by D. Jeanne Kimber
Happy New Year! We hope that everyone in Highland Park has a healthy and happy 2025!
You have likely heard or read that the legal challenge against the Rezoning for Housing bylaw was dismissed by the judge. Unless there is a successful appeal against the decision, then the change to R-CG zoning for properties previously zoned R-C1 and R-C2 stands.
The following are matters of significance:
• The Development Permit (DP) application for a four-building rowhouse complex at 4016 to 4024 3 Street NW is now under review. The 16 units (with suites) would be oriented towards 3 Street NW. We expect that the City’s review process will take some time. A comparable project for 40 Avenue NW took several amendments to the plans and roughly two years before it was approved. We have reiterated our concerns regarding traffic issues on 3 Street and 40 Avenue NW.
• The DP approval for two front and rear semi-detached buildings with suites at 3827 Centre B Street NW was appealed to the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board (SDAB) by an affected neighbour. The appeal was won and the DP approval overturned. The main reasons for overturning the approval centred on the protrusion of window wells into the 1.2m wide walkways along the side yards which reduced these walkways to widths deemed too narrow and less functional. Likewise, the window wells occupied too much of the so-called amenity space in the area between the two semi-detached, rendering the amenity space less usable. The SDAB quoted a couple of sections of the Municipal Development Plan (MDP) which emphasize that redevelopment should be sensitive to the surrounding properties. The SDAB found that the proposed mid-block redevelopment had the minimum front setback of 3.0m whereas all the other houses on the block had front setbacks of 6 to 7m. The Board therefore ruled that the project was not sensitive to the context and did not therefore conform to the MDP.
• As a result of the SDAB’s decision regarding the property at 3827 Centre B Street NW, we have filed an appeal against a nearly identical project proposed for 215 41 Avenue NW where the project would also be mid-block surrounded by bungalows all with roughly 6.5m front setbacks. The window wells also occupy more than half the width of the side yard walkways. The recent ruling by the SDAB should, hopefully, act as a precedent.
• A new DP application has been submitted for two rowhouse buildings to be built where 36 Avenue NE curves around onto Centre A Street NE. The street address of the property is 3703 Centre A Street NE. The project would contain six units with suites plus a six-car garage along the laneway. The proposed design is slope adaptive, to take advantage of the land sloping both to the north and to the east. The file reference is DP2024-08555.
In addition to the above-mentioned development projects, a new DP application for a five-unit rowhouse with suites has been submitted for 137 40 Avenue NW. This would replace a previously approved DP for the same property, which was also for a five-unit rowhouse with suites. The file reference is DP2024-08783.
The DP and Land Use Change (LOC) applications that were listed as new or under review in last month’s newsletter, are still under review. The City’s Public Notices are published online every Thursday and show that there have been no new DP or LOC applications approved in the past week. These Public Notices (https://www.calgary.ca/development/public-notices.html) and the Development Map (developmentmap.calgary.ca) are invaluable sources of planning information for community residents.
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