Bridging the knowledge gap on community planning and development drove one Calgary community association to set up a webpage where residents can navigate changes in their community.

The Thorncliffe-Greenview Community Association (TGCA) has created a simple-to-use planning and development page that informs citizens about upcoming development permits in their areas. That page launched in early March.

The development permit stage is one of the only avenues for public comment on new developments, as the land use redesignation on low-density developments (which had a public hearing) was eliminated with the introduction of the base RCG rezoning.  

TGCA president Alison Abbott said they wanted to find out what residents in their area thought about the changes and how they could help. They put out surveys and talked with residents to try and answer their development questions.

“There’s a lot to navigate for residents, especially if you’re not familiar with how the development process works, and the timelines when you get when you’re how to engage, when to engage,” Abbott said.

That’s when they decided to put together the page that lists the significant developments in the area, and where they’re at in the process.

It’s geared toward creating more engagement and awareness of the change that’s happening in the community, Abbott said.

“I think it’s two-fold,” she said.

“It’s awareness and information and also to help people know how to engage and promote more engagement, because as this has impacts on your area, you want to make sure community voices are being heard.”

The page, co-created by the TGCA’s Vanessa Gillard and Patrick Saunders, has the developments listed and each is colour-coded based on where it’s at in the development process.

It provides the address, the Development Permit number and the building type that’s proposed. They also have information on the City of Calgary’s other planning endeavours, like Local Area Planning.

Helpful tool to stimulate redevelopment engagement: Coun. Chabot

Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot, who voted against the citywide rezoning changes, said this could be a way to accomplish a couple of things in planning and development.

“One, it could potentially diffuse some of the comments and concerns about the adjacent residents,” he said.

“It may also raise awareness and better inform them on what they can do to mitigate the impact that the adjacent development may have.”

Coun. Chabot said that it could better inform neighbours on what could be done to mitigate specific impacts, and an appeal may resonate more with Calgary’s Subdivision Development Appeal Board (SDAB). That’s the place where Calgarians can lodge development-permit-related concerns with a proposed project.

“RCG, although it was approved city-wide, it was approved on the basis of a discretionary use, which means that the neighbours can appeal the decision of the development authority,” he said.

The city also has its own Calgary development map, which shows the different stages of proposed developments across Calgary.

They have also added new tools and information to improve the ease of navigation.

Abbott said she’s hoping their effort will result in easing some of the tension that arises with proposed developments. She said Thorncliffe and Greenview residents have always been an engaged bunch, and this should continue to foster better redevelopment dialogue as their neighbourhood undergoes a change.

“It has led to a lot of good conversations we’ve been able to have with community members around, where they’re more comfortable seeing density and maybe where they’re less comfortable, right, maybe mid-block or something like that,” she said.

“More conversation is good in my mind, and more awareness is good.”

Abbott said they’ll continue to tweak, revise and improve the page as the awareness of it grows. She also said she’s happy to share knowledge with other community associations looking to take something similar on.

“We’ve had good response from people in terms of people feeling like it’s helpful,” she said.

“We’re pretty pleased to see where this all goes.”