Calgary Infills revitalize Neighborhoods

In this article, “The evolution of Calgary's infill housing” on 28 March 2020 in the Calgary Herald, Richard White states that new infills are revitalizing inner-city neighbourhoods.

In a rebuttal letter to the editor, John McFaul concedes that to some extent this is true.

While John McFaul lists a number of negative impacts, as he sees them, he fails to mention that sustainability of the city is threatened if we continue with the low-density, single-family home model of the 20th century. In the years ahead, this low-density model will:

1. Increase taxes materially to pay for and maintain infrastructure that has low utilization.
2. Undermine the quality of life as commute times increase.
3. Create cost increases and environmental impacts as energy consumption per capita continues to increase.

Here is the list of negative impacts that John McFaul believes new infills create together with my rebuttals:

1. Infills shade the surrounding properties and impact their privacy and views. True but over time many of the surrounding houses will be replaced by infills and apartment blocks. That places everyone back on equal footing.
2. Infills often fill up most of the lot with impervious surfaces that lead to greater surface runoff and exacerbates the city heat island effect. True but I don’t think this is a material impact.
3. Infills limit the amount of usable yard space. True but residents don’t use their yards much. Those who do can use their neighborhood parks more.
4. Infills increase traffic flow in the neighborhood. True but the residential roads aren’t used much now. Some more traffic will actually decrease the cost of roads per capita.
5. Infills increase the cost of the housing rises significantly. False, infills cost more because the home is larger and offers more features that buyers want.
6. Infills greatly reduce the affordability of the neighborhood. False. It’s not the infills that are creating affordability issues. It’s the geographic location of inner-city neighborhoods that offer short commutes to downtown that are driving up prices.
7. Infills lead to higher property taxes for surrounding properties. False. Even with no infills, geographic location is creating higher assessments that lead to higher property taxes.
8. Mature trees that were part of the original lot are destroyed to make room for the infills. This affects the biodiversity and natural beauty of the neighborhood. True but that’s a price we need to pay to operate a sustainable, financially viable city.
9. City council needs to rethink their drive to densify the inner neighborhoods in lieu of these negative impacts. False. I commend city council for their vision to increase housing density and variety on the road to ensuring a sustainable, livable city.