Viscount Bennett redevelopment joins wave of legal resistance over Calgary rezoning

More than a dozen residents of Richmond-Knob Hill have filed an appeal for judicial review against the City of Calgary's decision to approve the redevelopment of the former Viscount Bennett school site.

In April, after a lengthy public hearing, city council voted 9-5 to rezone the land off of Crowchild Trail S.W. The developer, Minto Group, plans to build up to 1,509 residential units across eight buildings — up to 16 storeys high — for its project, now called Parkline.

Now, a group of 18 residents who call themselves "Neighbours for Richmond-Knob Hill" are fighting back.

Lucia Rossini-Lake, who leads the group, said residents believe city council failed to comply with procedures required to change or approve bylaws under the Municipal Government Act.

They also believe council relied on outdated reports — such as traffic studies — and failed to properly assess whether the aging infrastructure could handle the capacity of the development when making their decision.

"We just want to make sure that there's proper analysis and scrutiny and we've got current data on what is the state of our infrastructure before we go and make these big decisions that will have a lasting impact on existing communities," said Rossini-Lake, who lives a couple of blocks away from the site.

That's in addition to wider concerns about excessive density, traffic, a lack of green space and more previously shared with CBC News and at the public hearing.

"I would hope, like in any business or industry or in life, that when you make mistakes or if you miss something, you reflect and say, 'Hey, could we have done this better? Is there a better way for next time?'"

The group has a court date scheduled for July 23.

The City of Calgary and Minto Group declined to comment because the matter is before the courts.

Part of a growing trend

Randi Collins said this case is part of a growing trend in Calgary, now that blanket rezoning is in full force.

She's the managing lawyer at Getz Collins & Associates, whose specialities include real estate. She is not involved with this particular case.

"A lot of these communities used to have density requirements that wouldn't allow these types of developments, and now they're starting to relax those decisions," said Collins. "We're going to see a lot more of these legal challenges."

Earlier this year, another group of Calgary residents challenged Calgary's blanket rezoning bylaw in court, but failed. This spring, a Calgary resident won the right to appeal a major infill development next door. Meanwhile, a number of Calgary communities are turning to restrictive covenants to block development.

However, Collins said these cases are tough to win.

"They would have a pretty high threshold to show that the reports are wrong and that there is a big difference between the reports that were provided and what is more accurate," she said, regarding the most recent case.

WestCan v. City of Calgary: Setting a precedent

Collins said there's a separate case, also against the City of Calgary, that could set a precedent for future appeals — including the one launched by Neighbours for Richmond-Knob Hill.

The dispute centres on the city's intention to close road access to WestCan Recyclers' facility as part of its plan to develop Point Trotter Industrial Park in the southeast quadrant of the city.

Westcan has applied to the Supreme Court of Canada for permission to appeal a recent decision by the Alberta Court of Appeal, which sided with the City of Calgary.

Collins said similar to the Viscount Bennett site appeal, WestCan's pending application to the Supreme Court is focused on procedural fairness.

If the Supreme Court decides against hearing WestCan's case, the Alberta Court of Appeal's decision would stand, setting a precedent for future appeals.

"The Court of Appeal in that WestCan decision essentially said we're not going to step on the toes of these municipalities in making these decisions if they believe it's in the best interests of their development," said Collins.

"The court is basically giving the messaging that they're not going to intervene."

She added that lower courts, including the Court of King's Bench, are bound to what the Court of Appeal has decided is the threshold for success.

"So although you may see a lot of applications, they may be generally unsuccessful and people may then stop or lessen how often they're going to apply, not believing that they're going to see any success.

Raising $100,000

Back in Richmond-Knob Hill, Rossini-Lake said she doesn't expect this appeal will stop the development, especially as Calgary battles a housing crisis — but she believes residents deserve a voice in planning the growth of their communities.

And while the appeal is focused on one specific project, she said it represents a larger trend of what other established communities are facing.

"There should be meaningful community engagement, and in the absence of that, communities are resorting to court action, which is really unfortunate," said Rossini-Lake.

Other than their court date near the end of the month, the group's next step is to fundraise $100,000 to "see this appeal process to its end."