Is affordable housing or green development a priority for Calgary?

Imagine this: you invest thousands of dollars in solar panels, and then you find out that your next-door neighbor wants to build a bigger, taller building that will block the precious sunlight.

That's the reality for one woman in the southwest Calgary community of Bankview who spoke at a city council public hearing this week.

The hearing was to rezone the lot, which would allow two homes to be built on the four-unit property.

The rezoning would increase the building's maximum height from 10 meters to 11 meters, which the woman said would block much-needed sunlight for her solar panels.

“Increasing the height of the meter on my neighbor's house will at least reduce, if not cover, my newly installed solar panels, thus affecting me financially,” the woman said.

He told the council Tuesday that he's not opposed to the development, just that he's opposed to its growth.

This raised many questions from city council members, who put pressure on the city administration to see what could be done.

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Derek Pomreinke with the city's planning department said it currently offers no protection from the sun in low-density areas.

“We currently have nothing in the land use law that allows us to limit or shape a building's height based on the solar power of the neighboring lot,” he said.

6th district. Richard Putmans asked if these issues are something the city is looking at going forward when it comes to development.

Pomreinke confirmed it's something on the city's radar.

“This is a step we are taking by adding climate measures to the land use law. This is something the development authority will consider when considering a discretionary use permit. But now we don't have anything specific about sun protection books,” he said.

Alex Tyndale is the founder of Solar YYC, a local solar panel company in the city.

He said similar situations have happened in the past and he's not sure there's anything the city can do to help.

“I understand that it's very frustrating for people who have gone to solar or are thinking about going to solar, and I understand that it might disrupt my business a little bit, but people need shelter,” he said, adding housing. Affordability should be prioritized over the use of solar energy.

Tyndall said most of his customers come from the suburbs, not inner-city areas, so he doesn't expect his business to take a significant hit if measures such as quilt rezoning are implemented in Calgary.