60,000+ parcels near transit stations face downzoning with no replacement plan
August 4 blanket rezoning affects areas where density supporters suggested growth; Mayor Farkas says trust-building required reverting to low-density zoning first.
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More than 60,000 property parcels within walking distance of Calgary's LRT and BRT stations will be downzoned to low-density residential on August 4, despite those transit-adjacent areas being singled out by rezoning opponents as logical spots for greater density.
In two months, 306,774 of 308,975 parcels zoned R-CG, R-G, or H-GO across Calgary will be blanket downzoned to R-C1, R-C2, or similar low-density districts. Of those, 27,990 parcels sit within 600 metres of an LRT station, while 60,536 sit within 600 metres of an LRT, BRT, or MAX BRT station.
The 600-metre radius represents a "comfortable" eight-minute walk to a station under the city's Transit-Oriented Development strategy. During the citywide rezoning repeal hearing, many speakers favouring a repeal suggested density should concentrate in "nodes and corridors" near transit.
Now those areas revert to mostly single-family zoning.
Mayor Jeromy Farkas, who campaigned on repealing and replacing the citywide rezoning, defended the blunt approach. "It was the blunt instrument of the repeal to restore the trust in the process," Farkas told LiveWire Calgary. "Council needed to rip that band aid off to go back to the way that things were in order to be able to build up from that point."
He acknowledged it might have been more efficient to dial back the "11 out of 10 on the intensity" to a five or six by keeping R-CG zoning in transit zones, but said citizens needed to be brought along from the start in a trusting process.
Ward 8 Councillor Nathan Schmidt proposed keeping roughly 3,000 H-GO parcels in identified nodes and corridors, but the amendment failed because fellow councillors felt more public engagement was needed. Schmidt is now troubled by the disconnect.
"My understanding was that engagement happened on that, which is why they were rezoned," he said. "So that's where I'm stuck right now, is we're talking about engagement, but we need to figure out what we mean by engagement."
The full repeal is expected later this summer, with no formal replacement framework currently before council. The city notes the 60,000+ figure is subject to change due to ongoing rezoning applications and appeal processes.