Calgary city council will debate Tuesday whether hundreds of properties should keep the zoning they received under the city’s former blanket rezoning policy, while dozens of others could return to their previous zoning. The vote is the latest step in council’s decision to repeal Calgary’s citywide blanket rezoning, which was approved in 2024. Administration is recommending two bylaws. One would allow about 247 properties to keep their current zoning. These properties qualify for exemptions because development was already approved, under review or applications had already been submitted before council moved to repeal blanket rezoning. “The blanket rezoning repeal has continued. The challenge was always the projects that were mid-flight,” Mayor Jeromy Farkas said on Tuesday. “Us as a council, we need to weigh the community concerns, but also the legal risks to the City of Calgary.” According to administration, changing the zoning on these properties now could disrupt projects that are already underway or leave approved developments no longer complying with the rules. The second bylaw would return about 50 properties to the zoning they had before blanket rezoning. That includes nine properties where development permits approved by the city were later overturned by the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board. It also includes 41 properties that administration says were mistakenly exempted during an earlier phase of the repeal process. “No other city in the world has undertaken this type of adjustment to its land use bylaws. We have to do this right,” Farkas said. “Procedural fairness calls for us to at least be considering the grandfathering in (projects already underway).” Council previously directed administration to protect projects that were already in progress by exempting properties that had approved development permits, building permits, subdivision applications or other qualifying applications before key deadlines. Because of legislated timelines, only applications submitted before Jan. 1 were included when council first approved exemptions in March. The latest bylaws captures additional properties that met the exemption criteria between Jan. 1 and April 8. Between three items on the agenda, more than 160 Calgarians signed up to speak for five minutes each. The discussion will continue into Tuesday evening and will likely spill into Wednesday before final decisions are made. If approved, both bylaws would take effect on Aug. 4. Administration says another report will come to council later this year to identify any other properties that qualify for an exemption or are affected by future appeal decisions.
