The policy is called citywide rezoning, but are the effects being seen citywide in Calgary?
Citywide rezoning, approved by the previous council in the spring of 2024, changed Calgary’s land-use bylaw to make residential grade-oriented infill (R-CG) the default residential zoning district across the city, which allows for a variety of housing types, including single-detached, semi-detached, duplexes and rowhouses on a single property.
Earlier this month, the new city council voted in favour of kickstarting the process to repeal the policy, and revert the city’s land-use rules back to what it was prior to citywide rezoning taking effect.
“What Calgarians have told this council is that the blanket rezoning, one-size-fits-all approach, hasn’t worked to deliver the housing at a speed, at a scale and at a price point Calgarians can afford,” said Calgary mayor Jeromy Farkas.
New data from the City of Calgary shows there have been 478 development permits enabled by citywide rezoning since the policy took effect in August 2024, which created 1,904 units.
Prior to the approval of citywide rezoning, those developments would’ve required a public hearing before the property’s zoning could be changed to make way for the development permit.
According to city data, the bulk of redevelopment spurred by citywide rezoning are in Ward 11 with 66, Ward 6 with 63, Ward 9 with 60, Ward 4 with 58, Ward 1 with 55, and Ward 8 with 34.
Rowhomes and townhomes are the dominant development in each of the wards.
The area with the most redevelopment from citywide rezoning is Ward 7, according to the city data, with 127 developments including 75 rowhomes and townhomes.
Coun. Myke Atkinson, who represents Ward 7, said the area has been disproportionately impacted by the amount of redevelopment even prior to the approval of citywide rezoning.
“Citywide rezoning allows for some of that redevelopment in other areas of the city,” he told Global News.
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“My concern is that when we repeal citywide rezoning, we’re actually going back to a time where the bulk of that development just falls back on the backs of the folks living in Ward 7.”
However, the development permit data shows there are some wards that have experienced very little redevelopment from citywide rezoning, and others that have seen none at all.
The majority of the councillors representing those wards voted in favour of repealing citywide rezoning, including Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean, one of the policy’s staunchest opponents. Ward 13 saw one townhouse/rowhouse redevelopment over the last year, according to the data.
“That’s just the start,” McLean told reporters. “Once you have a few on Elbow Drive or in Canyon Meadows, then its cascading even more.”
Ward 12 Coun. Mike Jamieson, whose communities haven’t had any citywide rezoning driven redevelopment, said his opposition comes from how the policy was approved by the previous city council after an historic public hearing that saw the majority of the more than 730 speakers opposed to the idea.
“Close to 80 per cent were against it and council voted for it anyways,” he told Global News. “For Ward 12, they want a councillors that’s going to listen and they want a city hall that works for them on important issues like this.”
Lori Williams, an associate professor of policy studies at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said the numbers show the issue and debate around it is riddled with nuance and politics.
“People weren’t particularly supportive of ideology or partisanship in the last election, what they want to see is representation of concerns within their ward,” she told Global News.
“That’s not to say there can’t be better policy formulated here, but it ought to be on the basis of evidence and not on the basis of a speculative, or ideological or partisan opposition.”
However, some councillors hope to overhaul the rules around what can be built under R-CG zoning, including Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness, who introduced a motion that asks administration to bring forward proposed changes to the zoning district to be considered during the public hearing next year.
“What is the build form? Are we going to have scattered architectural designs? That’s some of the conflict that’s come out of R-CG. There’s no community context, that’s missing,” Wyness said.
“How do you redevelop so that those who live there are comfortable with it?”
Atkinson, who voted against kickstarting the repeal of citywide rezoning, said many of the concerns from the community around citywide rezoning enabled redevelopment won’t be solved by repealing the policy, as developers could still apply to build them even if citywide rezoning is scrapped.
“There are many benefits that can come out of this when it’s done properly,” he told Global News. “So the trick is to get the rules done correctly, but when you haven’t had that development come in your neighbourhood, it’s all about what you imagine it to be, and your imagination always goes to the nightmares rather than the reality of the situation.”
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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