Hundreds of Calgarians are preparing to, once again, have their say on citywide rezoning at a public hearing scheduled at city hall next week.
More than 300 people have signed up to speak so far at the hearing, which begins Monday morning, with well over 2,000 written comments already submitted to city council.
At issue is whether citywide rezoning should be repealed, after city council voted in favour of a motion to kick-start the process to scrap it back in December.
That motion directed city administration to reset the city’s land-use bylaw to what was in place prior to the previous city council approving citywide rezoning, but would exempt properties that had development permits approved or any currently under review in the permit process.
According to city data, the move would re-designate 306,774 residential properties back to their original “low density residential districts,” which would only allow for a single-detached home plus one suite on 68 per cent of residential parcels in Calgary.
“I would really love to see councillors really think twice about repealing this policy,” said Kathryn Davies, co-founder of pro-housing group More Neighbours Calgary.
“Edmonton is about a year ahead on this zoning journey and they’re starting to see effects of it, they’re starting to see rents come down, they’re starting to see increased tax revenue from communities where these types of developments are being built.”
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City data shows citywide rezoning enabled 1,655 units in 2025, which made up 63 per cent of units through low density development permits, but 4,500 units have been enabled since the policy took effect in August 2024.
Opponents of the policy argue the housing developed through the policy isn’t affordable, and the increase in rowhomes and townhomes has created issues within inner-city communities.
“We’ve got to reset to where we were before,” said Scott Rusty Miller with Calgarians for Thoughtful Growth.
“We want to use that as a base to re-engage with neighbourhoods and come up with a plan that will allow for appropriate and non-destructive densification.”
The policy changed Calgary’s land-use bylaw to make residential grade-oriented infill (R-CG) the default residential zoning district across the city, which allows for more housing types, including single-detached, semi-detached, duplexes and rowhouses on a single property.
The previous city council approved the plan after the longest public hearing in city history that saw the majority of the more than 730 speakers in opposition to the idea.
“People were invited to participate but they had no influence,” Miller told Global News. “I’m hopeful that will change for this hearing, I’m hopeful council will truly listen to what people had to say.”
Repealing citywide rezoning became a key platform piece for several city councillors elected last fall, including Ward 6 Coun. John Pantazopoulos.
“We knocked on 55,000 doors and we heard overwhelmingly that blanket rezoning didn’t work and I’m looking forward to hearing what people have to say,” he told reporters Thursday.
“I think what we had before didn’t work, and what we have today isn’t working… whatever happens, we need to make a change to our process.”
Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas said he wants to “think a step further” heading into Monday’s public hearing, after running on a platform to replace citywide rezoning with another plan.
“There needs to be a replacement strategy; we need an idea about how we can continue to build the needed housing,” Farkas said.
“That’s very much about what this public hearing is about. It’s not so much blanket rezoning, yes or no, it’s more than continuous debate over change, community character.”
Although the public hearing includes a number of proposed changes to the R-CG zoning district, including reduced height and lot coverage, a plan to replace citywide rezoning won’t be part of the discussion.
“What’s before us right now is not what better looks like. I’m deeply disappointed about that but that is where we are right now,” Ward 4 Coun. DJ Kelly said.
“What’s before us right now is returning back to the 2024 zoning. Once that’s complete and council has made a decision to either do that or not, then we can actually begin the conversation about what is better and what does better look like.”
The public hearing begins Monday at 9:30 a.m., and the public can register in-person or online if they wish to speak.
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