Dear Brentwoodians,
Blanket Rezoning Repeal
Very soon after last month’s issue was
submitted to our publishers, Calgary City Council voted to repeal the
contentious blanket rezoning policy. As regular readers will know, much has
been written about this in the Bugle over the last couple of years. We
have acknowledged the very real need to create more density and affordability
in Calgary, while opposing drastic changes in the look and feel of Brentwood.
Going back over my columns as well as the Development and Transportation
Committee’s monthly reports, some key points stand out:
·
The rezoning went too far, too
fast. Expecting residential neighbourhoods of bungalows and split-levels to
welcome (what are in effect) eight-unit apartment blocks on every side street
was foolish. A better path to more density is allowing double infills and
duplexes.
·
Transit needs to come first. A
dense city and a car-centred transportation network are fundamentally
incompatible, and transit funding needs to be a priority. Multiple new C-Train
or tramway lines should be planned, as well as a significant expansion of bus
routes and frequency.
·
The market does not create
affordable housing: developers will always seek to maximise their return on
investment. The City must either require that developers build some permanent
non-market units as part of permitting for multi-unit developments or acquire
land and build non-market housing itself.
·
Trees and green space are
important. Research demonstrates the negative impact of treeless neighbourhoods
and also charts the unequal distribution of canopy in our city
(https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/calgary-city-of-haves-and-have-nots-when-it-comes-to-trees).
Instead of allowing mature trees to be cut down in greener neighbourhoods
(often for no better reason other than to facilitate access for construction
crews), we should preserve these and plant more in neighbourhoods that lack
tree cover.
I will add another thought: there are many
areas in Calgary that are badly underused. One prominent example is 16 Ave
North, which is full of ugly single-story retail buildings and parking lots.
This would be a perfect corridor to build a long stretch of four to six story
residential buildings with shops and restaurants on the ground level. Add
dedicated transit lanes,or better yet, a tramway running from end-to-end and it
could become a vibrant part of the city.
Repeal of the blanket rezoning doesn’t have
to mean a return to the status quo of endless sprawl and housing insecurity.
Carefully crafted plans will look at what works around Calgary and elsewhere
and seek to replicate those approaches while still respecting the unique
character and attributes of our neighbourhoods.
Yours sincerely,
Jonathan Jucker, Editor, Brentwood Bugle
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