Nelson: Pro blanket-zoning councillors will pay a heavy price for disrupting neighbourhoods

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So it begins. Yes, it’s a trickle today, but a much bigger trickle than a year ago.

There are consequences for city council’s decisions and we’ll watch them play out across Calgary neighbourhoods in the months and years ahead.

By recently approving blanket rezoning, council upended the long-held assumption that your neighbourhood would keep its essential structure and your quality of life wouldn’t be challenged by developments on your doorstep. In May, that premise and assumed promise between those paying taxes and those spending the proceeds was tossed out. Instead, it’s open season for developers wanting to erect duplexes, townhouses and row housing next to your bungalow.

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The first whiff of Calgary’s future arrived with the tallying of recent development applications for those exact types of multi-family dwellings. Between May 14 and Aug. 12, City Hall received 51 such applications, which is more than double the 24 from the same timeframe last year. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but remember blanket rezoning was just approved. (In case you’re interested, the measure passed in a 9-6 vote, with councillors Sonya Sharp, Dan McLean, Andre Chabot, Sean Chu, Terry Wong and Peter Demong voting against it. Obviously, the rest, including Mayor Jyoti Gondek, voted yes.)

Maybe there’s no connection, but it does seem mighty coincidental that various leaflets declaring ‘We Want to Buy Your Home’ are suddenly appearing in mailboxes up and down our Willow Park street; an older, established southeast neighbourhood of single-family homes, similar to so many across Calgary. A variety of names grace these urgent offers to buy, none of which belong to realtors who usually serve the area. That’s rather odd. Why would these strangers suddenly want our little bungalow?

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The mind boggles and soon wanders its way into wondering if any of our neighbours are indeed tempted to sell up. And if they do, what will then happen to their home? After all, there’ll be no For Sale sign going up, as usually takes place when folk move elsewhere. It’ll be a done deal. Cash on the nose.

So the seeds of doubt grow where none existed before. And we’re just getting started.

Now, this is indeed our summer of discontent here in Blue Sky City. We’re currently living through a busted water pipe debacle whilst worrying about the financial implications of the ‘pay more get less’ Green Line transit boondoggle. But someday the water will flow freely again, and while the Green Line will end up costing an absolute fortune in future rate hikes, it still isn’t as personal as your home.

And that’s why this blanket rezoning decision is the biggest threat to the future re-election prospects of those who approved it. All it will take is one hulking fourplex to be erected in some close-knit community of single-family dwellings to have residents double-checking how their councillor voted on an issue suddenly so close to home.

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It isn’t simply because that fourplex makes parking a nightmare, disrupts the view or casts a damaging shadow over a neighbour’s prized flowerbed. There’s a deeper, all-too-human emotion at play, though it’s rarely acknowledged.

We like stability in our lives and, as we grow older, that often comes in tandem with security. Knowing your neighbours is a key ingredient of that recipe. Therefore, the sudden arrival of newcomers is disturbing. This isn’t one new family moving in across the street. It’s a bigger influx of folk, those seemingly at home in a multi-unit building, as I was when 25 years old.

But I don’t want to live next to that younger me nowadays. We might be the same person, but we are on a different part of life’s pathway. It’s difficult to explain and the trap for even trying is poison-tipped. So, let’s agree this isn’t just about parking.

Those councillors who forced through this change will discover that come the next election.

Chris Nelson is a regular columnist.

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