The April edition of the HHBH Beacon will be published shortly, and it has an article that outlines some of the HHBH Community Association’s (CA’s) concerns regarding the City of Calgary’s “Guidebook for Great Communities” (Guidebook). The Guidebook will produce very significant changes in the way that development occurs in established residential neighbourhoods in our City. A key concern for CAs in established areas across the city is the fact that the proposed changes will effectively remove single family zoning. If approved this means is that on any lot in our neighbourhood, developers could build a single family home, a duplex, a triplex, or townhouses of up to three storeys. Approvals for such developments would be granted. Any form of such housing developments would be allowed on any street – meaning a single street could be a haphazard mix of bungalows, duplexes, triplexes fourplexes or rowhousing.
A hearing and presentation to City Council on the Guidebook was scheduled for April 27. Together with other CAs, the HHBH CA lobbied to have the date postponed, given the impossibility of effectively engaging with residents on such a significant development issue during a pandemic. Last week, we received notice that City administration will be recommending that the hearing on this matter be deferred to a later date. Of course no date has been set yet, but we will continue to post information regarding this issue on the HHBH website so please stay tuned. We will do more to engage with local residents when it is safe to do so. Stay well everyone.
In the meantime below is more information about the City of Calgary Guidebook for Great Communities initiative: