As the City of Calgary gets set for another busy construction season, leaders are working out a series of approaches to help make that work more friendly for local businesses.
On Wednesday, city councillors with the Infrastructure and Planning Committee approved a motion to pass on the “Business-Friendly Construction Policy” for a further review with full council.
It comes as the city embarks on an ambitious project to replace a large section of the Bearspaw south feeder main in Calgary — work that would normally take up to four years, according to Mayor Jeromy Farkas, will be completed in just a year.
Previous water main breaks along that pipe, as well as the new construction project, have disrupted and even permanently displaced some local businesses.
A report sent to the city’s Infrastructure and Planning Committee says the Business-Friendly Construction Policy “clarifies what Calgarians can expect from City-led construction projects,” setting clear objectives to guide how aspects like customer access are considered when construction projects are planned and put into action.
A one-time grant to support businesses in Marda Loop, named the Main Streets Business Support Grant, was piloted in 2024 to help those businesses prepare for construction disruptions — but the report found the program didn’t achieve its stated intent.
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More than $1.3 million was given out as part of that program.
“Most businesses (71 per cent) self-reported using funds for general operating costs, while one-third used funds for intended business-led initiatives,” the report said.
“There is reputational risk that the (business-friendly construction policy) could create an unrealistic expectation that construction impacts can be fully avoided given construction inherently being disruptive,” the report outlined.
“In recent years, we’ve seen many projects that haven’t seen the level of coordination that local Calgarians and business owners should expect,” explained Farkas.
“We want to say if there’s a certain timeline, we can be held to that timeline.”
Ward 13 coun. Dan McLean believes better planning and communication can make life easier for everyone involved.
“It’s a little reactive… we should have been proactive,” McLean said at Calgary city hall on Wednesday. “We need a ‘one dig policy,’ we’ve always talked about that.”
“There’s nothing more frustrating than having a road ripped up, paved down and then ripped up again.”
Kayode Southwood with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says the blueprint exists in other jurisdictions across the country.
“We’re really hoping the city will take a hard look at municipalities like Montreal and Quebec City,” Southwood said. “They have a construction mitigation program that looks at how much loss a business is experiencing and it scales the funding support based on that.”
“(Business owners) want to see better communication with the city through business liaisons and they also want customers to be able to access their stores better,” Southwood explained, “because that will ultimately allow them to retain some of the revenue lost.”
Calgary’s capital construction program includes $3.8 billion in projects in 2026.
And how do they plan to support those businesses like car washes, window cleaners, etc. throughout the City which will also be impacted?