A Calgary city committee has recommended that council approve the fast-tracking of new growth communities “at any time,” provided they don’t trigger any new capital investments.

Members of Calgary’s Infrastructure and Planning Committee (IPC) voted unanimously in favour of rescinding prior direction that would have the approvals considered as part of annual November budget adjustments.

The approval also recommended that a full meeting of council approve six new growth applications immediately. With it would be an automatic $140,000 tax-supported increase for Calgary Transit starting in 2026.

The City of Calgary’s current new growth approval process accepts the new growth applications concurrently, and city admin reviews them for possible recommendation contingent on funding approval during subsequent budget deliberations.

The six approved cost-only growth applications include two in Glacier Ridge, one in Belvedere and one in Stoneyview that were approved in April. It also includes Esker Valley and the Woodlands and Haskayne – Damkar Highfield done approved in April.

“A growth application can be called an operating-cost-only growth application when it does not trigger utilities, mobility or fire response capital investment in order to initiate development,” said Matthew Sheldrake, manager of growth and change strategy with the City of Calgary.

“These applications obviously benefit from previously made capital investments and will require future capital investment as they build and complete, but at the time of application, only operating costs are triggered.”

Sheldrake said that the changed approach will accelerate housing supply by streamlining review timelines, better matching them with developer timelines. 

However, there are risks, Sheldrake said. He said that this approach automatically initiates long-term operating and capital commitments.

“It could normalize funding requests outside of the standard prioritization processes,” Sheldrake said.

“It may increase the pressure to absorb costs rather than to explicitly fund them, and it also reduces visibility on the cumulative impact of approvals.”

Strong support from developers: BILD Calgary Region

Deborah Cooper, director of strategic initiatives and government relations with BILD Calgary Region, an industry group that represents builders and developers, said that this is a welcome and necessary shift.

“It better aligns approvals with infrastructure readiness, reduces uncertainty for investors and supports a more responsive approach to Calgary’s growing housing needs,” she told councillors.

“That small shift helps manage cost and risk more effectively and supports a more reliable housing supply.”

Cooper said they will believe there’s a persistent challenge in capital infrastructure approvals, creating avoidable delays in areas where infrastructure is in place. She said that developers pay 100 per cent of on-site infrastructure costs, and fund their proportionate share of off-site connections to city systems.

While Ward 3 Coun. Jasmine Mian moved the recommendations and supported it, she did ask if there’s a cap on how much additional operating cost the city would take on with new growth communities.

City administration said they believed any additional costs would be manageable.

Mian said that she understands that there are established processes and worries over setting a new precedent for approving operating funds outside of the budget process.

“I recognize that sometimes hard to make these types of changes. But this is a really good one, and I’m really happy to see it,” she said.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek said that after an amendment was put forward to evaluate growth applications on merit and budget impact, this was an important step to keep up with population growth.

“We are now trying to expedite those processes to get those ideas in front of us so we can keep up with the growth that we’re experiencing,” she said.

“Two hundred seventy-five people moving to our city every day means we need to be taking housing very seriously.”

Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp, who chairs the IPC, said that this was an opportunity to remove red tape for developers. Further, she said it can’t be overlooked that developers are paying for the bulk of capital costs for new growth.

“In turn, we can get them shovels ready faster in order for them to get those houses built, to bring us money back in our own coffers,” she said.

The reconsiderations and the subsequent immediate approvals still need to be debated and approved at an upcoming regular meeting of Calgary city council.