Calgary city council to vote on blanket rezoning hearings

Calgary’s blanket rezoning goes back to city council on Monday for a debate on repealing a move made by the previous council.

This also comes after a letter sent by a group calling themselves “Calgarians for Thoughtful Growth” is urging Mayor Jeromy Farkas to keep his campaign promise and begin the process of repealing the bylaw, saying voters elected a council majority — who were running on a platform to repeal blanket rezoning — in October’s municipal election.

“Many of them campaigned on repealing the blanket rezoning. I think you need to be true to your constituents; it’s really that simple,” Robert Lehodey told CityNews.

“This is not to say there can’t be densification, there can’t be more housing, there can’t be more affordable housing built. It has to be built in an intelligent, consultative way with communities where it makes sense and when it is truly, truly affordable.”

While at a luncheon on Friday, Farkas said it’s clear that council needs to restore certainty for everyone involved in the housing market.

“For me, I’m going to be looking at ways that we can replace the blanket approach with a more targeted approach,” he said.

“To be able to build the needed housing in the right areas, better supported by the community, in a more targeted way, where the infrastructure can support it, closer to education, mass transit stations.”

But the removal of blanket rezoning may not be the best course of action, according to Austin Thompson, a policy analyst at the Fraser Institute.

“I think a predictable consequence of moving towards a system where, for example, mayor and council will be given more discretion over what homes can be built and where, will reliably reduce Calgarians’ housing options, in terms of what types of homes they want to live in, where they want those homes to be located,” he said.

Blanket rezoning officially took effect in August 2024 after a public hearing that took weeks. On Monday, council will vote to start the process that will send the issue back to another public hearing in 2026.