On February 4, 2025, Council defeated proposed updates to three completed Local Area Plans (LAPs)—North Hill Communities LAP (2021), Westbrook Communities LAP (2023) and Heritage Communities LAP (2023).

As part of The City of Calgary Housing Strategy and city-wide rezoning, Council directed Administration to review all plans already completed as part of the current Local Area Planning program, remove the Single-Detached Special Policy Area from any relevant statutory plans, engage with affected communities to determine whether any amendments to the Local Area Plans are warranted, identify additional community improvements to support growth and change, and report back to Infrastructure and Planning Committee with an interim update no later than 2025 Q1.

There are a number of impacts to this decision:

• Inconsistent development rules:

The LAP Reconnect decision by Council creates inconsistency for where row/townhouses can be located between different communities. Policies contained within each LAP are not aligned with the Council-approved Home is Here Housing Strategy and the city-wide rezoning decision that allows for single-, semi and row/townhouse development throughout communities in Calgary.

• Permitting uncertainty:

Applicants must comply with policy provisions contained in Area Redevelopment Plans/LAPs. This lack of alignment prevents approval at the development permit stage.

As of December 6, 2024, there were 91 development permit applications under review or on hold in locations across the North Hill Communities, Westbrook Communities and Heritage Communities LAPs. Active applications in these areas are being further assessed by Administration to determine possible development permit amendments to align with the policies in their respective LAPs. Where amendments are not possible, Administration would ultimately refuse the permits. File Managers are actively communicating with the affected applicants on next steps.

As part of Council’s direction in 2024, Administration also worked with communities to identify community improvements that could help support additional growth and change in the area. These proposed investment opportunities and community improvements for each LAP will not be incorporated into the respective LAP now that the amendments were defeated by Council.

The project team would like to thank everyone who got involved with the Local Area Plan Reconnect for their time and input.

You can read more about the specific impacts to each of the local area plans by selecting your community below.