Top 10 Reasons to Support PlanIT Calgary

From Civic Camp Calgary...

Top Ten Reasons to Support PLAN IT

Number 10: PLAN IT Focuses on Completing Existing Communities. The proposed Municipal Development Plan identifies the need for complete communities. Right now in Calgary we have 20 communities around the periphery of our city that are not yet built out – some of them have been that way for 20 years! Yet we keep approving new developments. Tens of Thousands of Calgarians are living in unfinished communities. Some have been waiting for schools for over a decade. Many have inadequate transit service. Others lack basic commercial and community services due to insufficient population. The reason we suffer through this unacceptable situation is that it is not in the interest of the suburban development industry to complete communities. Rather, the suburban development industry’s interest is simply to sell land for profit, then move on to develop and sell more land. A report presented on June 10 to the Standing Policy Committee on Land Use, Planning and Transportation outlines part of the problem. Calgarians have been massively subsidizing suburban development to the tune of about $8,400.00 per unit. With that kind of subsidy it is no wonder the development industry wants to keep building out. Whether the homeowner or the developer or builder captures that massive subsidy is unclear. What is clear is that the subsidisation of new developments is making it impossible to complete existing communities in a timely fashion.
A February 2009 CMHC research report Government-imposed Charges on New Housing in Canada clearly demonstrates that the development industry in Calgary has not been paying its way. For example total municipal charges on a single-detached new dwelling in Toronto, Vancouver, Saskatoon, Edmonton and Calgary are $31,500, $16,600, $16,400, $19,800 and $11,700 respectively. As a result of the taxpayers’ subsidy to suburban greenfield development, new suburban homes in Calgary appear to be much less costly than they actually are.

Number 9: PLAN IT Will Improve Transit Service. PLAN IT, including the Calgary Transportation Plan (CTP), signals a shift from a single-minded goal of providing for the automobile to a more integrated and enlightened policy of mobility choices for moving PEOPLE. The CTP shifts investment priorities to transit, safe bicycle routes and a safe and pleasant pedestrian environment. This shift is long overdue. Historically, City transportation budgets have been massively skewed toward roads, overpasses and interchanges–so much so that about 75% of all the city’s transportation infrastructure is devoted to roads. Calgarians have shown their desire for quality transit by voting with their feet. Our LRT is used more than any other comparable system in North America, but it is crowded and in need of upgrades and extensions. PLAN IT will allow that to happen.

Number 8: 11 Billion Dollars That Stays in Your Pocket. Just last month the City released its long-awaited assessment of the costs of growth. The IBI Group analyzed the cost of financing the next 50 year’s growth comparing a Business As Usual Scenario that would see approximately 80% of new development in new greenfield suburban communities with the Recommended Scenario which proposes that 50% of new development occur in greenfields. The Recommended Scenario would be about 35% less expensive than Business As Usual. That translates into approximately 11 billion dollars saved if we adopt PLAN IT.
NOTE: This is one area of contention with the PLAN IT proposal. The numbers demonstrate that less greenfield development is better but a strong case can be made that the Recommended Scenario is too timid and a more aggressive intensification scenario would save even more money and produce a healthier and more sustainable city. See my blog on this site, "The Case of the Disappearing Scenario," for more on this issue.

Number 7: PLAN IT Will Make Living in Calgary More Affordable. The two largest household expenditures for most Calgarians are housing and transportation. PLAN IT commissioned a research report to assess the impact of a more compact city on affordability. The report found that a more compact city will provide more housing choice and affordability for Calgarians. Factor in transportation and the argument is even stronger for a more compact city. A report out of the United States examined housing and transportation costs for households in the 28 largest metropolitan centres. It found that for low and moderate income households transportation costs exceed housing costs and that living in suburbia was a more expensive proposition than living in established communities, when both housing and transportation are taken into account. My own research on this subject in Calgary, though preliminary, points toward the same conclusion. A just published Natural Resources Canada research report also supports this argument – suburban living is more expensive than we might think. But I think we can all agree that transportation energy costs will likely rise very significantly over the next ten years.

Number 6: PLAN IT Means A More Competitive and Sustainable Economy. A competitive and sustainable economy is one that attracts investment and people and keeps costs down. The Smart Growth Report prepared by Sustainable Calgary researchers documents some of the research supporting this thesis. The work of Richard Florida clearly demonstrates that the creative classes – skilled knowledge workers - are attracted to more compact, vibrant, non-auto dependent cities. We have only to look at places like Portland, Oregon to see this principle at work. The former Chief Economist of the RBC, Jeff Rubin, is now making a similar argument about competitiveness in his new book. He talks about $200/Barrel Oil in a year and a half!! -J.C.

Number 5: Meeting the Demographic Challenge. PLAN IT commissioned a demographics and growth study that demonstrates that our population will significantly age over the coming 50 years and much of our growth will come from immigration. Senior citizens and new immigrants will have different needs than our current population. PLAN IT proposes a forward-looking strategy to create a city for the Calgarians of tomorrow, not of yesterday. Our communities will have to be made up of a much more diverse stock of housing types than is currently offered.

Number 4: PLAN IT Will Contribute to the Creation of A City Built for Everyone. According to Sustainable Calgary’s The State of our City Sustainability Indicators Research, Calgarians face two big challenges in making our city a more healthy, caring and vibrant community. One is the growing socio-economic inequities we see in Calgary. The second is our unsustainable rate of resource consumption – water, energy, and lots and lots of stuff. The good news is that reducing resource consumption can go a long way toward reducing inequity. The reason is that curbing sprawl, providing viable alternatives to the private automobile, and providing a wide range of housing types and sizes close to transit makes it easier for low income, disabled, and elderly Calgarians to lead a high quality of life.

Number 3: PLAN IT Signals a Renaissance of Public Space. The great cities of the world have great public plazas, pedestrian friendly streets, and parks. Parks we have in spades and they are truly wonderful. But we are sorely lacking vibrant urban public spaces. The Transit Oriented Development focus of PLAN IT will allow us to develop these spaces. Transit stations should be much more than utilitarian spaces where you catch a bus or train. They should be the heart of vibrant communities, shopping districts and employment centres. PLAN ITs Calgary Transportation Plan signals a shift toward the idea of complete streets that do much more than simply get cars from A to B in the shortest time possible. Complete streets have many purposes - they are for pedestrians and bicyclists as well as cars. They should be beautiful enjoyable places to be.

Number 2: Live Long and Prosper. Health and the built environment has become a major topic of research and concern over the past decade as we come to understand the health and well-being consequences of car-oriented societies. Health care professionals now consider obesity to be a public health problem of epidemic proportions. It is especially worrisome among children and teenagers - an age group with obesity rates approaching 16-18% as reported in the June 10th release of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing Healthy Populations Report. Asthma, triggered by bad air quality afflicts over 30,000 Calgary kids, and is the number one cause of school absenteeism. PLAN ITs focus on complete streets, mixed communities with commercial services within walking and biking distance, and greater investment in transit, all help to create communities that foster active and healthy living. A large body of research suggests that complete walkable communities significantly reduce the incidence of obesity and other illnesses caused by sedentary living.

Number 1: PLAN IT is Good For the Planet and Good for Calgary. The most critical issue facing the human species today is climate change. Calgarians have among the largest ecological footprints on the planet and with that comes a high rate of CO2 production. It is in our own enlightened self-interest to get serious about reducing CO2. In the next 12 months Canadians are likely going to be called upon by the international community, including our neighbours to the south, to significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions. Better we develop a pro-active strategy to reduce emissions than be forced to by the international community. PLAN IT sets us on a path to significantly reduce CO2 emissions, while actually improving and safeguarding our quality of life.
Click here for the City’s most up to date and digestible summary of the Municipal Development Plan and The Calgary Transportation Plan