Proposed Calgary bylaw changes to address ‘missing middle’ housing

:Calgary’s City Council is looking into proposed land use bylaw changes. The changes would affect zoning rules for rowhouses, townhouses and fourplexes. The public hearing had a large turnout in Tuesday’s council meeting.

By Tiffany Goodwein and Joey Chini

Posted Oct 4, 2022 8:23 am.

Last Updated Oct 5, 2022 6:27 am.

Calgary city council is considering an adjustment to a bylaw that will change how multi-family homes are built.

The City of Calgary says the land use bylaw change would bring more consistency and open the door to building more grade-oriented housing such as rowhomes, townhomes, and suites in established neighbourhoods, in turn boosting Calgary’s housing supply.

The bylaw says grade-oriented housing is sometimes referred to as “missing middle” homes, which has seen “limited development in many cities across North America including Calgary.”

The proposal is being praised by those in the development industry, but some community associations are pushing back.

Jason Sokolosky, president of the Montgomery Community Association, says he has concerns about how neighbourhood parking would be affected by the land use district changes.

The proposal would reduce the number of required parking stalls, and he says it is not a realistic plan.

“If you’re going to build these sort of structures, then make sure that the people that have built them, have ample space for parking. I’m not sure how that would work with these sort of structures,” Sokolosky said. “If you build… an eight-plex on one of these lots, well, make sure that there is room for — I’m just going to throw it out there — eight vehicles, or something like that. But right now, only making room for three vehicles is just not sufficient.”

“I might be able to walk to Safeway here, but I still want a car so I can get out to the mountains or pick up the kids or something like that. And this idea that you’re only going to have three parking spots for every eight units seems ludicrous to us.”

Beth Atkinson with the Hounsfield Heights – Briar Hill Community Association, says she’s concerned about what these changes would do to the “character” of neighborhoods. She believes the proposal is being “rushed” and claims there was a lack of public consultation.

“They actually came right out and said that we in the public ‘just don’t understand land use well enough to be consulted,’ and that’s frankly insulting and very undemocratic,” Atkinson said.

The city, however, rebukes that claim and says it did consult with residents on several occasions.

“The City of Calgary took care to revisit the concerns raised at public hearings for direct control applications that resulted in this Council direction, as well as, our Local Area Plan engagement, consultation for the creation of the R-CG district, and the Next 20 project for the Municipal Development Plan. Consistently, we heard the same themes arise that made us confident we were addressing citizen’s concerns while balancing the need for growth and change,” a statement from the city reads.

“Further, The City made intentional actions to inform citizens of the recommendations that will go before City Council on October 4. We partnered with the Federation of Calgary Communities, who collected questions and concerns from their members (community associations) and addressed them through two in-depth videos. We hosted an Ask Me Anything on Calgary’s subreddit, a comment box on our website, calgary.ca/housingchoice.

“We also made some functional changes to the rules in the R-CG district to make development easier for these properties that aren’t on corner lots (known as mid-block parcels), based on direction from Council. This would affect parcels that are currently zoned as R-CG and wish to redevelop their property. The majority of these are mainly located close to the Bowness & Montgomery Main Street, the 17th Avenue NE Main Street, 37 Street SW Main Street and the Banff Trail/Capitol Hill LRT Station.

“This is not changing the land use of any parcel in Calgary, nor is it putting densification anywhere. Land Use Districts are one tool to help implement a vision for an area, but will go through the proper process prior to being applied, meaning that communities will have the chance to comment on the appropriateness of these districts when applications are submitted.”

If the bylaw is approved, the new changes will take effect in 2023.