Calgary council hits pause on controversial guidebook for communities

Calgary City Councilvoted late Wednesday night to take some time before making changes to a controversial new community planning document.

More than 130 people spoke to council over three days of public hearings about the Guidebook for Great Communities.

The 131-page document is intended to be used for years to come to help council and neighbourhoods develop new local area plans.

However, some people contend there hasn't been enough consultation about it and that changes are needed.

Council has now directed administration to do a report on the public hearing and to bring forward amendments in May.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi says it means a short delay but the document is still moving forward.

He says misinformation about the document has been a problem, but acknowledged that the guidebook itself is also challenging for many people to understand.

"There was one point where I said, 'I don't know what that means when I read it on paper.' And so rather than try to do that on the floor of council after three days of hearing from the citizens, we said: 'let's go away, think about it, combine things and see what kinds of amendments we can make to improve not water down the guidebook."

Confusionabout the guidebook prompted the city to post a myths and facts page on its website.

Nenshi says council is likely to change the guidebook so it's no longer considered a statutory plan, one aspectthat generated a lot of theopposition to it.