Community Planning

The Planning Committee meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 7 pm at the Community Hall. Everyone is welcome to attend or join the committee.

Please email planning@crescentheightsyyc.ca if you want to speak to the committee.

Crescent Heights is located in Ward 7.
Councillor: Terry Wong

Send your comments to Councilor Wong’s office through email (Ward7@Calgary.ca) or through our Online Portal (Link here).

For information on how to speak at public hearings:

• calgary.ca – Public Hearing Process

• calgary.ca – How to Participate

• Crescent Heights is about 120 years old, one of the oldest communities in the city. Despite continuing redevelopment over the past 70 years, the community still has the largest concentration of heritage assets north of the Bow River. Called “heritage assets by the City, many are located in Heritage Guideline Areas.
• Demographics from 2021 census: https://www.calgary.ca/communities/profiles/crescent-heights.html

• North Hill Communities Heritage Guidelines
  https://engage.calgary.ca/NHCheritageguidelines
• Heritage Guidelines Implementation Guide
  https://pub-calgary.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=227581
• Detailed Heritage Guidelines Area Map:

Link to Land Use designation codes with links to the corresponding Land Use Bylaw section. If you don’t see what you are looking for in the list, enter it in the Search box. Eg. R-CG

https://data.calgary.ca/Base-Maps/Land-Use-Designation-Codes/svbi-k49z/data_preview

You can access the City of Calgary development permit website at https://dmap.calgary.ca

Click the “Details” to obtain more information about the application including available drawings. Currently only discretionary permit applications are circulated to the CHCA planning committee for review and comments. This includes all properties within Heritage Guideline areas. The Planning Committee can review and submit comments on contextual development permits if we aware of them.

Please email planning@crescentheightsyyc.ca with any information or concerns about any permit application.

Discretionary or Contextual Permits: What is the Difference?

Contextual single and semi-detached dwellings are listed as permitted uses in the R-C1, R-C2 districts. In contrast to discretionary applications, contextual dwellings cannot be refused by the City or appealed by the public, so long as the design meets the contextual rules in the Land Use Bylaw. There is no public notification except through the DMAP website.

Discretionary development permits are circulated to the community association planning committees, advertised through the City’s notification page website and a sign posted on the property. The public can submit comments and the decision can be appealed.

An Area Redevelopment Plan (ARP) is an urban planning designation created by The City of Calgary to facilitate development in specific geographic areas. In practice, ARPs guide how existing built-up areas or
neighbourhoods should develop in the future. Crescent Heights is part of the first multi-community ARP. On September 14, 2021, City Council passed the North Hill Communities Local Area Plan (NHCLAP) which replaces our previous ARP. The Heritage Guidelines were added on December 6, 2022.

To obtain a copy of the NHCLAP from the City’s website:
https://www.calgary.ca/pda/pd/planning-and-development-resource-library/publications.html

Click on “Planning Policies” and scroll down to “Local Policies” & “Statutory Plans”.

Click on “North Hill Communities Local Area Plan” to download a copy.

• 70% of all trees in Calgary are on private land. Depending on the species, it takes 10 to 80 years for a newly planted tree to mature. To maintain our tree canopy, retaining existing mature trees and planting new trees is an essential part of climate change management. The City maintains and inventory of City owned trees on an interactive map. There is no inventory of privately owned trees.
  https://maps.calgary.ca/TreeSchedule/
• Crescent Heights has several historic boulevards as noted on the Heritage Calgary interactive inventory map:
  https://www.heritagecalgary.ca/explore-inventory
• All new developments must include a landscape plan as part of their development permit application with a schedule of trees to be removed, retained and new plantings. If you have a question about the landscape plan of a new development near you, contact planning@crescentheightsyyc.ca for more information.

The CHCA Planning Committee reached out to our residents with a questionnaire that ran from February 15th to March 4th to gauge our resident response to the City’s Rezoning for Housing proposal. Thank you to the 82 residents who took the time to respond and share their opinions.

The questionnaire provided us with the following results:

• 82% of respondents had received the postcard informing them of this proposed initiative.
• 45% found the City’s Engage portal provided them with the necessary information for them to formulate an opinion on the initiative while 31.3% said it did not.
• 48.1% oppose the citywide rezoning while 33.3% support it (Figure 1).
• 45.7% felt the matter should be dealt with as a plebiscite vs. 40.7% as a Public Hearing (with 13.6% having no opinion).
• Respondents were split on how our committee could be most effective, with the top recommendation (62.3%) to provide information through The View newsletter, and the bottom (51.9%) to provide information through social media.

We received a variety of comments on this initiative, summarized below.

Positives:

• ease in adding secondary and backyard suites and to allow for multigenerational homes
• increase density, welcome new neighbours, and limit urban sprawl
• opportunity for homeowners to add income streams with their property
• adds some affordable housing to the inner-city (more affordable than new duplexes and single-family homes) making it easier for young people to enter the housing market
• increase support for local businesses
• may add increased transit access due to increased density
• will encourage the City to upgrade infrastructure in established communities
• allow aging populations to stay within their communities
• okay if applies to every lot in the city

Concerns:

• increased density will hurt existing property values
• negatively impact streetscapes, heritage houses, the small-town feel of the community, and number of trees
• low built forms allow for sunlight to reach the ground
• loss of heritage assets (homes built prior to 1945)
• reduce overall greenspace and critically compromises urban tree canopy due to larger building footprints
• reduce the voices of the community with fewer options to comment on development proposals; loss of control over what gets built
• decreases housing affordability in the inner-city; infill developments (single-family, duplexes and rowhouses) commonly sell for more than the removed heritage homes
• for-profit developers aren’t invested in communities and don’t recognize how their proposed developments impact neighbours
• fails to consider climate impacts from a decrease in permeable landscaping and carbon sinks (trees/shrubs); will reduce biodiversity
• impacts to parking and roadway congestion, shadowing (and impacts to solar panels), increased noise, and loss of privacy
• heritage communities will no longer be viewed as “destinations” due to the attractive qualities like large urban forestry and heritage homes
• huge disparity between the current 45% and proposed 60% lot coverage
• Rezoning will lead to removal of trees, bring tall built forms, lack of privacy for neighbouring homes, shadowing, and destruction of the heritage feel and history of the neighbourhood.
• Will reduce number of dwellings that can accommodate larger families, increase potential for STR’s (short term rentals)
• Will not provide affordability

The Planning Committee shared this feedback with Ward 7 Councillor Terry Wong prior to commencement of the Public Hearing on April 22. In addition, on behalf of the Crescent Heights Community Association the Planning Committee provided a letter to Mayor Gondek and Council that aimed to address our residents’ views and highlight some concerns that we heard. The letter is below.