A builder (no relation to me) applied (in April of 2016) to rezone a 50 x 120 ft R2 property on one of the quieter interior streets of Killarney (corner of 21 ave and 35 st), but still very close to the train station and major road network.  The property is dimensionally suited to a four unit row house.  The vote at the council hearing was a vast majority rejection of the the application.

The dissenting views to the rezoning rejection were from Mayor Nenshi and Councillor G.C. Carra. Not surprisingly, these two are my favourite City thought leaders on inner city development issues.  The Mayor is well known for comments relating to rezoning applications near train stations about the absurdity of spending hundreds of millions of dollars on transit only to disallow enough people living within walking distance of the station to actually utilize the capacity of the infrastructure.  Councillor GC isn't afraid to callout community members for opposing any type of change or added density because they don't like it.  The quote 'dogwhistle NIMBY'ism' is his preferred description of this common strategy.     

Council appears to be placing a lot of emphasis in recent applications on the amount of consultation the applicant does with the neighbours and the local community association, not just the planning case made by the staff.  I don't have a problem engaging the neighbours for my projects, and I would be willing to invest a lot of time to accomplish meaningful consultation.  In this instance the applicant did a poor job of consultation, regardless, the location could be a great spot to build a successful row house project.  I would be very excited to build on that property as my clients would love to live there.  For that reason I would have made a greater effort to consult the community.  This Council created the RCG zone for the exact purpose this application was made, to integrate some gentle density into a predominantly semi-detached established community and provide a lower cost of entry to those with sub $800k budgets.  This will not take place given the Council decision.

The problem with adding density is that the existing community residents largely hate it.  Most objections are couched in such a way as to disguise the true underlying contempt and rejection residents have toward more people living close to them.  Established residents of Killarney detest more cars parking on 'their' block (maybe someone will be parking in front of their house), more shade from larger buildings (they like to be adjacent to underdeveloped property with mature trees and a low roofline), and just the idea of a tiny bungalow being replaced by townhouses is enough to rouse an angry mob.  There is no way to 'consult' people into forming a different view when positions are this hardened.  Killarney residents see new development as only negative, as an attack on their lifestyle and home values, and builders as greedy and exploitive opponents.  

This is the reality of attempting rezoning of property in Killarney today.  The builder needs to be extremely aware of what location he is purchasing and the likelihood of rezoning success before undertaking the long and costly process.  The owner of this property has now tied up around $550k of his funds in a house that is likely not inhabitable for over a year (and counting).  This is very costly for a small business to use cash so unproductively while incurring a lot of cost to carry a vacant house (property tax, utility insurance really adds up).  I have studied every block in Killarney, and I selected the most likely spot to successfully rezone a property when I was purchasing land.  This led to a great outcome for me when my application was almost unanimously passed despite objections registered by the community leadership.  The powerful political force of NIMBY'ism cannot be underestimated by the builder in Killarney.

For those blog readers interested in my evaluation of the likelihood of successful rezoning of a Killarney property, feel free to contact me.  I have counselled numerous other builders on how to do the rezoning work, likely costs, and estimated their chance of success.  There are plenty of exceptional locations remaining in Killarney for rezoning to take place.