Hundreds of people to speak at hearing on repeal of Calgary blanket rezoning policy
Posted Mar 20, 2026 11:38 am.
Calgary’s second public hearing on blanket rezoning will start Monday, and it’s shaping up to be just as hefty as the first one.
The city says as of Friday morning, it has received 339 speaker requests and 69 panel requests from members of the public to have their say on the issue.
There has also been 2,390 written public submissions sent in to the city.
The agenda for Monday’s meeting is 6,804 pages long.
This hearing was prompted by a 13-2 vote by council in December to start the process to repeal the contentious bylaw.
The rezoning policy was approved in 2024 as part of Calgary’s housing strategy to allow for denser housing.
The public hearing for that bylaw ran 15 days, over 100 hours, and had 736 speakers. It also came with a price tag of $1.3 million.
Critics have argued it worsens traffic and parking, strains infrastructure, and changes the character of established neighbourhoods.
City data shows the nearly 1,150 town and row house development permits submitted in 2025 were enabled by citywide rezoning.
Opponents of repeal say rolling back the policy won’t fix those problems. They also say blanket rezoning has been successful in addressing Calgary’s housing shortage.
Questions have also been raised on whether a repeal of blanket rezoning would impact millions of dollars in housing funding from the federal government.
A letter sent to the city from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) last month said: “In order to remain compliant with the agreement, any updated zoning must not reintroduce exclusionary (single family only) zoning, allow for at least four units on a lot across the city without additional approvals, and must not reintroduce approval processes or other barriers that slow down development.”
City administration has previously stated the federal government interprets both “targets” and “initiatives” in the Housing Accelerator Fund agreement as binding commitments and reversing them could be viewed as reneging on the deal.
This hearing is expected to last several days.
-With files from Joel Mendelson and Henna Saeed
