On one side was the belief that more affordable homes should be available anywhere, with zoning as no hurdle.
On the other side was a twist on the cliché: A man’s zone is his castle.
Throughout the afternoon and well into Tuesday evening, groups for and against lifting zoning restrictions on secondary suites in four wards dug in during a debate that seemed to move like a trench skirmish: shots fired, but little or no apparent movement on either side.
An hour before midnight, council voted 9-6 for a potential compromise, if the “Yes” side prevails again on June 29.
If passed, the new rules would allow homeowners to apply for suite development permits in any stand-alone houses in Wards 7, 8, 9 and 11. Neighbours could appeal, and be consulted by the homeowner, and there would be some sort of licensing or registry for those new suites.
But the two councillors who swung in favour of this initial OK — Peter Demong and Joe Magliocca — both told the Herald they’ll need to see what details emerge in June’s report, specifically on the licensing.
“Pass one reading now, and when it comes back in June we’ll figure it out,” said Magliocca, who routinely opposes new secondary suite proposals.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Coun. Druh Farrell, who have repeatedly fought and lost for change on some of the most prohibitive laws on suites in major Canadian cities, emerged hopeful.
“You have some hope in this job, or I wouldn’t have kept trying after 40-some times,” Farrell told reporters.
Councillors will also hear in June options for a suite plebiscite, which many skeptics on this file favour.
At the hearing, some opponents to suites in their own neighbourhoods were even opposed to a simple plebiscite, should council wish to go that route. Irene Bruzga, a resident of Kelvin Grove in Ward 11, suggested that nothing short of 75-per-cent citizen support should suffice.
Bruzga told council everyone she grew up with dreamed of one day buying not only a stand-alone house with yard — but also in an R1 area, where no other housing types or suites are allowed.
“Suites would really destroy the charm of that community,” she said.
She struggled to articulate her specific fears when Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra challenged her: “How will it destroy the neighbourhood, please?”
Bruzga was one of several speakers Tuesday who cast zoning as a defining part of their Calgary lifestyle.
Haysboro resident Mark Soehner proclaimed he had called 311 to report three illegal suites in his community.
“Do your duty and enforce R1 zoning,” he said.
From Elboya, Olga Knight asked council not to single out a few wards in Calgary for the rule change.
“It’s not a four-ward issue. It’s a citywide issue,” she said.
Residents opposed to suite reform wore green fabric arm bands. Why green? No reason, explained Doug Ratke of Riverbend, who is worried neighbourhoods will be stressed with more density from suites.
“All of a sudden, there’s parking on the streets. Where are all the garbage bins going to go?” he asked.
Councillors who have long tried and failed to end restrictive zoning Calgary-wide have pitched a land-use change in their four central wards, as a compromise move. They came in likely lacking enough support from colleagues to pass it, and many council skeptics appeared loath to budge.
Andre Chabot and Peter Demong were among those who expressed doubts any unsafe units would be overhauled with this rule change.
One did, however: Diane Colley-Urquhart, who has reversed on this position a few times, and came out in favour after the public pleas for more safe and entry-level rental options, many from low-income Calgarians.
“As I heard the human side of this public policy, I think it really trumped how I felt coming in,” she said.
She also noted the generation gap between the supporters and foes. The latter group skewed older.
Carra called much of the opposition to suites “morally and ethically repugnant.”
Several supporters accused councillors and skeptics of casting aspersions on renters.
“I find it to be a truly Calgary mentality,” said Michelle Pink, a landlord who would like more areas in which to invest and create regulated suites. She cautioned about a rental market so tight that a three-bedroom Ramsay home she offered up last fall drew 900 responses.
“We’re not these low-life landowners people say we are,” said Joshua Bettle, a student vice-president at SAIT Polytechnic.
Nigel Kirk, whose social housing placement ends this fall, said he’d like a safe suite close to Ward 8’s Westbrook Mall, where he works.
“We need to make something happen because I don’t want to be homeless on October 1.”
