What Blanket Rezoning Means for Brentwood
by Melanie Swailes on behalf of the Development and Transportation Committee
On August 6, 2024, significant changes were made to the land use designations (“zoning”) of your property, based on the approval of blanket rezoning in May 2024. All Calgary residential lots now have a “Land Use Class” (zoning) of R-CG, “…a residential designation that is primarily for rowhouses but also allows for single detached, side-by-side, and duplex homes that may include a secondary suite.”
R-CG is the citywide low density residential zoning. This means that a property owner can apply to build a variety of housing forms on their site (rowhouse, duplex, single home) without a land use change. Previously, anything other than a single-family home required an application to change the zoning, including a public hearing before Council.
Does this mean that every property could have a townhouse on it? Not necessarily. If the property has no back lanes, it would be difficult to make the parking requirements work. Most importantly, the property lot size has to be large enough. Most 50-foot properties would be large enough for a four-unit townhouse (plus four suites), but the way that is determined is by the density of R-CG, which is 75 units per hectare. If the property is slightly smaller or irregular, it might not fit those criteria. In that case, something smaller could be built (like a three-unit townhouse) or the applicant could request a public hearing at Council for a different zoning to allow greater density.
All rowhouses are now a “discretionary” use in R-CG. Neighbours still have the right to see the Development Permit (DP) proposed plans and to comment on how they might be impacted. These plans are circulated through the Planning Department, and Council is not involved.
One significant aspect of a Discretionary Permit is that it can be appealed through the SDAB (Subdivision Development and Appeal Board). It’s important to keep an eye on any DP if you are considering an appeal because you only have three weeks (which may be changing to two weeks) from the day the DP was approved to file the appeal. Once this time frame is passed, there is no way to appeal or ask for changes to the plan. An SDAB appeal costs $200 and requires a lot of work to prepare all background materials, but it is an option.
Contextual Single Detached dwelling is a permitted use in R-CG. Property owners can still build a single-family house, but there are rules around height, setbacks, lot coverage, etc. As long as the applicant complies with those aspects, then the drawings are not subject to comments from the community association or neighbours. If relaxations are requested, the application might become “discretionary”, at which point it is circulated for review and comments.
Properties that do not have a Rowhouse or a Townhouse may now have both a backyard suite and a secondary suite. This is a significant change, because previously a home could have either a basement suite or a backyard suite, but not both. Also, secondary suites were “discretionary”, meaning that the BCA was circulated on each application and collected feedback from neighbours. Since secondary suites are “permitted” in R-CG, the BCA is no longer involved in secondary suite applications in existing homes, and neighbours will no longer be able to provide feedback or appeal a decision.
Increasing parking requirements in some areas, reduced to 0.5 stalls near transit stations, including throughout Brentwood. In some newer areas, such as much of Ward 2 in the far NW, parking was increased to one stall per unit, in part due to poorer transit service (as a result, it is unlikely that eight-unit R-CGs could be built in those communities because there simply isn’t enough room for eight vehicles on any one site.)
Previously, a home with a suite had to have two designated off-street parking spaces: one for the primary dwelling and one for the secondary suite. We’ve heard many complaints about spillover parking and multiple vehicles associated with a suite, so we have been vigilant in ensuring that our BCA feedback includes the necessity of sufficient parking. Two recent applications had no parking space for the tenant, so we appealed at SDAB and were successful in both cases: parking had to be provided. However, with the change to 0.5 parking spaces, this means that a home with an upstairs dwelling and a downstairs rental unit now only needs one parking space.
The blanket rezoning has major impact on existing communities. A trend we’re seeing in other communities is “lot amalgamation”, which means a developer buying two or three properties in a row, applying for higher-density rezoning (such as M-CG), and then combining those into a much larger building(s), some with 20+ units on what used to be three houses.
Brentwood will start to see changes as well. Please consider joining the Development and Transportation Committee – no planning knowledge, familiarity with zoning or with reviewing blueprints or drawings required! There are free short planning courses available through the Federation of Calgary Communities, so simply bring a strong sense of community and a desire to be involved in changes and plans for our area.
If you would like to join our community association, you are always welcome to do so. Contact the office at [email protected] or at 403-284-3477.
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