In what can only be interpreted as a "political" play, Calgary City Council has once again voted down a bylaw that would have allowed safe an secure secondary suites in select neighbourhoods in the city.

This is starting to be embarrassing for the City as a whole. Leaders who are afraid to lead.
Yes there are arguments on both sides... but almost every other city in the world has solved these problems before. Hey, how about taking a look at those solutions and adopting the best of them rather than continue to put upward pressure on rents, downward pressure on safety and hurt the most vulnerable renters in the city (just because someone is afraid of parking issue or noise.)

It has become obvious to all involved that this is no longer a Secondary Suite discussion looking for a solution... it has become a political game wherein the most vulnerable are the ball that keeps getting kicked. NIMBY is NOT appropriate in this situation - Leadership is!

Make sure your local representative know about your disgust.

Check out this blog post of mine: Calgary's Secondary Suite Solution http://www.donrcampbell.com/calgary-secondary-suite-solution-or-more-problems


Don

Politicians have to balance many needs. One need is to preserve certain neighborhood characters, such as many being SINGLE family neighborhoods with R1 zoning.

To me, it makes sense to rezone certain streets, or sections of streets, to allow basement suites, but a card-blanche approach that all neighborhoods automatically are now "legal basement approved" makes no sense either.

Having lived in Calgary I would not have liked every neighbor to have right to a basement suite.

I think like every complicated issue it takes many months or years to resolve to find the right balance.

In addition, a city councillor is more inclined to side with a voting and tax paying citizen than a (often temporary) renter in a basement suite.

More supply in dedicated areas (via construction or basement suite relaxation) is the answer to rent levels, and with a slowing economy and slowing in-migration the issue is less pressing every day.

Hense the reason that the proposed by-law carefully chose appropriate neirghbourhoods AND clearly laid out the requirements for safety, parking, egress/access et al.

Yet, still, no go.

How is it that Edmonton and to some extent Red Deer managed to be forward thinking years ago, and yet Calgary is stunted, and Airdrie doesn't even have it on the radar yet?

It's a big political game that lacks logic. The administration is still working on new measures to propose. Hopefully they will soon propose to eliminate the square footage and lot size/width requirements which are a huge burden for those trying to legalize right now.

July 20th Council will vote to exempt the development permit for suites that meet zoning and do not require relaxations. This is a HUGE opportunity for people that want to avoid a lot of hassle and cost dealing with permits. It will also allow suites existing prior to 2007 to meet only fire code and not building code which will save a big pile of cash in renovations. Administration has told me they want to get 1000 applications in 18 months to make this a success and I want to help. If this project is a failure then more ridiculous actions could come out of city hall. So if you own an illegal suite you should consider this opportunity coming September 1st if it passes July 20th. Enjoy the peace of mind that comes with a legal suite and stop worrying about being shut down or fined by the fire department.

If anyone has any questions on how they can take advantage of this opportunity feel free to reach out to me [email protected]