Living Green
Is Blanket Rezoning Green?
by Stephanie Ho Lem, promoting Living Green
I had never heard of the term blanket rezoning until a few years ago when I was informed by the city that my residence would be zoned R-CG and not R-1. City planners had promoted the “Home is Here†housing strategy to address Calgary’s critical housing crisis by increasing density and helping with affordability in established inner-city neighbourhoods. The proposed blanket rezoning got a lot of Calgarians’ backing. In 2024, four weeks of hearings were held where over 700 Calgarians spoke, 6,100 written submission and 88 percent of oral submissions opposed blanket rezoning.
What is R-CG? Critics argue it’s a one-size-fits-all approach that ignores specific neighbourhood needs and burdens existing services. Where a single-family home once sat, eight units can be built (four main units plus four secondary suites). R-CG designation will allow two buildings, an increase in height from 10 to 11 metres, an increase in lot coverage from 45 to 60 percent, reduced setbacks and no side setbacks.
Regardless of the public opposition to blanket rezoning, eight councillors, including Mayor Gondek voted yes to blanket rezoning while six councillors opposed. The bylaw got approved but why?
It is generally argued that blanket rezoning will help the environment. The following is a list intended to benefit the environment.
• Reduced Urban Sprawl – can accommodate population growth within the existing footprint thus preventing destruction of natural grasslands, wetlands, and agricultural land on the outskirts.
• Lower Transportation Emissions – encourages more walking, biking and making public transit more viable, all reducing daily trips via personal automobiles.
• Energy Efficient Housing – new housing is often 35 to 50% more energy efficient than older existing housing.
• Infrastructure Optimization – infilling existing serviced neighbourhoods rather than building new carbon intensive infrastructure (roads, water, sewage).
• Reduced Per Capital Footprint – enabling more people to live in denser, mixed-use areas.
Blanket rezoning may sound positive for the climate but there are environmental trade-offs. Increased densification is causing mature trees to be removed to make way for the increased lot coverage of 60 percent, which in turn leaves little or no amenity space for replacement trees and/or landscaping for effective carbon capture.
The Crescent Heights Planning Committee reviews all Crescent Heights’ development permits. One major environmental trade-off is the removal of mature trees/bushes on private property. Seventy percent of all trees in Calgary are on private land. Crescent Heights is about 120 years old, with the largest concentration of heritage assets north of the Bow River. To expand the urban canopy, the city is planting 930,000 new trees over five years through a federal funding agreement. Recent initiatives have also provided 2,000 to 7,500 free trees directly to residents for planting. Calgary’s tree canopy goal is 16%, but that percentage has fluctuated from a low of 8.22% (2012 to 2022) to the current 9.6%. If R-CG development continues in inner city communities, the city of Calgary must increase the total number of free trees to its citizens to plant, or the tree canopy percentage will fall.
Mature trees help us fight climate change, improve air quality, reduce stormwater runoff, and prevent soil erosion. With climate change, we are experiencing warmer temperatures, and hotter temperatures are becoming a seasonal norm. Trees provide shade, reduce the heat island effect, and cool our environment through the release of water vapour back into the air – reducing temperatures. As much as trees are needed to help with climate change, the City of Calgary does not have a bylaw requiring the automatic replacement of trees removed from private property during development.
In a couple of weeks, on March 23, there will be another public hearing on blanket rezoning. As much as the blanket rezoning bylaw provides environmental benefits, the impacts of intensified development are significant at the local (street) level. Recognizing the flaws, the bylaw should be reworked to address the environmental trade-offs.
Please note that the content provided is for informational purposes.
Sources: CBC: City of Calgary report says blanket rezoning has required minimal infrastructure upgrades; Calgarians For Thoughtful Growth, special to the Calgary Sun: Why blanket rezoning won’t deliver the affordability Calgary needs; Calgary Herald: Councillor Sonia Sharp on blanket rezoning.
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