Dr. Noel Keough has emerged as a critic of Plan It and the influence of land developers in the planning process

Nine units per acre versus 11.3.  That little formula represents changes to the municipal development plan recently adopted by City Council as part of Plan It.  It is also the subject of a huge debate in Calgary.  On the one side is the development industry, and its supporters on Council, who argued that 11.3 UPA was too high, that not enough Calgarians want to live in multi-family dwellings.  Or that the lower number is a floor and that many new communities are already being planned for higher density without the City dictating it.  On the other side are the critics who say Calgary can no longer grow in a great suburban sprawl, that the city must have a higher population density in the future, and more dense communities actually save taxpayers money and lead to a more advanced infrastructure, such as public transit.  Critics also allege that civic governance is not transparent and accountable, and that developers exercise too much influence on Council.

Plan It integrates a new Municipal Development Plan and Calgary Transportation Plan.  The city is expected to grow by 1.3 million people over the next 60 years and Plan It is the master planning document for how the City of Calgary will manage that growth.

The critics, led by Dr. Noel Keough, a professor in the University of Calgary’s geography department, say what is at stake is the future of Calgary – what it looks like, the kind of communities people live in, the types of jobs they work at, how they get to and from those jobs.  And, perhaps most importantly, who decides those issues and how the decisions are made.

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Dr. Keough pulls no punches.  He thinks land developers and home builders have far too much influence at City Hall.  To illustrate his point, he says that the weekend before Plan It was “watered down” and passed by Council, Mayor Dave Bronconnier met a number of times with development representatives, but refused to meet with citizens like himself who had been part of the planning and advisory process leading up to Plan It.

He singles out southeast alderman Linda Fox-Mellway as someone who has refused to meet with he and his colleagues.  Ald. Fox-Mellway says she has more people lined up for meetings in a week than she can handle already and she is well aware of where Dr. Keough stands on the municipal development plan. 

She also notes that the development industry is treating nine UPA as a floor, not a ceiling.  Ald. Fox-Mellway points to new communities in her SE ward that are approaching 12 UPA as evidence that people are demanding higher-density, multiple use neighbors and industry is prepared to build them.

Ald. Joe Ceci admits he would have preferred to see the more robust density of the original Plan It document, but defends the mayor.  There was too much opposition to the higher density from his Council colleagues, he says, and Mr. Bronconnier did what all good mayors do, he worked out a compromise that allowed Plan It to pass.

Ald. Ceci says he has high hopes that the density issue will be addressed again in the future and that perhaps developers will be ready then to accept more units per acre.

Ald. Ric McIver is having none of it.  Land development is one of the most important fuctions of a municipality, he says, and of course those involved in the industry lobby City Hall.  He says it happens every day and he makes no apologies for it.

But at the end of the day, he notes, Calgarians “vote with their wallets and their feet.”  He claims there is an eight-year supply of single family dwellings and a 38-year supply of multi-family dwellings, proving conclusively that Calgarians are not ready or interested in moving to the higher population densities advocated by Dr. Keough.

Marcello Chiacchia, general manager of Genstar Development Company, says suburbs have densifying for a long time.  He points to the new community of Walden, in the deep southeast, as an example of densities that approach 11.3 UPA already.

Mr. Chiacchia argues that critics have made too much of the density issue.  Other factors, such as improved access to transit and walkability, are also important to building sustainable communities.  He argues that when considered in a broader context Plan It was not watered down at all.

For now, the Plan It document has been passed by City Council.  But not everyone is happy with the outcome.  Key themes two weeks ago at CivicCamp, a day-long event that brought 160 activists together to organize for greater input into City affairs, was a more sustainable city and more transparent and effective civic governance, particularly around the issue of land development.

Plan It will continue to be controversial.  With an election less than a year away, it could be the focal point of campaigning in what many observers believe will be a lively and hard-fought contest.

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