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JANUARY 2022 NEWSLETTER
Planning & Development
Our mission: To plan and enable building a great Calgary
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Calgary is a great place to make a living and a life. Planning & Development continues to support our local economy and the aspirations of landowners by processing planning applications and building permits. We've remained open for business throughout the pandemic, with a continued focus on providing great service for our customers and building great communities together.
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 We’re on Twitter! The City of Calgary’s Planning & Development department joined Twitter as another channel to showcase the planning work we do in Calgary and give the opportunity for more conversation about how we plan and enable building a great city. It’s a place where we're bringing the “social” back so we can engage with more audiences about what makes our city awesome now and in the future. Come join the conversation @yycplan!
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COLLABORATION
Seeking feedback on proposed changes to the Off-site Levy Bylaw
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Our work to update the 2016 Off-site Levy Bylaw continues and this year will offer several opportunities for you to provide feedback on proposed changes, starting with an online survey about the Water Resources section of the bylaw. The survey will be open Jan. 17 to Feb. 4.
Off-site levies are one of several funding sources that help cover the costs of the off-site infrastructure that enables and supports investment, growth and development in Calgary. The related bylaw review work began in 2019. Stakeholder feedback on proposed changes is important to the new bylaw, which will be presented to Council for adoption once completed. Learn more here.
We’ll keep you informed of progress updates and future opportunities to provide feedback through this newsletter. You can also sign up to the project email list to receive notices directly when updates are published. Either way, mark your calendar for any day between Jan. 17 and Feb. 4 to share your thoughts on the Water Resources section of the bylaw.
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ENABLING
All multi-disciplinary applications under DART review starts this month
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Our Corporate Planning Applications Group (CPAG) will fully change over to Development Applications Review Team (DART) on Jan. 17 when the South and Centre West geographic teams begin transitioning to the new operating model. In early November, the North team transitioned to DART and began reviewing their applications under the two-generalist model.
The names of two generalists added to the application will indicate it's being reviewed under the DART model.
The model is outcome-focused and designed to create closer alignment with how our customers operate. The two generalists will work with customers from a broader, multi-disciplinary perspective, integrating the knowledge and skillsets from planning and engineering to create great planning outcomes supported by innovative engineering solutions. This will streamline decision-making, result in better process and most importantly, enable better city-building.
The CPAG model existed for 24 years. It served our city well, and teams have worked hard to improve performance, especially meeting timeline commitments. However, to become even better, we needed to rethink the approvals model. DART will help enable success for years to come.
For more information, please visit calgary.ca/DART.
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SAFETY
Compliance with OHS codes always a must
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The City takes occupational health and safety (OHS) commitments seriously and insists on compliance with health and safety legislation. Safety is a shared responsibility that requires active leadership and participation from all parties.
Our Building Safety Services Inspection officers must always be able to enter and leave a work area safely. All job sites are required to adhere to Part 8 of the Occupational Health & Safety Code, Entrances, Walkways, Stairways and Ladders, which includes:
- Safe entry and exit
- Walkways and ramps
- Stairways
- Handrails and guards
- Use of ladders
Please refer to the Code for the full requirements.
All field staff will complete their Field Level Hazard Assessment (FLHA) prior to entering the site and will document anything that prevents the inspector from performing their duties safely. The builder will be notified of any issues that need to be corrected prior to the Inspector arriving on site. If any non-compliant issues remain at that time, OHS will be informed to follow up.
A re-inspection fee of $150 per occurrence will be assessed if the site is unsafe to complete the inspection. Once the corrections have been made, an inspection can be scheduled.
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COLLABORATION
New pre-board inspection aims to reduce warranty claims on building envelopes
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All residential developers and home builders are required to apply for the appropriate development and building permits when constructing new residential properties in Calgary.
Over the past three years, The City’s Building Inspection team has noted a 350 per cent increase in Alberta New Home Warranty claims for building exterior envelope failures. Typically, the exterior envelope is constructed prior to installing the insulation and vapor barrier.
To help identify possible issues and reduce the number of failures, The City is now conducting envelope ‘pre-board’ inspections. When a residential developer or builder submits a request for a framing inspection, City inspectors may defer the inspection to the ‘pre-board’ inspection phase. The framing inspection will be noted as ‘not acceptable’, with instructions to schedule an envelope (insulation/vapour barrier) inspection.
There are no additional fees for conducting the initial building envelope inspection. However, if both the initial building envelope inspection and follow-up inspection fails to pass, a $150 fee will be charged for each subsequent envelope inspection. Failure to schedule a building envelope inspection, when requested by a City inspector as a re-call on a framing inspection, may result in a $150 reinspection fee.
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COLLABORATION
City announces winners of inaugural Winter City Design Competition
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Calgary designers have embraced winter in their efforts to make Stephen Avenue a more welcoming place during our coldest months and are seeing their ideas come to reality. It’s one way we’re investing in and reimagining Calgary’s downtown to support it as a place to visit and be year-round.
Through the Winter City Design Competition, two project teams have been selected to each receive $10,000 to build and install their designs in February.
- "Infinito" – a lit tunnel that focuses on intimacy, connection and social interactions, designed by Bosco Chik, Charlie Jiang, Christian Icuspit, William Zhuang and Karim Kandi. Location: Stephen Avenue at 2 Street SW.
- "Wowie" – an interactive, accessible experience to make winter feel warmer, designed with kids in mind, designed by Seeton Naested, Julian Warring, Kelsi Hurlbut, Adam Ford, John Lawlor and Matt Labrie. Location: Stephen Avenue at Centre Street.
The Winter City Design Competition is a partnership between The City and the University of Calgary’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. The competition is part of The City’s Future of Stephen Avenue Activate + Experiment project, to re-imagine Stephen Avenue from City Hall to Mewata Armoury. This project is testing out ideas and experiments and measuring impacts, to help inform the future of downtown’s iconic main street.
Learn more about the three winning designs and see all the submissions to the competition at calgary.ca/wintercity.
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RECOGNITION
28th annual Calgary Awards nominations open until Feb. 9
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Extraordinary Calgarians make a difference. Through their exceptional achievements and contributions, many Calgarians make life better. This is your opportunity to recognize deserving individuals, businesses and organizations who have improved the quality of life in our community.
The Calgary Awards celebrate exceptional achievements and contributions made by Calgarians. Look to your neighbours, colleagues, community leaders, local groups and companies who could qualify as award recipients. There are 13 award opportunities in five categories:
- Community Achievement Awards
- Grant MacEwan Lifetime Achievement
- Citizen of the Year
- Arts
- Commerce
- Community Advocate - Individual
- Community Advocate - Organization
- Education
- Heritage
- Youth
- Environmental Achievement Award
- International Achievement Award
- Award for Accessibility
- City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize
Nominations are now open until Feb. 9. For more information on the awards, eligibility criteria, the nomination process and previous award recipients, visit calgary.ca/calgaryawards.
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