Developing A Community: The Approval Process

Developing A Community Introduction Who Pays? Community Design & Maintaining Affordability Development Guidelines The Approval Process Why Does A Lot Cost A Lot?

Before construction begins on the new community, developers are required to go through an intensive approval process which involves various City of Calgary Departments, the General Public / Stakeholders, and finally The City of Calgary City Council. Approvals a developer will likely require are Land Use / Outline Plan, Development Permit, Building Permits and a variety of others.

Once the plan has been developed, the first step in the process generally involves the developer, or a consultant working on their behalf, submitting a Land Use/ Outline Plan to the City of Calgary's Planning, Development and Assessment Department. This plan will describe the proposed zoning for the site, the proposed road layout, park locations and sizes, natural areas, surrounding context, conceptual servicing, etc. Many copies are typically needed and these copies are circulated to various Departments within the City of Calgary (Planning, Sewers, Streets, Parks, etc), as well as a variety of other organizations (school boards, Utility Companies, Fire Department, etc). The City's CPAG (Corporate Planning Applications Group) is responsible for the review process.

The plan is then reviewed by the various departments/ organizations (this process can take many months), and comments are then returned for the developer to address. Almost all plans require some level of modification at this time. When the plan is modified it is resubmitted and again reviewed by the CPAG team. This process continues until both the CPAG group and the applicant are reasonably satisfied.

The application is then brought before a group known as the Calgary Planning Commission (CPC) who review the plan and, if satisfied, recommend approval and forward the plan to a Public Hearing of Council. At this Council Hearing, the application will be presented (typically by City Planning staff) and Council members will give the application its 'first reading'. Members of the public are also given an opportunity to speak either in favor or opposed to the plan (other previous public consultation sessions would have taken place prior to this time, usually in the form of consulting with Community Associations and/ or hosting of public open houses).

Once the council discussion is complete, council members will vote to approve or reject the application (they can also elect to have the item tabled until various issues related to the submission are adequately addressed). Once the application has been given first reading, it then requires a second and third reading prior to the application being approved (this is typically a formality and usually happens quickly).

The time involved in the approval process varies significantly, although all approvals must be granted prior to site construction commencing.