Skip a secondary suite step – Development Permit exemption

Secondary suites are commonly referred to 

as basement suites, but can be on the main 

floor or an attached garage.

If you’re interested in developing a secondary suite in your home, there is no better time than now. The City of Calgary is waving the Development Permit application and fees for homes that are zoned for suites, and that meet all the requirements of the Land Use Bylaw – commonly referred to as a basement suite. The Development Permit exemption runs until March 3, 2017.

The exemption is part of The City’s efforts to make it less expensive, faster and easier to obtain approval to develop a secondary suite in your home. Suites that have been inspected to meet Alberta’s Safety Codes help ensure public protection, and provide people the ability to escape in the event of an emergency, like a fire.

If you’re interested in learning more or if you want to determine if your property is a candidate for the permit exemption, enter your address on calgary.ca/secondarysuites, or contact our Planning Services Call Centre at (403) 268 5311 for assistance.

The City of Calgary switches to electronic bidding

The City of Calgary announced it is switching to electronic bidding for all publicly advertised contracts, effective May 25, 2015.

Deputy Mayor Evan Woolley, speaking at an event at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, said, “The electronic bidding project is a perfect example of The City’s Cut Red Tape Initiative in action: It saves our vendors time and money ... and it helps reduce environmental impact by reducing paper usage and traffic on the roads.”

He added, “The impact on The City’s budget is small but favourable, but the impact on The City’s ability to do business efficiently and effectively is enormous!”

Effective May 25, 2015, all new solicitations will be posted on the MERX4 portal at calgary.merx.com. Vendors must register in order to have uninterrupted access to postings.

Electronic bidding eliminates the hazards – and hassles – associated with paper files. Instead of printing, copying and rushing to get a time-stamp, suppliers will be able to simply upload their proposals electronically. No more courier costs, traffic delays or parking problems – and the environmental impact of printing and delivering proposals will be eliminated.

The City recommends suppliers register as soon as possible to avoid missing any opportunities they might be interested in. Suppliers can buy an annual subscription of $89.90 for access to the system for one year or, if they’re only planning to bid on one project, they can pay $25.00 to download a solicitation and $25.00 to submit their proposal.

Vendors currently preparing proposals should continue to follow the instructions already received – existing RFPs will not be moving to the new system. Only new opportunities will be posted on MERX4.

MERX was selected as the supplier for electronic bidding as the result of a competitive bid process and successful pilot project. In the past, construction opportunities were posted on MERX3 – The City’s bid documents could be downloaded, but the site did not provide for uploading of proposals. Now, MERX4 has everything – suppliers can download and upload documents, eliminating entirely the need for paper documents.

The City of Calgary issues some $1.5 billion worth of requests for proposals and other solicitations a year, generating more than 2,500 bids from suppliers, consultants and contractors.

City accepting online payments for new home construction permits

Calgary’s high volume home builders will be spending less time at our counter, starting now.

Thanks to the latest online payment option offered by The City, they can apply for new home building permits and complete the process by paying for Single Construction Permits with a major credit card. Those paying online will also obtain an immediate partial permit, so they can begin construction right away without having to visit our service counter.

These improvements are part of The City’s Residential ePermit initiative, where we’re working to make it faster and easier to apply for residential permits, book inspections and pay for those services online.



“Accepting these permit payments online is an exciting first step for The City and its customers,” says Henry van Aken, Manager of Customer Advisory Services. “We’ve now completely eliminated the need for these home builders to travel to City Hall, find parking, and stand in line at our counter. More importantly, we’ve succeeded in making it faster and easier to do business with The City, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.”

The City started by adding its largest volume permit application to the web, the Single Construction Permit, and worked closely with members of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association – Calgary Region to help develop and test the online tool. Since April 2013, more than 4,000 new home construction permits and 10,000 paperless inspections have been booked online by home builders.

For more information about the Residential ePermit initiative and details about the new online payments, visit calgary.ca/epermit.

Efficient planning speeds up West Village development

Written by Joachim Mueller

The timing couldn't be better for West Village Towers, a large development that City Council approved last October. The project will add 584 much-needed residential units, up to two storeys of commercial uses, and likely an urban supermarket to the west end of Calgary’s Downtown. As an urban planner, I’m pleased to see how well this development aligns with our vision of a vibrant Centre City, and I’m excited about how efficiently we processed the applications for it – in half the time it would normally take!

West Village rendering - Photo by Wexford Developments

We were able to work faster because the West Village Towers project was processed as a concurrent application, meaning that City staff processed the rezoning and development permit at the same time. Typically, a developer has to go through the entire rezoning process before coming back to apply for a development permit. Allowing a developer to do these two things at the same time is a way we can work more efficiently and get better outcomes for all parties involved.

Concurrent applications were an idea that came out of Transforming Planning, and it is now being tested as we work to make that vision a reality. It reduces the time and expense required for developers trying to get a proposed development approved and it allows staff to evaluate it more holistically. This reduces the amount of red tape and allows needed housing to be built more quickly, without reducing the amount of input the public gets onto future development.

Typically, a rezoning can take up to six months to be approved, with the development permit taking another six months after that. We were able to complete both of these approvals with the West Village Towers in just over six months. But, taking less time is not the only thing concurrent applications accomplish. Holding these two processes together makes it easier to work collaboratively with developers and communities on a proposed development, because all aspects of it are being discussed at the same time.

Joachim Mueller, Senior Planner

Concurrent applications are just one way that we are working to improve Calgary’s planning system, but there is a lot of other work underway to make the changes that were recommended from the year-long Transforming Planning project. For information on what all is happening, please look on our website at www.calgary.ca/NewPlanningSystem.

Joachim Mueller is a Senior Planner with The City’s Planning, Development & Assessment department.

Making things simpler with Cut Red Tape

Simple, innovative, flexible, outcome-focused and measurable. These are the guiding principles behind The City’s Cut Red Tape program aimed at removing unnecessary red tape for citizens and businesses.

Since the program began in 2010, there has been an estimated 90,000 hours in time saved. But the biggest impact has been the difference it has made for the people that use City services. Whether it’s a citizen looking for low-income assistance or a food truck operator needing a business permit, the program has helped cut down barriers and make it easier for people to interact with The City of Calgary.

These highlights are just the beginning of a larger trend within the organization to continually improve services and focus on results. Cutting red tape may have started off as a program, but is the way we will conduct business from now on.



Take a look at our Cut Red Tape video above, which was recently produced to highlight a few stories and successes of the Cut Red Tape Initiative. It was first shown to council in Jeff Fielding’s recent presentation where he indicated he would like to see the Cut Red Tape principles embedded into how we work.