Foundational Ideas

Calgary has been growing rapidly, so the city is updating its policies to guide future development. This plan provides both clear directions and flexibility to adjust as Calgary continues to change.

Goals and Outcomes

The plan outlines long-term goals focused on people, the economy, and the environment, with clear outcomes for each. Indicators will measure progress toward these outcomes, helping to monitor trends and address new challenges.

Key Directions

The city’s main priorities for the next decade focus on building a community that values reconciliation, equity, and sustainability. These Key Directions show how Calgary will work toward its goals until the plan’s next update, around 10 years from now.

Natural Systems

The plan starts with Calgary’s natural environment, recognizing how Calgary’s landscape and rivers support the city’s growth and ecology. Updated policies aim to protect natural areas, expand tree cover, and safeguard sensitive ecological zones.

Mobility Systems

The Calgary Transportation Plan has been streamlined to set clear policies for projects, ensuring transportation aligns with local needs and best practices.

• The plan supports a variety of travel options, including the Wheeling Network which focuses on making biking and walking accessible citywide.
• A main focus of the Plan is building around transit by encouraging higher-density and mixed-use areas near the Primary Transit Network. Streets are designed for all types of movement—not just cars—emphasizing safety and sustainability.
• Parking Policies are more than just a transportation issue; they impacts land use and development. The plan includes policies on parking that will guide updates to Calgary’s Zoning Bylaw and influence how space is allocated for private vehicle storage.

Growth

Calgary’s rapid expansion requires smart land-use planning. These policies ensure development is financially responsible and sustainable, supporting Calgary’s growth in a balanced way.

Housing

The housing section builds on the city’s Housing Strategy and includes a housing continuum figure, showing various types of housing to support different needs.

City Structure

The City Structure map is central to the plan, guiding the placement of homes, businesses, and industrial areas. For example, areas close to transit have flexible policies for housing and commercial activity, reducing commutes and promoting mixed-use communities.

The Greater Downtown

The Greater Downtown has a unique focus because of its well-developed infrastructure and high-density potential. As office spaces shift toward residential and mixed uses, the plan prioritizes improving the street network and welcoming new residents to create a complete, vibrant downtown.

Urban Form

Planning applications will use these sections for guidance on the urban design principles and the other considerations like heritage, public art, and hazards where appropriate. The Calgary Plan brings statutory authority to these areas with enabling policies to construct the built form and protect it from hazards.

City Services and Policies

This section offers guidelines for city departments to use in creating service plans, budgets, and strategies. It coordinates closely with Calgary’s Parks Plan to ensure consistent language and no policy duplication, especially concerning parks and open spaces.

Ongoing Planning and Collaboration

This chapter includes policies that inform other important documents, like Area Structure Plans and Growth Applications. It aligns with the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board Growth Plan, which all local municipalities must meet by 2025.

Tracking Progress

Indicators are included to measure progress towards key goals and outcomes. These indicators help monitor trends that might influence future planning.

The New Community Planning Guidebook is currently a volume of the existing municipal development plan. Its purpose is to provide building blocks for new community design and translates the vision of the Calgary Plan to implementation policy for new communities.

Throughout the engagement process, it was identified that The New Community Planning Guidebook is an important component to maintain and thus was edited and attached as Appendix A of the Calgary Plan. Changes were limited to areas that were in direct conflict or redundant with the Calgary Plan, and have been removed from the Appendix.

In the event of a conflict or inconsistency between the Calgary Plan and Appendix A: The New Community Planning Guidebook, the Calgary Plan will prevail.

For a summary of changes made, please click here.

A Municipal Development Plan (MDP) is The City of Calgary’s highest-level planning document. It guides future land use, built form, and growth.

The Calgary Transportation Plan (CTP) guides the city’s mobility networks.

Combining these plans together ensures land use and mobility planning are integrated, better aligning the way we build and move through the city.

• Simplified goals
• Updated City Structure map addressing the growth and structure of Calgary
• Consolidated policies from the MDP and CTP removing conflicting direction and redundancy
• The addition of new policies reflecting other approved City documents and reinforcing climate, equity, and Truth and Reconciliation

The Zoning Bylaw regulates how and where buildings are developed throughout the city. This includes:

• The activities (uses) allowed on a property (e.g. residential, commercial, industrial)
• Where development can happen on a property
• The shape of a building
• Requirements when development is in a flood zone

The Zoning Bylaw does not:

• Regulate who can use a property
• Provide specific building construction rules (addressed in the Building Code)
• Force development/redevelopment to occur

The parts of a Zoning Bylaw include:

• Zones: Areas of the city are divided into different zones that detail the types of development and activities (uses) allowed within each area.
• Uses: When a parcel of land has a particular zone applied to it, there are a variety of "permitted uses" included. These are types of activity that you are automatically granted permission by the City to carry out on that parcel. There may also be "discretionary" uses for that zone. These are uses that might be appropriate, but you need to obtain permission through a Development Permit beforehand to ensure they fit with the specific context of that site.
• Regulations: Rules for development, like maximum building heights, building setbacks and many other rules that guide the use of land.

What is a Permitted Use?

• A proposed use of land that is allowed in a specific zone
• Permitted uses complement each other or are anticipated to work together, such as a garage and a house in a residential area
• For permitted uses that comply with all of the rules of the Zoning Bylaw, the development permit must be approved
• A permitted use is not subject to a review of City policies
• For permitted uses that don't comply with all of the rules of the Zoning Bylaw, The City can use discretion, public feedback and City policies to make the decision whether the use should be approved

What is a Discretionary Use?

• A proposed use of land that is not automatically allowed where it is listed in a zone, but that may be allowed at the discretion of The City
• A discretionary use may or may not be approved, depending on how the use fits with and impacts neighbouring parcels, alignment with City policies and sound planning principles
• Discretionary uses are not required to comply with all of the rules of the Zoning Bylaw, however they must comply with all relevant City policies
• The City may approve a discretionary use that does not comply with the rules of the Zoning Bylaw or may refuse a discretionary use that does comply with all the rules of the Zoning Bylaw, based on discretion

• Consolidated, optimized and defined uses
• Developed high-level draft zones
• Tested draft zones against existing and proposed developments to ensure effectiveness
• Created preliminary regulations and general provisions for the new bylaw

The Street Manual will guide how city streets are designed, including:

• The types of spaces needed for different travel options, including walking, wheeling, transit and driving
• Streetscape elements like trees, benches and public utilities
• How streets interact with surrounding buildings, including different approaches to driveways, parking and the use of sidewalk space based on the local context

The Street Manual is one way of implementing land use and mobility policies in the Calgary Plan. Planners, developers, engineers, landscape architects and designers use this manual when designing streets in new communities or retrofitting existing streets.

• Consolidating and aligning the street design guidelines within the Complete Streets Guide, Design Guidelines for Subdivision Servicing, and other related mobility documents
• Incorporating feedback from development partners and updating design guidance with current industry best practices

As the Street Manual is a technical document, Phase 4 engagement is focused primarily on feedback from those directly involved with designing and building streets. Phase 2 public feedback has informed the proposed street designs by incorporating Calgarian’s most important objectives: safety, connectivity, and environmental sustainability.

The scope of this program is to update and align citywide plans and tools, like the Calgary Plan, Zoning Bylaw and Street Manual, so that they work together seamlessly. We won’t be changing the direction and vision that was approved in 2019, but targets and wording will change to make these plans and tools easy to use, implement and understand.

Creating straightforward plans will support more of what makes this city great and benefit all Calgarians by:

• Improving ways to get around by providing safe, efficient, and appealing travel options for all Calgarians.
• Building attractive neighbourhoods and spaces that offer lifestyle choices to residents, families, and businesses.
• Supporting economic development by building a city that attracts talent and investment. Simpler processes, more flexible rules and a quicker path to saying “yes” will make it easier to start or grow a business.
• Improving housing security and choice by increasing the amount and variety of market and non-market homes in Calgary.
• Acting boldly on climate change by supporting more resilient and sustainably built homes, offering more sustainable mobility options and protecting our trees, parks and rivers.
• Enhancing relationships with Indigenous communities by reflecting community priorities, honouring places of significance and incorporating Indigenous knowledge. This brings together both Indigenous and western worldviews to achieve a more equitable and inclusive city.

• General public: Engagement with the public will occur through three phases. We want to gather input from Calgarians through a variety of online and in-person opportunities across the city, including surveys, community pop-ups, drop-in events, webinars, interactive displays and other activities.
• Equity-deserving communities: Engagement with equity-deserving communities in Calgary will focus on under-represented and historically marginalized populations to build trust, understand lived experiences, and ideate solutions. We want to understand the ways our current policies have affected Calgarians living with vulnerabilities, the implications of implementing changes to these policies and how best to prioritize these changes.
• Indigenous Peoples: Engagement with Indigenous communities, including the Blackfoot Nations of Siksika, Piikani, and Kainai, the Stoney Nakoda First Nations tribes of Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Wesley, the Tsuut’ina First Nation, and the Métis Nation of Alberta, Regions 5 & 6. This strengthens relationships, reflects community priorities, and incorporates Indigenous knowledge.
• Interested parties: Engagement with organizations and representatives (such as the development and building industry, community groups, and non-profit organizations) expressing specific interest in one or more aspects of the project. These entities are providing valuable subject matter expertise into the City Building program.
• Internal City staff: Engagement with City of Calgary employees and partners who will play a role in influencing and utilizing the deliverables from the City Building program. This stream ensures internal alignment and collaboration.

During project engagement, the Engage Resource Unit (ERU) works to create transparency by ensuring that Calgarians involved in the process understand why they’re being engaged, what will be done with their feedback, and when they can expect to see how their feedback was incorporated. If changes are made to the engagement program once underway, Calgarians involved are informed of the reason for this change, and how it will impact scope and timelines. In subsequent phases of engagement, or at the end of a single-phase engagement program, we communicate to Calgarians how their feedback was used, as well as reasons for which certain feedback could not be incorporated. When combined, these efforts provide clarity and transparency for Calgarians throughout an engagement process.

The program budget was council-approved at the 2023 – 2026 Service Plans and Budget. The program budget is 17-million dollars that is funded through taxes and fees. The budget funds the work for these plans, which includes engagement activities, research, outreach and writing the updates to these three documents.

We’re planning and building our city to ensure it is sustainable, diverse, accessible, equitable and livable. Some current initiatives underway work together to achieve this vision.

Home is Here: The City of Calgary’s Housing Strategy

This strategy aspires to ensure that everyone living in Calgary has an affordable place to call home.

City Building and Housing Strategy teams will be working together to keep each other informed of progress, major decisions, and opportunities for the public to receive information and provide feedback.

Some of the Housing Strategy actions approved by Council will fall into the scope of the City Building program, including:

• residential parking requirements
• exploring more permitted housing uses in new districts
• making non-market housing easier to build
• improving policies and land use districts to increase affordable housing supply and housing choice in every community

The City Building team will be updating policy and all zoning regulations (including all residential zones). Changes proposed through City Building will be part of the education and engagement campaigns for the program.

Rezoning for Housing

For additional information about Rezoning for Housing visit http://calgary.ca/rezoning.

Local Area Plan Program

Local area plans provide area-specific direction on redevelopment and reinvestment that will guide livable, equitable and diverse growth in our communities over the next 30 years.

We are collaborating and getting feedback from other internal projects and departments to ensure we have alignment and coordination between other bodies of work. Visit Local Area Planning in Calgary for more information about the plans currently underway.

Calgary River Valleys Project

Directs land use policies and building regulations in flood hazard areas to guide how we plan and develop in river communities to make them more resilient.

As our city continues to grow and the information available about flood risk evolves, it is important that we continue to revisit our land use policies and building regulations in flood hazard areas to guide how we plan and develop in river communities to make them more resilient.

Key outcomes of the Calgary River Valleys Project include adding updated river valley and flood hazard policy content in the Calgary Plan and updating Flood Hazard Area regulations in the updated Land Use (Zoning) Bylaw.

Calgary Climate Strategy

The City Building team will incorporate the relevant policies and actions from Calgary’s Climate Strategy.

• In general, housing development initiatives that provide densification in established areas and are oriented around public and active transit opportunities are in alignment with Calgary’s Climate Strategy.
• Housing development initiatives, however, should all consider building energy performance, as building performance needs to improve rapidly to hit our emissions targets.
• Housing development initiatives should also incorporate climate resilience measures to reduce climate risk and susceptibility to increasing extreme weather events.