Two years after Calgary city council held its longest public hearing in the city’s history, another marathon session began on Monday to tackle the same contentious subject: blanket rezoning.

Council has 360 speakers from the public registered to speak this week, and as of Friday, it had received 2,390 written submissions from people sharing their views on whether blanket rezoning should be repealed. The public hearing is anticipated to run until at least Friday, with roughly 12-hour hearings expected each day, and the potential for the meeting to spill over into next week.

This week’s hearing is the latest round of debate over the municipal policy, which came into effect in 2024. Blanket rezoning allows for more multi-unit housing types, such as rowhouses or fourplexes, on lots that were previously only zoned for single-family homes.

In April 2024, more than 700 people shared their thoughts with council about blanket rezoning across a 12-day public hearing. Council voted later that year to move forward with the policy.

A key difference between this week’s hearing and the last one, Mayor Jeromy Farkas said on Monday, is the conversation can be informed by the results the city has seen so far from blanket rezoning.

He added that even though he and many other councillors ran on either changing or completely repealing blanket rezoning, they must remain open to persuasion from the public’s comments this week.

“It’s not just about whether or not we should keep or scrap blanket rezoning; it’s more so about how we can continue to grow,” said Farkas.

“[And] how to build needed housing in a way that makes sense for residents but also can keep Calgary affordable as we approach becoming that city of two million people.”

Calgarians speaking at the public hearing will appear before a city council that voted 13-2 in December to begin the process to repeal blanket rezoning, shortly after being voted into office during last fall’s municipal election.

Initial public speeches

Much of Monday’s debate revolved around whether blanket rezoning has successfully led to improved housing affordability and supply, and whether the policy has resulted in thoughtful planning.

The policy’s supporters who appeared in council on Monday argued blanket rezoning leads to more accessible and affordable housing, that it will lead to more young people staying in Calgary to purchase a home, and that it’s provided economic and tax benefits for the city.

Attendees who oppose the policy argued it has led to multi-unit homes built without community approval, and that it could strain infrastructure like water lines and roads that weren’t designed to support neighbourhoods with higher density.

“Here I am facing a new council over the same issues,” said Tracy Cherniawsky on Monday.

“No thought or planning was involved in the system. We’ve seen issues with lack of parking, little to no green space between the row housing, a strain placed upon traffic accessing these locations, not to mention the taxing demands on our fragile infrastructure such as our water system.”

Many attendees who spoke up for blanket rezoning warned council against relying on growing outward through more urban sprawl, rather than densifying the city. 

Emily King-Moore, who works with the non-market housing charity HomeSpace Society, urged  councillors that if they felt the political fervour around blanket rezoning had reached the point where there was no other option than repealing it, that it at least be replaced with responsible urban planning.

“That can’t mean increasing density only in the city’s core and greenfield. It’s bad urban planning and bad for the budget,” said King-Moore.

She said Calgary is “learning the hard way” the difficulty of sustaining a high amount of infrastructure per capita.

Some speakers suggested a plebiscite should be called to directly ask voters their opinion on blanket rezoning, especially as many noted that not everyone who cares about the issue has the resources or time to appear before city council. 

Others suggested that some people likely assumed their vote in the last municipal election expressed their feelings about blanket rezoning, as the policy was one of the most-discussed election issues among major candidates.

Councillors say they’re open to persuasion

Ward 8 Coun. Nathaniel Schmidt said the neighbourhoods he represents are particularly feeling the pressure of rapid growth, and he’ll be listening closely to suggestions from the public because he campaigned on fixing the policy.

“It’s about using as many tools in our toolkit as we can to build different housing forms that suits the needs of different people,” said Schmidt.

Ward 11 Coun. Rob Ward ran on a platform of repealing blanket rezoning, but like the rest of council must remain open to being persuaded by the public to change his vote.

“I’ve heard some good arguments so far,” said Ward. “There are people with income issues or access issues that perhaps rezoning could help them with. Is there another path to help them with that? Is there another solution? I think there might be.”