A group of Calgarians are trying to get a court to reverse a decision by Calgary city council to change the default residential zoning city-wide — a move approved earlier this year.
The request for a judicial review into blanket rezoning has 288 applicants, with dozens packing a Calgary courtroom Monday morning.
“This isn’t about development per se,” said Robert Lehodey, a retired lawyer who is leading the legal challenge. “It’s about taking your right away without the full consideration by council and study of the infrastructure and impacts on community.”
Lawyers for the group opposed to the zoning changes argued for a stay of proceedings to temporarily stop the city from issuing development permits under the new zoning rules until a judicial review is complete.
According to Lehodey, pausing those development permits is necessary due to the “irreparable harm that will be caused to people who live next door to these developments.”
However, the city’s lawyer noted he only received the applicant’s materials on rezoning at the end of last week, and argued for a delay so he can have more time to review.
Court of King’s Bench Justice Robert Hall agreed and adjourned the matter, but noted a hearing on the application to stay the city-wide rezoning bylaw changes on an interim basis will be fast tracked and must be heard no later than Nov. 8.
“The outcome of today was quite positive for us,” Lehodey told reporters.
Calgary city council voted in favour of a bylaw to change the city’s default residential zoning in May with nine councillors in favour and six against.
The move meant Calgary’s land-use bylaw was amended to make residential grade-oriented infill (R-CG) the default residential zoning district across the city. The changes took effect Aug. 6.
R-CG allows a variety of housing types including single-detached, semi-detached, duplexes and rowhouses.
The move was a key recommendation and one of more than 80 in the city’s housing strategy, aimed at boosting supply and improving housing affordability.
According to city projections at the time, the change to R-CG would generate an additional 250 properties redeveloping to rowhouses per year, which could translate into around 750 net new additional homes.
Alkarim Devani, founder of developer RndSqr, told Global News the changes created more certainty for higher-density developments; and pausing development permits would be counterproductive.
“To all of a sudden remove or ask all these people who are in their development permit process or in construction building out these neighbourhoods to just stop building this type of housing while we’re in a housing crisis; it doesn’t seem like there’s any logic to that idea,” Devani said.
The vote came after council spent 12 days and 100 hours in a public hearing — the longest in the city’s history.
Of the 736 speakers who presented to council, 458 people were opposed, while 227 spoke in support; another 51 remained neutral about the changes. The city also received 6,101 written submissions.
“There’s an opportunity now for us to look past zoning, for us to look past density, and focus on the build form and how it meets the pedestrian realm, and focus on the things that matter and people are concerned about,” Devani said. “Maybe there’s this opportunity to work together with community to actually get the outcomes that they’re looking for.”
But critics of the zoning changes argue the decision impacts property rights, and hope the court overturns the city’s decision.
According to the City of Calgary, there have been 145 development permits between May 15 and Oct. 6 that would have required a zoning change if it wasn’t for the blanket rezoning decision by city council.