Latest news with #MunicipalDevelopmentPlan
Calgary Herald
5 days ago
- Business
- Calgary Herald
Opinion: Walking the walk(shed) on transit-oriented development in Calgary
Article content As a Calgarian who has spent time living outside of Alberta, I am accustomed to people asking what makes this province unique, beyond the stereotypes. My answer is often a simple one: Albertans are doers, not talkers or virtue-signallers. Article content When it comes to land use and urban planning, however, the City of Calgary has generally failed to live up to the action-oriented standard its residents expect. Article content Article content Article content Calgary has laudable goals as a city, as outlined in its Municipal Development Plan. One of these objectives relates to transit-oriented development (TOD), which is rooted in the principle that public transit nodes should be surrounded by dense, mixed-use communities, allowing the greatest number of people to benefit from the investment in transit infrastructure. Article content Article content Transit-oriented development benefits are wide-reaching. In financial terms, it ensures a better return on investment by encouraging more residents to use public transit. At a basic level, this helps Calgary Transit fund itself. It also reduces traffic congestion, alleviates strain on feeder bus routes, lowers greenhouse gas emissions and encourages healthier commute patterns through riders walking or cycling to and from stations. Greater revenue for Calgary Transit also allows the agency to reinvest these funds into better frequency and service. Article content Article content Opponents of the recent citywide upzoning initiative often claim that the 'burden' of density should fall within a certain radius of these transit nodes rather than in their communities. Even the most car- and single-family-home-loving city councillors vaunt the benefits of transit-oriented development, arguing that if density must happen (which it does, to boost housing supply and lower prices), that it should happen near transit stations so as not to induce greater vehicular traffic in low-rise communities. Article content While I would argue that the 'burden' of modest citywide densification is overstated, it is fair to suggest that the most dense forms of development should be reserved for transit nodes. If all sides of the housing debate purport to support TOD, why do we see less of it in Calgary than almost any other major city in Canada? Article content The simple answer: the city refuses to legalize it, with more than 70 per cent of residentially zoned land within a 10-minute walk of most CTrain stations being reserved for very low-density homes. Article content In the North American context, transit-oriented development can be thought of in two ways: public-private partnerships to build on city-owned land around stations (e.g., park-and-rides) and private or non-profit developments on privately owned parcels near a station. The city's current strategy relies on the former approach. Article content While developing on city-owned land is necessary, it won't lead to enough growth in housing stock for Calgary to meet its housing objectives and create truly desirable transit-friendly communities. Development on privately owned parcels near LRT stations must accompany the public lands approach. Article content Unfortunately, this is made nearly impossible in Calgary due to antiquated and unambitious zoning policies. Article content Article content Using publicly available land-use data from the City of Calgary and GIS tools, I dug into Calgary's situation and found the overwhelming majority of land near CTrain stations zoned for residential use prohibits both medium- and high-scale density of any kind. Article content Let's dig into the numbers. Article content Calgary's total area is 853 square kilometres, 29.3 per cent of which is zoned for low-density residential use. Only 4.2 per cent and 0.3 per cent (2.2 square kilometres) is zoned for medium- or high-density residential use, respectively. This means that 33.7 per cent of Calgary is zoned for residential use, of which the majority (87 per cent) is zoned for low-density exclusively. The rest of Calgary is zoned for uses such as parks, commercial, industrial, utilities and institutions. Article content Ideally, the 4.5 per cent of Calgary's land zoned for medium- or high-density residential use would be concentrated around CTrain (or MAX BRT) stations. Article content Article content Rather than draw a generic radius around each station, I calculated an isochrone — or a 10-minute 'walkshed' — around each of Calgary's 45 CTrain stations. On a map, this creates a shape that represents everything within a 10-minute walk of each station (assuming a walk speed of five km/h). These walksheds take into account sidewalk access, local geography and other features. Article content If Calgary were serious about enabling transit-oriented development, all land zoned for residential use within a 10-minute walk of each CTrain station would be zoned for medium- or high-density residential use. Article content Medium-density residential includes townhouses and fourplexes. High-density residential refers to any development greater than five storeys. In an ideal TOD world, no residential land within these walksheds would be zoned for low-density residential, which in Calgary largely refers to single-family homes and, more recently, rowhouses and duplexes. Article content Of course, much of the land surrounding CTrain stations is zoned for other important non-residential uses. This is important to facilitate job access for workers and provide transit connections to amenities such as parkland and hospitals. While one might persuasively argue that more land around CTrain stations should be zoned for some kind of residential use, let us put that conversation to the side for now and focus exclusively on land already zoned for residential use, regardless of how much density is permitted. Article content Of Calgary's 45 CTrain stations, 33 (almost all outside the downtown) have land zoned for some kind of low-density residential use within a 10-minute walk. On average, 29 per cent of the areas within a 10-minute walk of these 33 stations is zoned exclusively for low-density residential use. For at least four of these stations, that number surpasses 50 per cent. On the surface, this may not seem like a bad percentage. Surely this would imply that the rest of the residential land within these walksheds is zoned for medium- or high-density. Article content Article content A deeper look at the data, however, demonstrates this not to be the case. Article content Only 12 per cent of Calgary's 36 square kilometres zoned for medium-density residential use are within a CTrain walkshed; for high-density residential, this share is 19 per cent. Put more simply: 71 per cent of the residentially zoned land within a 10-minute walk of the 33 CTrain stations is zoned exclusively for low-density residential use. Article content Where the city does allow homes to be built near transit stations outside of downtown, it overwhelmingly refuses to allow anything denser than a duplex. How can Calgary expect to foster car-light, transit-oriented communities when its own zoning policies quite literally prohibit it from doing so? Article content Calgary should take its lead from other forward-looking municipalities across the country and proactively upzone the areas near its CTrain stations. This would send a strong signal that Calgary is serious about tackling the housing crisis and cultivating the kind of communities that many newcomers and skilled workers want to live in.
Calgary Herald
04-06-2025
- Business
- Calgary Herald
'We're at a critical point': City committee endorses updated action plan to incentivize industrial development
In a bid to incentivize more warehouses and factory-style businesses to set up shop within Calgary's boundaries, the city is updating its industrial action plan. Article content Calgary's industrial growth has stagnated in the last 10 years. Rather than establish operations within city limits, many corporations have instead chosen to set up manufacturing plants or distribution centres in Rocky View County, where land is cheaper, taxes are lower and development levies are less cumbersome. Article content Article content Article content Balzac, in particular, has become a logistics and transportation hub for many conglomerates in the last decade. The Rocky View County hamlet just north of Calgary city limits is now home to distribution centres for Amazon, Lowe's, Walmart and Sobey's, among others. Article content Article content A report from Avison Young determined the region outside of Calgary was responsible for 90 per cent of net new building in the Calgary region from 2018 to 2024. Article content 'Cost pressures felt on land development and business operations are currently making Calgary a less attractive option within the region and developers are not starting new industrial parks within the city,' said Lesley Kalmakoff, coordinator of the city's growth strategy. Article content With the goal of addressing what's often dubbed the 'county advantage,' Calgary city council's infrastructure and planning committee on Wednesday unanimously endorsed a new industrial action plan, as part of a citywide growth strategy. Article content Article content The action plan — updated from a previous plan that council approved in 2021 — aims to leverage Calgary's strengths against its rural neighbours; convert land uses to enable more industrial or mixed-use development; and improve the city's overall attractiveness to industrial businesses. Article content Article content The plan proposes to assess conversion opportunities to achieve a mix of industrial, commercial and residential land uses; amend the Municipal Development Plan to enable residential and industrial development in targeted locations; and update the industrial land use districts in the new zoning bylaw, among other recommendations. Article content The city's strengths, according to the report, include Calgary's location, labour pool, existing industrial networks and city services that include readily available fire and police response, as well as access to a public transportation network.
Calgary Herald
16-05-2025
- General
- Calgary Herald
Biodiversity advisory committee gives city council failing grade on habitat restoration
With the City of Calgary's 10-year biodiversity strategy wrapping up this year, the plan's advisory committee will present a mixed report card to council next week. Article content Article content The Our BiodiverCity strategic plan was launched in 2015, with a decade-long mandate to manage and protect Calgary's natural and built environments and support biodiversity. Article content The plan included four guiding principles and three targets to measure the plan's success by 2025: reversing habitat loss, protecting important ecological zones and managing invasive species. Article content Article content The Biodiversity Advisory Committee, which was struck to oversee the strategy and is being disbanded this year, was made up of city administration and public members who had either an interest in biodiversity, or a professional or educational background relating to the topic. Article content Article content In a press release, public members of the committee said they have graded council's performance on 10 of the biodiversity strategy's intended outcomes. Article content Council (which has seen turnover twice since the strategy was implemented, considering the results of the 2017 and 2021 elections) scored a grade of A- or less on eight of the 10 outcomes, according to committee member Sara Jordan-McLachlan. Article content She commended council's focus on biodiversity education and outreach, as well as its ability to get the city's ecological network entrenched in the Municipal Development Plan and the city's new parks plan, which is being rolled out this year. Article content 'Prioritizing that connectivity of habitat through the city and connections for green spaces throughout the entire city is a very positive step,' Jordan-McLachlan said. Article content Article content Another positive was council's willingness to increase funding for programs related to biodiversity, which garnered an A-, according to Jordan-McLachlan. Article content However, she noted council received a D+ in habitat restoration, as only 53 per cent of the strategy's target was met. Article content She criticized council's recent rejection of a notice of motion from Ward 11 Coun. Kourtney Penner, which sought to naturalize the sides of the city's roadways by reducing mowing and by planting more native flowers and plant species. Council's rejection stemmed from concerns over the total cost and the complexity of implementing the plan.
