Calgary rezoning debate heats up as more neighbourhoods explore restrictive covenants

Global News

5 days ago

Residents in a northwest Calgary neighbourhood are exploring the use of restrictive covenants to pushback on citywide rezoning as the debate over the policy continues with a looming election.
Several new and proposed developments under the zoning policy in Charleswood and Brentwood have a coalition of area residents frustrated.
'We do need some housing development,' said Valerie Laferriere, who chairs the Brentwood Charleswood RC Initiative. 'But this mid-block, high-density, 60-per cent lot coverage, 12-metres-high stuff I think everybody is done with.'
The group is now exploring the use of restrictive covenants to 'take back their communities,' and 'control what kind of development they want to see now and in the future,' according to Laferriere.
A restrictive covenant is a legally binding agreement on a property title that limits how a property is used or developed, even after it is sold to a new owner.
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Brentwood and Charleswood would be joining residents in 11 other communities looking to use the legal tool, according to lawyers at Carbert Waite, including Varsity, Lakeview and Lake Bonavista.
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A map showing the communities exploring restrictive covenants in Calgary. Global News
'I do think restrictive covenants were here long before this council, they'll be here long after this council,' Laferriere said. 'I think it does give a tool back to property owners to exercise their property rights.'
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She said the proposed developments in the area have raised concerns for residents over potential impacts to parking, privacy, and property values.
The citywide rezoning policy took effect on Aug 6, 2024, after Calgary city council voted in favour of a bylaw to change the city's default residential zoning, to allow a variety of housing types including single-detached, semi-detached, duplexes and rowhouses on a single property.
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It's expected to be a hot button issue ahead of the next municipal election in October, with three candidates running for mayor vowing to repeal it including Jeromy Farkas, Sonya Sharp and Jeff Davison.
This week, the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) reaffirmed its opposition to the policy in its YYC Votes 2025 campaign, aimed at highlighting several housing related issues to voters and candidates.
CREB, which represents nearly 8,800 realtors in Calgary, outlined its support for sustainable community growth and responsible municipal spending, while looking for an alternative to the citywide rezoning policy.
'In that opposition, we believe that grassroots, community-focused engagement is important for all these communities,' said Christian Twomey, chair of CREB's government relations standing committee.
However, Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott said he feels CREB's policy stance and the real estate board's own data is conflicting.
'They're trying to appease the reality that the only way to make sales in a housing crisis is for housing to be affordable, but then, on the other hand, the way to make the most money is to have exclusivity in the housing sales and you see this throughout their bullet points,' Walcott told Global News.
Walcott pointed to Calgary's benchmark housing price of $586,200 in June, which is down nearly four per cent year-over-year.
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CREB data shows inventory for rowhouses jumped 22 per cent since June of last year, with semi-detached inventory climbing just shy of 20 per cent. It also shows the benchmark price of a rowhouse in Calgary is $450,300, down 3.1 per cent.
The real estate board's June update said while all property types reported gains in inventory, both row and apartment-style homes reported inventory levels 'over 30 per cent higher than long term trends.'
Recent city data shows 271 applications were submitted for new homes in established communities in the first quarter of 2025, a 59-per cent increase over the same time period last year.
Thirty-one per cent of those applications were rowhouses and townhomes, a 163-per cent increase from the same quarter in 2024, while citywide rezoning enabled nearly half or 45 per cent of all new low-density housing development permits in established neighbourhoods.
'If affordability is the goal, why stray off the path that's working?' Walcott added.
CREB is defending its position, and said other factors are contributing to lower sales and home prices including no decline in lending rates, economic uncertainty and price concerns.
'To say that blanket rezoning is the cause of prices going down and the increase of supply is just patently false,' Twomey said.
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Walcott, who is not running for re-election, also raised a concern with the growing trend of communities seeking restrictive covenants.
'While I respect everyone's right to do what they want with their own property, I do think it sets a negative precedent that people are using a 100 year old tool to stop their community from having more neighbours,' he said.
The next municipal election is on Oct. 20, 2025.