Your Moment in Planning - Mayor's Letter

Good Afternoon,

With the public hearing now completed and City Council’s decision to approve the rezoning changes city-wide, I thought I would take this opportunity to reconnect and provide a little clarity to what has changed since we last met. I want to assure you that I did take much of what I heard from our meeting on April 20^th to heart and advocated with my colleagues for changes based on that feedback. I hope you will see some of your suggestions reflected in the themes of the amendments approved below.

Enhance Public Engagement

Administration has been directed to complete the following:

• Review and enhance The City of Calgary Applicant Outreach Toolkit in collaboration with interested community associations, residents and industry to improve transparency in community outreach and engagement for development permit applications in R-CG districts, using this process to either create an incentive or requirement for community engagement prior to a formal application submission, with an update to Council by end of 2024 Q3;
• Create a Rowhouse How-to Guide with input from interested community associations, residents and industry that identifies contextually appropriate design strategies (including but not limited to building height, placement and treatment of windows, air conditioners, waste & recycling bins and landscaping), with an update to Council by end of 2024 Q4;
• Determine the necessary resources and any associated funding required to fully implement and sustain a Community Planning Planner Liaison program as previously discussed with some inner-city communities and report back to Council no later than the end of 2024 Q3 for any resource and budget requests; and
• Investigate and report back on options to improve the public notification systems and information provided to users through the City’s planning and development information systems (i.e., DMAP, Calgary.ca, etc.), and report back by 2025 Q4.

Rules & Contextual Fit

Administration has been directed to complete the following:

• Utilize or leverage an existing community and industry working group to mutually seek efficiencies in the development permit process to expedite development permit timelines, while making townhouse and rowhouse development permits more consistent and standardized in RCG areas to create transparency and predictability for applicants and the public;
• Report back annually to Community Development Committee with recommendations to address issues in the Land Use Bylaw, Local Area Planning program, and permit approvals that have arisen from Rezoning for Housing; and
• Consider changes to the Land Use Bylaw, including provisions related to the current R-G, R-CG and H-GO districts, to address issues related to privacy for adjacent neighbours identified through this report as part of its reporting to Council on the City Building Program.

General Concerns

Administration has been directed to complete the following:

• Review all City-owned parks and evaluate the appropriate district and include a recommendation to rezone with the implementation of the new Zoning Bylaw (i.e. remove residential zoning from parkland);
• Amend the bylaw to clarify which areas must provide a minimum of 1.0 parking stalls per unit or suite, and those that may provide 0.5 stalls per unit or suite. (chart will be available in the confirmed minutes and represented in the bylaw itself); and
• Track Development Permit applications on RCG parcels city-wide to identify areas where increased densification requires infrastructure investment (including but not limited to water, roads, and parks), and bring forward the most appropriate funding tool to ensure growth is supported with proper infrastructure.

While this list is not exhaustive (and we are awaiting the final, confirmed minutes), I hope you find it useful in seeing your concerns reflected in Council’s decision making. As we discussed on April 20^th, I think meeting at least once per year to continue to the dialogue on this and other important issues to your communities is a necessary and helpful step forward. My office will work with Leslie Evans of the Federation of Calgary Communities to plan that next session and ensure enough notice for all who might wish to participate.

Again, I thank you for your advocacy and your passion for your communities.

Sincerely,

Jyoti