Calgary's historic public hearing on city-wide rezoning has concluded

After a full 12 days, Calgary City Council has closed an ultra-marathon public hearing session on the controversial city-wide rezoning issue.

It was the largest public hearing in Calgary's history.

The hearing, with more than 1,000 people registered, saw hundreds of speakers share their thoughts on how the city should address the clause, which was one of 97 other recommendations included in the City of Calgary's housing strategy.

This was highlighted by dozens of passionate Calgarians giving comprehensive presentations, describing how they considered the pros and cons of making R-CG a major residential area in Calgary. R-CG allows for increased density of up to four units (plus potential backyard and accessory suite) per dwelling in Calgary.

“It was amazing to hear from so many Calgarians,” said Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek.

“More than 760, I think we will get the last number later. But we've done a really good job of accommodating everyone who wants to come and talk.”

On opening day, April 22, hundreds of people gathered in the council chambers and overflow area, and there were protests from citizens on both sides. It quickly settled into a normal, mostly flat pattern the next day, and continued that way for more than two weeks.

The council will now hear the conclusion of the mayor's hearing from the public. It continues on Thursday morning (May 9). Councilors will then have a few days to discuss what they have heard before returning from Monday with administration, amendments and debates.

However, this delay was the subject of debate in the council. City clerks have released a weekly public hearing schedule that includes Thursday morning and then again Thursday evening after a scheduled meeting of the Calgary Planning Commission.

Then they go on Fridays from 9:30am to 6:00pm. This schedule was amended by the 10th County proposal. Andre Chabot.

“Personally, and I am confident that all members of the Council could use this additional time to better structure and format their questions to the administration to ensure that our questions are concise, well-structured and effective,” Chabot said. .

Valuable insight from both sides

A motion to delay the decision until next week passed on an 8-7 vote.

Mayor Gondek said the administrator worked hard to create the schedule after working through a public hearing that took longer than expected.

“I think it's irresponsible to push this because we're tired,” he said.

“It's part of the job. That's what we signed up for. That's why we were elected.”

While council has had some time to process hundreds of applications, the input from Calgarians has been invaluable, Mayor Gondek said. He thanked the citizens for their participation.

“It was almost a full 12 days of public hearings. We appreciate everything you bring us. We have a lot to look at and a lot of questions to ask the administration and a lot of discussion,” he said.

11th district. Courtney Penner said Calgarians came out to express how much they love their community and appreciate the time to speak.

“People recognize that more homes are needed. How we get there is something to be discussed,” he said.

Penner said a “rollover” of amendments is expected. Some of these are directly related to changes in the overall urban area, while others are broader changes in policy.

“And then some of the corrections will be to the public that we've heard their concerns and try to show or prove through future reporting or metrics that we're doing what we're doing,” he said.

Number. Penner said the conversation wasn't just at the council, but also in the wider community after five minutes of each speaker's public hearing.

“Not only was this an important process for council, I think it was an important process for Calgary as a whole to hear properly from all sides of the debate, to hear different points of view,” he said.

“Whether they're evidence-based public policy, economic evidence, investment or quality of life concerns. We've heard a lot of things.”