Development still on the mind of Calgary's new council

CalgaryMayor Naheed Nenshi isn't softening his war of words with some home builders andsaysa new mandate from voters in Monday's election has strengthened his hand.

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"The challenge wasn't the development community," saidNenshi.

"It was a very small group of home builders who I still don't understand what they were concerned about maybe they'll tell me now. But really it's about building a better community together, it's about more choices in more places for more people and I am happy to take that on."

• Listen to his full interview on the Calgary Eyeopener below:

He says he isn't backing down from his campaign statements on the cost of development and ending the "sprawl subsidy."

Nenshi campaigned on raising developer levies so that the cost of growth on the city's edges is fully paid for by the people who buy homes there.Now he plans to deliver on that promise.

He says everyhouse built in a new neighbourhood costs Calgary taxpayers $4,800or $33 milliona year.

"Even when we passed the last agreement in 2011, it was very clear, Ithink, for all members of council around that table that this was an interim step to full cost recovery," he said. "So Ithink that one's going to be OK."

Newcomer looks for change in tone

But one new member of council hopes for a changein the conversation's tone around developmentat city hall.

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"I want to engage and I want to bring the developers to city hall," said JoeMagliocca, the councillor-elect in Ward 2.

"We gottastart [to] sitdown together, we gotta hammer things out, we gotta negotiate.... We just can't start ditching 'em and fighting with them.... They're our bread and butter here in Calgary."

Guy Huntingford, who speaks for the Urban Development Instituteon behalf of developers and home builders,predicts compromises are coming.

"We would really like to have this cost of growth meeting and talk about some really key issues as to where exactly we're going 'cause it's not just about this one issue. Ithink it's about a much broader issue which is the whole developer agreement itself."

The city's current five-year development agreement expires at the end of 2015, so there's still plenty of time to talk but for now, the mayor isn't compromising on the results.

"It's not about me versus them," he said. "It's about doing what citizens want, and I think that mandate is extraordinarily clear."