Council created the rowhouse zone back in 2014 and directed administration to track the effectiveness of the zone and aggregate some statistics.
This report was presented to council yesterday. I happened to review it as this zone is critical to future projects I may be involved in.
I wasn’t super impressed with the report. It doesn’t seem to focus on the most important issues. It also focuses too much on parking. Phase 1 of the rcg review will possibly make amendments to building height, secondary suites and corner setbacks.
Of these changes only the corner setback changes would be favourable to rcg projects. I think the height limits should be left as is. I don’t think the suite related parking rules should be changed at all. Any adjustments to the rules on parking will eliminate suite construction as we know it today. This is about the only type of affordable new housing that can be built in Calgary because the building permit rules are so costly to comply with.
The most important issue that doesn’t seem to be high on the agenda is mid block changes to make the mid block lots viable to develop. This is where council should focus its energy.
I’m hopeful the corner set back rules can evolve to be more flexible. That’d make some difference to improving designs for new projects.
This is an issue that the city needs to listen more to the builders and less to the nimby types that put forth a lot of emotional arguments to restrict development. I thought the last council was wise to prioritize people over parking. Will the new council go back to prioritizing cars over people?
This is the 19 page report. Worth a read for potential rcg builders. Get your dp in right away before the rules change?