Calgary city councillors will have a special meeting of council Wednesday afternoon to determine if a citywide zoning plebiscite should move ahead.
That decision came as councillors also approved a Notice of Motion signed by six councillors urging the plebiscite. The special meeting will be held at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
Coun. Jasmine Mian, who authored the initial idea to put it to a special meeting – as swiftly as possible – said that Calgarians have a right to know what’s going to happen.
“I think the sooner that we can make a decision, the better it is,” Mian said.
“It doesn’t matter what side of the issue you are on. When it comes to the plebiscite, I think the sooner we can decide that the sooner we can either move forward with not having to continue town halls, not sending out notices to affected residents, or we continue with that process.”
City councillors heard that there are tens of thousands of mailers ready to be sent, providing details of the issue and the prior-approved public hearing that’s been set for April 22. There is a legal requirement to advertise details of a public hearing at least 30 days before that meeting.
They also heard that a plebiscite could cost between $50,000 and $5 million. The difference between the two lies with whether the ballot question appears with the municipal election ($50,000) or a standalone plebiscite (estimated at $5 million). According to a CBC Calgary piece, the standalone Olympic plebiscite cost $2.2 million, with the province picking up the bulk of that tab.
Coun. Dan McLean questioned why the matter couldn’t wait three additional days, taking out the weekend. He said councillors could discuss the matter fully at the March 19 council meeting.
“I suggest the world is not going end, and the sky’s not going to fall in three days,” he said.
“I would ask you to reconsider just three days because other councillors can be here where we know a few others won’t that are maybe coincidentally, maybe, supporting this motion.”
In the end, the Notice of Motion passed the technical merit, and will now be heard March 13.
Should it succeed, the scheduled April 22 public hearing on citywide zoning would not go ahead.
