The distinction between neighbourhood infill supporters and critics was so stark that one speaker wanted to "break the stereotype that every boomer is opposed to rezoning."Homeowners protested against the proposed Calgary-wide rezoning of residential neighbourhoods to permit more duplexes and townhouses on the first day of a lengthy public hearing at city hall.
As the debate unfolded, one could crudely split the debating lines into younger or older, or into the haves and have-nots. The divide is between those who have and don't have homes they own. Disruption? Change? Potential for struggles to find guest parking on one's block? "That doesn't supersede the need to have a roof over our head," Alex Williams said in an interview.
At stake in this debate, in essence, is the abolition of R-1 zoning, which only allows detached homes, and is the dominant neighbourhood mode in Calgary. The rub is that city hall is working on those solutions in tandem as part of its strategy to fight surging rents, homelessness and the affordability crunch that has pushed so many Calgarians out of the home-owning market, or into precarious situations."No single action strives to or will on its own solve the housing crisis," said Debra Hamilton, director of community planning, at the hearing's outset.
Some homeowners fretted that this zoning change would sink their property values. After this much increase, that might sound like sweet music to those young Calgarians for whom a $700,000 house, its down payment and monthly mortgage costs, remain far out of reach. There are heavy echoes of last decade's debate that allowed secondary suites in all Calgary residential zones — now, instead of each proposal needing council's explicit approval, it's a quicker bureaucratic process. And whereas secondary suite pleadings used to take up a huge amount of council's time, now nearly half of public hearings are dedicated to one-off row house, townhouse or duplex rezoning proposals.
Property Property Latest News, Property Property Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: globeandmail - 🏆 5. / 92 Read more »