The Calgary Plan officially won’t come back until at least 2026, with one councillor saying the document might need an overhaul.
Members of the Infrastructure and Planning Committee (IPC) postponed the item during their Dec. 11 meeting, and requested it appear on the Feb. 12 IPC agenda.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness asked for the item to be referred to a Q2 2026 regular meeting of IPC. That was approved.
City administration had said that a referral of the document would be appropriate given some of the capacity restraints they have, ongoing large planning matters fatigue among citizens and community groups and also aligning it with the delivery of the revamped Land Use Bylaw for the City of Calgary.
Coun. Wyness said that given the importance of the document, referring it back to admin for additional work was the appropriate course of action.
“We’ve made changes off of the citywide rezoning that needs to be also incorporated into the Calgary Plan,” she told reporters outside Calgary city council chambers.
“We have not had an opportunity to assess the impacts on housing for blanket zoning and what works and what doesn’t work. We are finding that things are not working with blanket zoning, so why not take the time to assess the market so you have a good planning policy?”
The Calgary Plan is an overarching document that would guide how Calgary grows over the next 30 years. The document also amalgamates the former Municipal Development Plan (MDP) and the Calgary Transportation Plan (CTP). It also includes their respective implementation guidebooks.
New councillors should get up to speed on city policy: Sharp
The Calgary Plan will come back for further review in 2026, with minor amendments. Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp said it might need a bit more polish than that.
Coun. Sharp said a postponement of the item means that it will come back as largely the same document in 2026 as it is today, with a few amendments.
“What I’d like to say is that it should have been more of an overhaul,” she said.
“I could get into the weeds of that, but you know, it wasn’t on the floor to be debated. What I’ll say is, there’s needs to be work. There’s work to be done on the Calgary Plan.”
Given that there have already been a handful of councillors indicating they won’t run for re-election, new faces will inevitably be around the table. They’ll be the ones moving this document forward or holding it back.
Sharp said it would be wise for anyone thinking of running for a seat in the upcoming municipal election to bone up on their understanding of city policy.
“This reminds me a little bit of the Guidebook for Great Communities, what we entered in 2021 with, that was a little bit different. It wasn’t a statutory plan,” she said.
“But I’ll say that if you have an eye on a seat in council, you should be definitely reading through that document, understanding what sort of questions you’re going to maybe get asked at the doors.”
Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra, who opposed the referral, said all of this work was supposed to be completed this term. It was a chance to include everything the city has learned about climate change, truth and reconciliation and anti-racism.
“It’s pretty disappointing that there’s so much electioneering going on about a pretty important document about the kind of place we are and the kind of place we’re committed to becoming,” he said.
The future of the document – and Calgary’s future growth – comes down to who is elected this October.
“I think if you have a Trump-style city council elected, you will see a Calgary Plan that starts to push us back towards the suburban Calgary of the 70s and 80s,” he said.
“I think if you have a more progressive council that’s elected, you’re going to see a clear commitment to truth and reconciliation and addressing climate change and diversifying our economy and all of those things that I’ve spent the last 15 years on council fighting tooth and nail for.”
