Blanket rezoning is not under consideration in Airdrie at this time.
As Calgary city council's largest and longest public hearing entered its second week scrutinizing the city's proposed blanket rezoning strategy, Airdrie officials explained they are still working on a formal strategy to respond to the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF).
The federal HAF committed the City of Airdrie to look at rezoning options similar to Calgary, said Jordan Furness, Airdrie’s lead in policy planning.
The federal government granted several Alberta municipalities funding through the HAF, including $24.8 million for Airdrie, distributed in four payments over three years.
The main goal is to make the investments necessary for Airdrie to realize approximately 970 more homes in the next three years above what had been built over the previous three years, which was 2,663 units, Furness explained.
“We believe Airdrie's fairly different from Calgary in this instance where the housing stock even in the established areas is much younger than the housing stock in Calgary,” Furness explained.
“So Calgary is seeing a lot more of that redevelopment pressure and pressure to do more units on a lot that used to have a single unit.”
While Airdrie is only being requested to allow four units on a lot, Calgary’s rezoning plan includes eight units on a lot, according to Furness
“We asked for more time and they did give us until December 2026 and that only puts at risk the fourth payment from the $24.8 million,” Furness said.
Airdrie will receive its first three payments of the HAF regardless if they choose to rezone the City. Requirements around the four units on standardized lots haven’t been defined, Furness added, which leaves some gray area.
In their research, administration found only about 11 per cent of Airdrie’s lots would fall under the historically standardized lot size, which is about 50 feet wide by 130 feet deep.
Ministers have said the money won't be pulled if zoning changes don't pass.
Furness explained administration will first focus on improving zoning efficiencies and flexibility in established areas and new communities allowing increased density, as well as accelerating council's downtown residential development incentive. These are two initiatives included in Airdrie’s Proposed Actions for Enabling Housing Choice.
Several options to meet the goals set out by the HAF will come to Airdrie council at a meeting in the coming months, Furness said.
If blanket rezoning is something Airdrie were to pursue, it would first come to council, followed by public engagement, a public hearing, and a final decision from council.
Furness said it’s not set in stone that proposed options include rezoning Airdrie.
“What the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation [CMHC] asked us to do is to realize an extra 970 homes over and above what we've done in the past three years,” Furness said. “So if we can demonstrate that we're going to achieve this higher housing target through our downtown and through our new communities, to me, I think that makes a good case.”
The case being that a blanket rezoning of the city may be premature, he said.
Results from a recently completed engagement activity on accessory suites are set to come to council in June or July, Furness added.
Accessory suites include secondary suites within the primary dwelling, garage suites, and garden suites.
“We're going to be bringing a set of options forward to council in terms of seeing if there's more opportunities to allow accessory suites,” Furness said.
This is a key component of Airdrie’s Affordable Housing Principled Action Plan, approved last year.
“That's just one of the measures to try and create some more housing options for people wanting to live in Airdrie,” Furness said.
