As you likely have heard, Calgary city council voted 9-6 in favour to pass blanket zoning. Among those nine voting in favour was our own Ward 11 Councillor, Ms Kourtney Penner. We find it discouraging that given the feedback from Calgarians during nearly three weeks of public hearings, Council still concluded this is a good idea for the city.
• 736 people spoke at the hearings, with an estimated 65% speaking against re-zoning.
• 6,101 written submissions were collected, with an estimated 80% of the submissions speaking against the zoning change.
Overall, we believe the main concern expressed by those against blanket zoning was simply the lack of control and oversite in the changes proposed regarding how we develop our neighbourhoods. We did not hear anyone say they were against more density, just that it must occur with clear guidelines in a manner that upholds the uniqueness of individual communities. We also believe Calgarians had legitimate concerns about twelve dwellings being built on a single parcel of land that have largely been ignored.
Frustratingly, the Municipal Government Act already provides guidance on how municipalities can densify. This includes the Local Area Plan (LAP) process that Calgary has used for years. In fact, Willow Ridge just finished negotiating in good faith with the City to update our Heritage Communities Local Area plan in September 2023. Unfortunately, three years of community focussed LAP engagement to densify our neighbourhood was overthrown by blanket zoning.
Based upon the feedback we received, the WRCA Board of Directors wrote to Councillor Penner to outline our community’s concerns to blanket zoning, declare our opposition to it, and asked her to vote against it. We furthermore highlighted the densification commitments made in the new LAP and urged the City to uphold the commitments it just finalized to our community. Unfortunately, we have not been able to speak with our council representative despite invitations to meet with our residents to discuss the impact of blanket zoning to our community.
So, what’s next? Letters are being written to the Premier, and the Government of Alberta is working on legislation to provide provincial oversite into how municipalities govern themselves, Bill 20. Additionally, GoFundMe campaigns have been created to help fund legal challenges to this Council decision. Finally, on Monday, October 20, 2025, there will be a municipal election.
Gord Rouse and Marshall Horne
WRCA Director of Civic Affairs and Director-at-Large
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