Local Area Planning (LAP)
Policies for Local Area Planning
The City of Calgary is changing the way local area plans are being created. The new approach offers a simplified framework for creating multi-community local area plans, making efficient use of infrastructure and enabling the growth of a compact city. The Guide for Local Area Planning directs how communities will change over time, and support the target in the Municipal Development Plan to accommodate 50% of Calgary’s new population growth within developed areas of the city over the next 60 to 70 years. A renewed land use bylaw that includes new districts for low density residential, will be considered by Council in 2022-2023.
An estimated 42 local area plans (LAPs) will be created to guide growth and change across the city. These plans would each include approx. 10 to 15 communities. Policies used to create these plans are intended to enable communities to express their unique character and history to guide contextual redevelopment. This is why public engagement in the development of area plans is so essential. Community-specific policies are important for ensuring the “fit” between old and new development. Guidelines, for example, might encourage porches or high roof pitches or front yards with landscaping to respect local streetscape patterns on nearby properties. The LAPs will replace existing statutory and non-statutory plans such as Area Redevelopment Plans (ARPs), Area Structure Plans (ASPs) and Design Briefs, many of which have design guidelines for reinforcing heritage character and the sense of history in a community. Architectural, urban and natural features contribute to a feeling of local identity and sense of place. Maintaining these unique features is vital to inner-city communities.
The new local area plans are built upon the Calgary Municipal Development Plan, the Calgary Transportation Plan and the best practices in the Guide for Local Area Planning, which is the toolkit for implementation. “A local area plan (LAP) encapsulates a future vision for the area and provides development direction that residents, landowners, builders/developers, City Planners and Councillors can commonly refer to…” – City of Calgary. LAPs take about 12-24 months to complete through a collaborative and iterative process. Five local area plans involving more than 50 communities have commenced as of 2020, however two of these were put on hold due to the pandemic. Go to the City’s website to read more about Local Area Planning.
The toolkit for LAPs includes policies to conserve streetscapes with a concentrated grouping of heritage assets. A heritage asset is defined as a privately-owned structure typically constructed prior to 1945 that significantly retains the original form, scale, massing, window/door pattern, and architectural details or materials. Many individual heritage assets do not qualify for inclusion in the Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources. Their heritage significance is tied to being part of a geographic concentration of similar sites.
Policies for LAPs in Guide for Local Area Planning (previously named Guidebook for Great Communities)
Map 3: Urban Form Categories
Map 4: Building Scale
FAQs
Density Bonusing
Adaptive Reuse and Heritage Density Transfer
Balancing heritage conservation with the necessary renewal of aging buildings and infrastructure, all while accommodating growth, is challenging indeed! Often our smaller to medium scale heritage buildings are located on corridors and commercial streets where market demand for redevelopment is greatest. These buildings may once have been used for a purpose no longer needed in the inner-city. A warehouse might become apartment lofts, school rooms could convert to offices, or a factory might be transformed into an event space. This is called adaptive reuse. Explore some of Calgary’s great “New Uses for Old Buildings” here.
One incentive to retain heritage in redevelopment is called “heritage density transfer or bonusing”. If an owner opts to retain and designate a heritage resource, they may transfer (sell) the undeveloped potential of their site to allow another property to exceed the allowable density specified by the zoning requirements of the land use by- law. Think of the empty air space above a 3-storey heritage building that could have a 12-storey building erected on the site if the heritage building were demolished. That unused density could be transferred (sold) to allow a new building nearby to exceed the-12 story maximum allowed by the land use bylaw. So the two sites together achieve the maximum density for the combined parcels. The owner of the heritage building receives a financial benefit from the potential of their property without needing to demolish it in order to realize that gain.
The specifics of the density transfer can be negotiated between the City and developer. For example, The Arriva condo building in Victoria Park became the tallest residential building in Alberta when it was completed in 2007 because the developer committed to restore and preserve the Victoria Park School, which occupies the same site. Completed in 1912, it was one of the many schools built to accommodate Calgary’s rapidly growing population during the city’s pre-World War I boom. The Edwardian architecture is typical of the historic Paskapopo sandstone schools found among Calgary’s older neighbourhoods. The juxtaposition of the Victoria Park School against the towering condos reminds us of Calgary’s past and present.
A local area plan, such as some existing Area Redevelopment Plans (ARP) or the new multi-community Local Area Plans may include density bonusing policies for specific areas. A formula for calculating the amount of the bonus should be established at the time of plan development, as would the use of the contribution. For example, it could be applied to a community investment fund, ideally to protect local heritage, especially where an undesignated but inventoried heritage resource is demolished. A fundamental principle of density bonusing in Calgary is that the area receiving the additional density should also be the area receiving the amenity benefit. It is therefore important that the LAP process, with resident input, identify eligible buildings for preservation, ensure that the appropriate level of bonusing is in place given the target density to be achieved, and that the intended use of the bonus is established.
In Fall of 2020, The City of Calgary approved a $1 million, cost shared, non-residential Historic Resource Conservation Grant in 2021 and 2022 with annual base funding to be increased to $2 million in 2023 and beyond. This grant may be available to owners of designated heritage resources, with specified limits. The grant covers some of the costs associated with restoration and adaptive reuse. Often, the revenue potential of the site could be greater if the heritage resource was demolished and the site was redeveloped to the maximum allowed by the land use by-law.
The City is currently reviewing funding tools and investment strategies that will support evolution and change in our communities.
Generally, density transfer/bonusing is not appropriate for low density residential neighbourhoods. For example, communities are not likely to support high density infills next to a designated single-detached home because of the impact on the streetscape.
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