Expected population bump has city consider new housing developments
Despite goals of hitting climate targets and building up instead of out, the city is considering approving five new communities as it expects another 88,000 people to move here by 2026.
The infrastructure and planning committee is meeting this week to review a comprehensive development plan that also includes the new developments.
Committee chair Gian-Carlo Carra, a long time advocate for increased housing density, said there are no easy decisions to accommodate the sudden burst of growth.
"It would have been nice if we could have basically said, if you want to build in the edge of our city, pay for it yourself,'" Carra said. "But we know there is no way to unlock growth either in the inner city or on the edge of the city without public investment."
Committee chair Gian-Carlo Carra, a long time advocate for increased housing density, says there are no easy decisions to accommodate the sudden burst of growth.
The city's portion of the investment includes roads, sewer lines and land for emergency services buildings totaling $530 million over the next four years. That money includes 39 other communities that have already been approved.
"The most environmentally sensible thing to do is to say we're not going to grow any more on the edge of the city," Carra says. "We couldn't - unfortunately - right now accommodate all the growth that's coming into the city right now in the established areas."
The city is trying to maintain its affordability advantage, both nationally but also against surrounding communities such as Airdrie, Chestermere and Cochrane. But Carra said that approach also comes with a cost to taxpayers.
"For decades and decades we basically took our tax base and we subsidized growth on the edge of the city. And when we did the math we realized we had been subsidizing every unit by $5,000 to $20,000," Carra said.
Calgary is considering approving five new communities as it expects another 88,000 people to move here by 2026.
A total of 19 business cases were presented to the committee over the past year, each representing a new community backed by a developer. Just five are recommended for approval with another three being flagged for possible consideration.
"We need to step back and remember the plan that was brought before council today was a comprehensive growth strategy for industrial, established areas and new communities," said Brian Hahn, CEO BLD Calgary Region, pointing to the affordability issue.
"The metropolitan region is amongst the best in Canada, but there can be no mistaking there are pressures on that affordability, so it will be important to maintain supply as we go forward," said Hahn.
But that's a narrow view of affordability argues Noel Keough, a retired planning professor with U of C and co-founder of Sustainable Calgary Society. He said it doesn't factor in increased fuel costs to and from home, or the pressures to own more vehicles to accommodate everyone in a household.
He also said there is a danger in allowing the market to determine exactly where housing will be built.
"Because we said 'let the market decide what happens in downtown Calgary, we now have 30 per cent vacancy," Keough said. "Colossal market failure. The market decided that we needed all that space.
"We will have the same situation on the edge of Calgary if we just say 'defer to the market.," he said.
"The market is saying 'we need housing." It's not saying where we need housing. We can very well put that housing in established neighbourhoods if we put the resources and the energy and the budget [. . .] to that objective."
There were 85 people registered to present to the planning committee Monday, with meetings expected to last at least until Tuesday.
Even if the plan is approved, money to pay for it will still need to pass council's budget deliberations in November.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.