The City of Calgary recommends increasing the clarity and consistency of zoning rules for townhouses, townhouses and four-bed homes in Calgary. Planning and Development Services will come before Council on October 4, 2022 with proposed regulatory changes that include a new residential zoning district called Housing – Grade Oriented (H-GO), functional changes to Residential – Ground Oriented (R-CG). , and general rule updates for the multi-residential districts. If approved, these changes will be made to the Land Use Bylaw and effective January 2, 2023.
“With redevelopment comes opportunity,” says Lisa Kahn, Leader, Land Use Bylaw, City and Regional Planning. “Townhouses and small apartments can add variety to Calgary’s housing stock, but they are not easily built without applying special rules known as a ‘direct control district.'”
These special rules could cause confusion for citizens and developers because the rules were not the same for everyone. On April 12, 2022, the Board instructed Administration to propose regulatory changes that would address these inconsistencies.
Building consistency is about standardizing the rules for new approaches to housing
Housing projects that require ‘direct control districts’ do not fit within our current residential areas. Many projects called for a mix of rules from the R-CG and Multi-Residential districts. These updates will allow more options for homes to be built without the need to rezone the property to another residential zone. Instead, these projects can follow the standard development permit process, where citizens can review plans and provide comments through tools such as the Development Map.
The new district, H-GO, is for inner-city communities that are on the urban structure map of the Municipal Development Plan. This district adds the option of higher intensity redevelopment than that of R-CG, but still maintains direct ground level access for all houses (ie no flat/apartment forms).
Citizen input continues to be an important part of the planning process
These changes help provide consistency and clarity when redevelopment occurs in downtown communities. The rules will be standardized and reduce the need for the additional step of a direct control application. Instead, these projects can go through our development approval process where citizens can participate through the avenues they are used to.
These changes do not:
• approve development in advance,
• increase the number of houses allowed,
• reduce the ability to comment on future development applications.
These changes will inform the renewal of the Land Use Bylaw.
The City will monitor how these changes are used when projects apply for development approval. This information will inform the renewal of the Land Use Bylaw on what has worked or what needs further refinement to help build great communities in Calgary. The renewal of the Land Use By-law is expected to start in 2023.
For more information about the Public Hearing on Planning Matters on 4 October 2022, please visit the Planning matters webpage.
Also refer to the “Ask me anything” prompt reddit and visit the Building Housing Choice Project for more information.
