Nearly two-thirds of speakers at Calgary’s rezoning hearing were opposed to proposal

The longest public hearing in Calgary’s history resumed Thursday with administration giving a recap of all that was said over 12 days.

According to officials, over 736 speakers presented to city council over the proposal for blanket rezoning. Out of those speakers, there were 458 who were opposed (62.2 per cent), and 227 who supported the idea (30.8 per cent).

The remaining speakers, 51, were neutral on the proposal. It took over 100 hours to let all the Calgarians who opted to speak have their say.

The city’s new general manager of planning Tim Keane outlined some of what was heard over the past two-and-a-half weeks.

“It was such an impressive number of people, and the variety of ideas that came about during these two weeks, we just want to express how much we took that heart,” he says.

Keane said that while many residents acknowledge the need for more housing, others had different worries.

“We have these community goals that we share together, but also the individual personal things are equally important,” he says. “For example, property values. People are concerned about how this will impact property values?”

“That’s a legitimate concern, that we care about and have to be careful about.”

READ MORE: Calgary concludes longest-ever public hearing on citywide rezoning

Keane says, based on local market analysis, there is no evidence that suggests negative impacts on the property value of homes next to the kinds of development that the rezoning would allow.

The proposed blanket rezoning plan is an attempt to make it faster for housing approvals, and make it easier for more housing options to be built across the city, by allowing R-CG — also known as Residential Grade-Oriented Infill — which would mean more duplexes, rowhomes, or townhouses could be built.

The recap is giving councillors one last chance to wrap their brains around what they heard from thousands of residents during the marathon hearing, which began on Apr. 22.

In addition to the hundreds of speakers, there were also 6,101 written submissions. More than 50,000 people tuned into the public hearing through an online livestream.

Following Thursday’s presentation, matters on the controversial issue will be adjourned until after a special hearing meeting of council on Monday. At that time, councillors will have the chance to ask administration questions.

A motion will then be introduced, and amendments can be made and debated at that time.

The meeting will ultimately see a vote on the proposed motion and any amendments.