This Calgary party vows to repeal citywide rezoning. Will it be the ballot question? [Video]

Calgarians don’t head to the polls until the fall, but a new political party is hoping to make citywide rezoning a ballot box issue by vowing to repeal the policy.

October’s municipal election will be the first with political parties, including Communities First, the group pitching the policy reversal.

The party, which includes sitting councillors Sonya Sharp, Andre Chabot, Dan McLean and Terry Wong, said it would repeal citywide rezoning and implement major reforms to the city’s planning department if a majority of its candidates are elected.

“People were really upset, and it’s what we’ve heard over and over again since the decision was made,” Chabot told Global News.

Last spring, Calgary city council voted to change the city’s base residential zoning after the largest public hearing in city history.

Council heard from more than 730 speakers, but the majority voiced opposition to the idea.

The new base zoning, called R-CG, allows for higher-density housing types on a …