Public Hearing Improvements Project
The City of Calgary ("The City") is improving the public hearing process to ensure that public hearings are accessible, inclusive, and user-friendly for the public.
What is a public hearing?
Members of City Council meet regularly to discuss issues such as policies, bylaws, budget, and major projects affecting Calgary.
If an individual is concerned about a Council or committee item, they may attend a public hearing during a Council or standing policy committee meeting to communicate their views directly to Council.
This builds public confidence and encourages civic engagement.
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About the project
On March 22, 2021, Council directed The City to develop a more user-friendly and inclusive public hearing process. The City held a public engagement to determine how to remove barriers from citizens being able to participate in a public hearing.
These barriers included, but are not limited to:
- time it takes to prepare
- lack of awareness about how to register and prepare a submission
- clarity on influence of submissions
- stress for some people of speaking about a personal issue
- perceived inequities
- respectful environment
- accessibility issues such as language, childcare, and parking costs
Public hearing recommendations
On March 15, 2022, Council received a report on the Public Hearing Improvements Project. Recommendations included:
Project timeline
The goal of this project is to address the barriers identified when participating in a public hearing.
Supporting documents
- Acts, Bylaws, Policies
- Endorsement Statement Recommendation
- Innovation Lab Key Findings Report
- Municipal Scan of Scheduled Public Hearing Meetings
- Previous Council Direction and Timeline
- Public Hearing EC Presentation
- Public Hearing Process Improvements
- Public Hearing Process 2022-2023
- Public Hearing Process Opportunity Solution Tree
- Technology Summary
- What We Heard Report