For many Calgarians, property grading is of little concern. Two Elbow Park residents discovered the grade of their respective land, and that of neighbouring properties, could have a devastating impact on the integrity of their homes.
Kathy Higgins lives next to a massive infill home in the southwest community. During construction, the developer adjusted the grade of the yard and built below the water table. Higgins believes the actions and decisions of the developer caused her home to shift and crack.
“It's extremely unfair and that's why there needs to be something done about it,” said Higgins. “It's very frustrating and it diminishes our enjoyment of our life.”
Another neighbour, Bob White, believes an infill home built next door to him was erected on a higher grade that causes his yard to flood.
Now, both Higgins and White are looking for city hall to support their cause and to make changes to the infill rules in order to protect existing homeowners.
“It makes me feel really mad about the city that the city doesn't stand up for us homeowners who have lived here for decades,” said White. “We've paid our taxes. We've been good citizens and everything. All of a sudden a developer comes in and they bow down to the developer.”
The frustrated Elbow Park residents want the city to enforce its current bylaws regarding infills as well as adjust bylaws to protect the original grade of the property.
Ward 10 councillor Andre Chabot says that when the bylaw is changed, it will include all necessary land protection requirements.
“We refer to it as ‘baseline geodetic elevations’,” explains Chabot. “I’ve asked administration to make sure that we establish baseline geodetic elevations prior to allowing stripping and grading to occur so we know exactly what we're starting from, so that we don’t have this problem.”
Chabot says the adjusted bylaw would allow for reasonable exemptions, but the rules will not permit property grade adjustments that could damage other property.
With files from CTV's Scott McLean
