Calgary Minute: Issue 370

Calgary Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Calgary politics

📅 This Week In Calgary: 📅

• There will be a Public Hearing Meeting of Council tomorrow at 9:30 am, and the agenda is dominated by development. Council is scheduled to hear nearly 20 land use and rezoning applications spread across more than a dozen neighbourhoods, from Cornerstone and Skyview Ranch in the northeast to Inglewood, Mission, Upper Mount Royal, Killarney, Evergreen and Legacy. Most are land use amendments that would change what can be built on a given parcel, alongside several outline plans, policy amendments, and a road closure in Crescent Heights. Public hearings are the stage at which residents can register to speak for or against a proposal before Council votes, making them the main opportunity to weigh in on development in a given community. Residents who want to have their say can register to speak at the hearing or submit their comments to Council in advance.
  
  
• In the courts, a Calgary judge has refused to keep supervised drug consumption sites in Calgary and Lethbridge open while the Province's decision to close them is challenged in court. Calgary Court of King's Bench Justice Jason Wilkins denied an application by a lawyer for Travis Peddie, a regular user of both sites, who had sought to block the closures at the end of June pending an Alberta Court of Appeal ruling in a related case. That case concerns whether the earlier closure of a supervised consumption site in Red Deer violated a user's Charter rights. Wilkins said he was bound by previous Alberta court decisions that allowed the Red Deer site to close, concluding the issue has effectively already been decided by the courts in the province. A separate injunction bid to keep the Red Deer site open also failed last year. The Court of Appeal has already heard submissions in the case but has not yet released its final decision.
  
  
• In other court news, court documents have revealed new details in an RCMP investigation into alleged corruption at City Hall, as police seek to hold onto seized cellphones for another nine months. The investigation, launched last summer, centres on a July council vote approving a Bankview townhouse development that initially ended in a tie before a reconsideration motion by former Councillor Sean Chu led to a re-vote that passed. The documents allegedly show that developer Nathan Robb was involved in a conversation in which campaign donations beyond the legal limit were offered, and that former mayor Jyoti Gondek advised on a tactic to approach another councillor to get the vote changed. Robb's lawyer categorically denies the allegation, none of the claims have been proven in court, and no one has been charged. Investigators told the court they cannot unlock four of the seized phones and are relying on the prospect that new technology will eventually crack them.
  
  
• City Council has again delayed its long-term growth blueprint, voting 13-2 on Tuesday to send the proposed Calgary Plan back for another round of public engagement rather than finalizing it this year. The plan, in development since 2023, would become the City's highest-level planning document, replacing the existing Municipal Development Plan and Calgary Transportation Plan and guiding land use and transportation for the next quarter-century. It sets targets including 50% of new housing in redeveloping areas, a downtown population growing from 56,000 to about 100,000 by 2050, and 50% of all homes within 400 meters of a primary transit station, up from 29% in 2023. Administration had wanted a finalized plan by December, but Mayor Jeromy Farkas urged Council to take more time, saying the decision would outlast the current council and warning against repeating the mistakes of blanket rezoning. Ward 13 Councillor Dan McLean was more pointed, calling the plan "blanket rezoning 2.0" and arguing its density guidelines would push high-density development into suburban neighbourhoods. Councillors Rob Ward and Landon Johnston cast the two dissenting votes, but they were only opposed because they wanted to ditch the Plan entirely. Administration will now return in January with a new report on what it heard, and a public hearing on the plan is proposed for 2027.
  
  
• The first phase of Calgary's Stephen Avenue revitalization is wrapping up this month, finishing ahead of its original fall schedule after work began last summer. The $36.2-million phase replaced aging underground infrastructure, including water, electrical, and stormwater systems between First Street Southeast and Centre Street that were, in some cases, a century old, and rebuilt the worn street surface with granite pavers. Project manager Amy Stansky said the City has no further funding for the project right now and will seek more later this year, with the next phase unlikely to begin for at least another year or two. The work was not without friction - a group of 25 businesses threatened legal action last year, demanding the City pause the redevelopment over the damage and lost foot traffic it would cause. Some businesses along the avenue remain concerned about a drop in foot traffic even as construction ends. Stansky said traffic around the block is returning to normal, though other nearby projects, including the Werklund Centre redevelopment, are still underway.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

City Hall handed down new noise restrictions for Stampede music festivals operating outside Stampede Park, reducing allowable decibel levels and requiring music to end by midnight on weeknights.

The changes would hurt live music events, local businesses, and the overall Stampede experience.

That's why we've launched a petition calling on City Council to reverse these restrictions and keep Stampede celebrations alive.

If you agree Calgary shouldn't become the Stampede Fun Police, sign the petition today.

🪙 This Week’s Sponsor: 🪙

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