Council has directed Administration to make  updates to the North Hill Communities, East Calgary International Avenue Communities, Riley, Chinook Communities, South Shaganappi Communities and West Elbow Communities Local Area Plans to add consistent “Limited Scale Policies” to these plans. The proposed updates would guide where three-or-more unit housing - such as rowhouses and townhouses - would be supported within residential neighbourhoods.

The proposed updates would provide consistency across approved local area plans by applying the same location-based criteria already used in the Westbrook Communities and Heritage Communities LAPs. If approved by Council, these changes would mean that instead of rowhouses and townhouses being supported everywhere, they would be limited in some areas to parcels with rear lanes (alleys) that are also either within transit station areas, along or adjacent to identified main streets, on corner parcels, or adjacent to a school, park, or open spaces. 

These amendments are proposed to six of the eight approved LAPs: North Hill Communities, East Calgary International Avenue Communities, Riley Communities, Chinook Communities, South Shaganappi Communities and West Elbow Communities.

Westbrook Communities LAP and Heritage Communities LAP are not included, as they already have the proposed policies.

These updates would add Limited Scale Policies to six of the approved LAPs to align with the policies that already exist in the Westbrook Communities LAP and the Heritage Communities LAP.

The proposed changes are to add the following policies:

Policy

a.  Secondary suites are supported where already allowed by the existing land use designation and are not considered a unit in the following policies.

b.  Building forms that contain one or two residential units are supported in Neighbourhood Local, Limited Scale.

c.  Building forms that contain three or more residential units should be supported on parcels with rear lanes in the following areas: 

i.    within transit station area Core Zones and Transition Zones;

ii.   along a street identified as a Main Street or separated by a lane from a parcel along a Main Street;

iii.  on corner parcels; or,

iv.  adjacent to or separated by a road or lane from a school, park or open space greater than 0.5 hectares in size with no dimension less than 25 metres.

d.  Building forms that contain three or more residential units in Neighbourhood Local, Limited Scale should be designed to complement the surrounding context and consider the impacts of massing, lot coverage and setbacks on the following:c

i.   access to sunlight and shade on adjacent parcels; and, 

ii.  protection of existing, healthy trees or landscaping on the parcel, where appropriate. 

These proposed changes were directed by Council at the May 26, 2026, Regular Meeting of Council, in response to the repeal of citywide (blanket) rezoning. With the approval of the repeal, Council directed that six of the eight approved LAPs be updated to align the Limited Scale Policies across local area plans. For further details on the direction from Council, click here to view the minutes.

Council has not yet made a decision on these proposed amendments. A final decision will be made when Council considers and votes on the proposed changes at the Public Hearing on November 9, 2026. Your input on these proposed amendments can be shared through the Public Hearing process.  

Council direction was to conduct an awareness campaign only, as engagement was already conducted through the local area planning process and extensive feedback was collected through the citywide rezoning and repeal public hearings, as well as the Guide for Small Scale Housing.  Although we are not collecting additional feedback during the awareness period, community members are invited to participate in the Public Hearing at Council on November 9, 2026.

The Limited Scale Policies apply in the areas identified for small scale housing in your local area plan. These areas are where the Urban Form Category (See Map 3, Urban Form) is identified as Neighbourhood – Local, and the Building Scale (See Map 4, Building Scale) is identified as Limited. To see a map of where the proposed policies would apply in your local area plan, click links below:

• North Hill Communities – Neighbourhood Local, Limited Scale Areas
• East Calgary International Avenue Communities – Neighbourhood Local, Limited Scale Areas 
• Riley Communities – Neighbourhood Local, Limited Scale Areas 
• Chinook Communities – Neighbourhood Local, Limited Scale Areas 
• South Shaganappi Communities – Neighbourhood Local, Limited Scale Areas 
• West Elbow Communities – Neighbourhood Local, Limited Scale Areas 

These maps are for illustrative purposes only. Please refer to the approved local area plan for official maps.

In the hatched areas shown in the above maps, Rowhouses and Townhouses would be restricted to parcels with a lane that are also either within transit station areas, along identified main streets, on corner parcels, or adjacent to a school, park, or open spaces. 

There are no changes proposed to areas outside of the Neighbourhood Local – Limited areas (areas outside of the hatched areas in the maps). In these locations, three-or-more unit homes could be supported if the land use district allows.

These diagrams are for illustrative purposes only. Each application will be reviewed for location-based criteria.

If Council approves the proposed amendments, within Neighbourhood Local – Limited areas, rowhouses and townhouses would only be supported in specific areas, such as parcels with rear lanes (alleys) that are also either within transit station areas, along or adjacent to identified main streets, on corner parcels, or besides open spaces like parks or schools. To see where Neighbourhood Local – Limited areas are within your community, view the maps.

In all other areas, three-or-more unit homes could be supported if the land use district allows. 

No. Single-detached and Semi-detached homes will continue to be allowed in all residential areas. 

While Blanket Rezoning was repealed, landowners still have the right to apply to change the zoning of their property at any time. When an application to change the zoning is made (called a land use amendment application), Administration reviews the application against all applicable policies, including local area plans, and makes a recommendation to Council based on the policy guidance. Currently, the majority of the local area plans support three-or-more unit housing in all residential areas, so if an individual land use amendment was proposed in the middle of a single-detached area, the existing policy would support it. These proposed updates to the LAPs would change that; if a land use amendment was proposed in the middle of a single-detached area identified as Neighbourhood Local – Limited and it didn’t meet the criteria in the Limited Scale Policies, Administration would recommend refusal on the grounds that the application does not align with the policy. The application would go before Council for a Public Hearing, and Council would make the final decision.

No. This policy will not completely eliminate mid-block Rowhouses and Townhouses, it will reduce the number of locations where they are allowed. Any existing mid-block development will be allowed to remain, and any developments that received approval before the amendments come into effect will be able to proceed with development as planned.

If the updates are approved, within Neighbourhood Local – Limited areas, there will be select locations where mid-block Rowhouses and Townhouses could potentially be approved on laned parcels: within transit station areas, adjacent to parks and along main streets.

No. These policies already exist in the Westbrook Communities LAP and the Heritage Communities LAP and have been in effect since these plans were approved in 2023. 

In order to comply with the proposed policy, the parcel must have a lane AND meet one of the other criteria (corner parcel, along a main street, adjacent to a park, school or open space, or be within a transit station area). In the example above, Administration would recommend refusal of a proposed land use amendment, as the parcel does not align with the policy. However, the application would go before Council for a Public Hearing, and Council would make the final decision. 

Your original approval stands, Future development or changes to your property would need to comply with the appropriate policy and land use district rules at the time of application.

The Westbrook Communities and Heritage Communities local area plans are not being amended because they already have Limited Scale Policies. This is because these plans were approved before citywide rezoning. 

If what you are proposing is a Permitted Use within your land use district, and meets all of the Permitted Use rules, then it will be approved. 

The North Hill Communities LAP already has Limited Scale Policies, but they are different than the version in Westbrook Communities LAP and Heritage Communities LAP. The existing policies in the North Hill Communities LAP allow three-or-more unit housing in more locations than the proposed updates would allow.

Currently, Rowhouses and Townhouses in the North Hill Communities LAP are supported on parcels within transit station areas, along identified main streets, on higher activity streets, or where the parcel has a lane and parking can be accommodated. Only one of the criteria needs to be met, which means that the current policy can support rowhouses and townhomes in many mid-block locations and on some parcels that don’t have a lane. The proposed updates to North Hill would restrict these building forms to fewer locations.   

The proposed updates would not remove the existing Single Detached Special Study Area in the North Hill LAP.

The decision whether or not to propose these policies in future LAPs will depend on the Council decision on November 9. The LAPs currently underway (Carburn Communities, South Bow Communities and South McKnight Communities) will adjust their engagement tactics depending on how Council votes on this item.

No, this policy is only being applied to six of the eight approved LAPs, and potentially future LAPs if Council chooses to implement it. 

We are hosting a variety of information sessions both in-person and online.