the city could alleviate the housing crisis as of Saturday.

But not all of them have all the facts.

“To stand up there and suggest that a whole bunch of things that are deeply underway have never been thought of before just doesn’t demonstrate a lot of commitment to understanding what’s before us,” said Ward 9 Coun. Gian Carlo Carra.

“It is really about ‘Do you believe this build form belongs in communities everywhere?’ Yes or no,” said Ward 11 Coun. Kourtney Penner.

Concerns about affordability, amenities, and everything in between have come up, but councillors say a lot of presenters need to take a look at the city’s entire housing plan, and the work that’s already been done.

“Suggesting that this is a rushed process when it’s been years in the making… suggesting that this is a wild experiment when we’ve been using this land use for ten years,” Carra said.

“Even ‘how did we come to arrive at housing accelerator fund money, how many parking spots would actually be needed… is this move local area plan-compliant? Spoiler alert it is,” Penner explained.

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek says some of the concerns have been addressed, but the awareness of them is not immediate in some of the hearings.

“’Why haven’t we applied for other types of funding?’ We have. ‘Why aren’t we using city-owned land for housing?’ We are. There’s a number of parcels that we’ve done that with. ‘Why are you not looking at secondary suite incentives?’ We have,” she said.

However, Gondek adds it’s also the city’s responsibility to put more information out.

“We need to put together a better summary of all of the things that we’re doing and indicate that this is just one of the components of how we’re approaching housing,” she said.

Around 500 more people are set to come down to city council in the coming week to share their thoughts.

For those heading down, councillors suggest coming prepared and understanding the background, and heading down a little bit early to check out some of the information sheets they have set up.

More than 5,500 written submissions have also been made to city council as part of the hearing.

Coverage begins anew Monday, and Calgarians can listen live to CityNews660 for the latest on the public hearing.