The Court of King’s Bench has tossed the application for an injunction that would have seen the postponement of a hearing on a contentious southwest Calgary development.

A group of residents in Springbank Hill who feel their democratic right to representation is being circumvented, filed the injunction after the Labour Day long weekend. They had initially sent a demand letter to the City of Calgary requesting a postponement until after the October municipal election, adding that legal action was the next step.

The hearing on the 42-unit development at 30 Elveden Drive SW was scheduled for Friday afternoon, ahead of the item being heard at Calgary’s Public Hearing meeting of council on Sept. 9.

While the group has multiple concerns with the development, a prime concern was that they don’t have a ward councillor who can represent their views on council. Former Ward 6 Coun. Richard Pootmans left the role last November, with adjacent councillors sharing some of the ward duties.

Sara Austin, who has been speaking on behalf of some area residents on the matter, said that they were very disappointed in the outcome. She was, however, happy to hear Justice Mah recognized the merit of the citizen concerns around representation and the development itself.

“Yeah, that is, I guess, the glimmer of positive news that’s coming up from today’s decision,” Austin told LWC.

There is still hope that the decision will be postponed, as Austin said she believes a motion will come forward from Coun. Sonya Sharp to refer the item until after the election.  LWC has confirmed with Coun. Sharp that this motion will come forward.

Still, should the public hearing move ahead, Austin said they would be there to voice their concerns.

“Should it proceed to a public hearing, we will be ready to speak very strongly about the concerns that we have about the both the scope of this development and what it means for our community, and the irreparable harm, but also about how broken this process is.”

Representation matters

In the Sept. 4 Council Services Committee meeting, councillors were discussing changes to their council policy around the procedure for a council vacancy. Specifically, changes around the appointment of a councillor to oversee assistants in a vacated ward.

It also looked at a bylaw amendment that would allow a councillor designated to approve or deny an application to the Ward Community Event Fund.

Coun. Sharp, however, raised concern about the lack of representation in vacant wards, and said a further conversation is needed about how it’s handled.

“I know it’s not probably for today, but if council truly has a decision to make, I’m just wondering if it can be the fact that council brings something forward at the time of maybe a member of council stepping down, they bring a motion to do a byelection,” Sharp said.

She said that often times, though a council rep is assigned to a ward, the councillor assistants are “thrown to the wolves” when dealing with resident concerns.

Under the Municipal Government Act, there are rules around when municipal councils must fill a vacancy. Under those guidelines, no byelection needed to be called for Ward 6.

Still, Coun. Sharp, who couldn’t speak directly about the Springbank Hill court proceeding at the time of the interview, said outside the meeting that the scope of representation has changed so much over the years that it’s important to have a voice at the table.

“When you are feeling like you don’t have an elected official who can vote for you, even though you went through the process of an election, they feel ripped off,” Sharp told LWC.

Sharp said she doesn’t disagree with the Springbank Hill group, and that council could have tacked on a byelection when the school board did early this year.

“Our city is changing. The amount that council sees is changing. The communities are changing, and we have to move forward on figuring out what the best solution is if this happens again in the future,” Sharp said.

“My recommendation would be that if it happens the calendar year prior to an election… you should have a byelection to represent, I would say anything more than six months, absolutely you should have a person filling that seat.”

No cost  figure has been stated for the 2025 Calgary Catholic School Board byelection, however the recent federal byelection for Battle River – Crowfoot cost $1.95 million to execute.