Back in 2008, when @cityofcalgary undertook creating a new Growth Plan for #yyc, (the MDP), a key understanding & driver was sprawl. We had 33 communities under development & couldn’t afford it. #yyccc knew we had to reduce that number to become financially sustainable.
@cityofcalgary Developers were upset because we were picking “winners and losers”. And yes, we were. All land is not equal when it comes to servicing and development. That is where the Growth Management Overlay came from. #yyccc
@cityofcalgary Since the MDP was approved, there has been constant pressure from the development industry and their lobbyists to relax & erode the rules and regulations in the MDP. Everything from density targets (which were modest at best) to servicing costs have been eroded. #yyccc
@cityofcalgary That constant pressure meant that compromises were made, developments were approved that had no business being approved (I’m looking at you Providence!) to the point where the MDP plans became meaningless. #yyccc
@cityofcalgary And here we are, in the same place as we were 15 years ago. A place we recognized was unsustainable when we had 33 communities building out. Except it’s now worse, we have 41 communities building out, #yyccc was told how much that would cost all taxpayers & approved it anyway.
@cityofcalgary The situation we were trying to avoid is here, and worse that expected. It is compounded by a provincial government that seems determined to put the boots to #yyc. And some councillors response to #ableg is to ask them to kick us harder!
@cityofcalgary We should be talking about how to increase the density targets of the MDP, how to make it better. The necessity of that stares us in the face every day. Not just in the cost, but in climate change, affordability, inadequate transit, fire response times. #yyccc
@cityofcalgary Most of the challenges we see across the city are the result of not sticking to a plan that was approved by #yyccc & supported by Calgarians. All of this was avoidable. All of this was warned about over a decade ago.
@cityofcalgary The right response from #yyccc is not to make it worse by approving more communities, removing the Growth Management Overlay, & making approvals easier to get. That will simply ensure that we remain an unsustainable city, and that future is not one that any Calgarian wants.
