Calgary city councillors have been spending the whole week at a public hearing listening to people make their case for, or against blanket rezoning — and there is still lots more to come.
Over 260 speakers have made their way to the podium over the past five days and some on council believe the largest hearing in the city’s history could stretch into a third week. Over 600 people are still left to speak.
The premise of blanket rezoning is to make it faster for housing approvals, and make it easier for more housing options to be built across the city, by allowing R-CG — also known as Residential Grade-Oriented Infill — which would mean more duplexes, rowhomes, or townhouses could be built.
The marathon hearing began at 9:30 a.m. Monday and is set to go for 12 hours each day in order to give hundreds of people a chance to speak.
Mayor Jyoti Gondek says council is trying to juggle other aspects of their job while taking the time to listen to the public, but says she’s encouraged by the number of residents who want to speak.
“We’re doing our best to make sure any urgent decisions we have before us are taken care of,” she says, adding council will have its regular scheduled meeting next Tuesday, and will take care of some time sensitive items before the hearing gets underway.
“Some of it is repetitive, but I’m glad we are listening to everybody” says Coun. Dan McLean. “People check out of it, so maybe 12 hours a day is too much. But we’ll do what we can do.”
“I still maintain you could listen to everyone all at once at a plebiscite.”
McLean has said he believes putting the proposal to a vote would have been the best choice to make Calgarians voices heard.
A retired Calgary lawyer revealed earlier this week he wants a judge to weigh in on council’s decision not to hold a plebiscite.
More than 5,500 written submissions have also been made to city council as part of the hearing.
Listen live to CityNews660 for the latest on the historic public hearing.