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Council “kicked the ball” down the field after rejecting Monday a bid to scrap zoning restrictions and legalize secondary suites in the city’s four central wards, said Calgary’s mayor.

In a 9-6 vote, councillors defeated a proposed bylaw to rezone more than 35,000 properties in Wards 7,8,9, and 11 to make it legal for the owners to build basement suites in their homes.

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Coun. Shane Keating supported the first reading of the bylaw last month but voiced concern the city still needed a registry or licensing system to address neighbour complaints, problem landlords and enforce safety standards.

“That was not in any of the reports or bylaws that came forward,” Keating said shortly after voting against the proposal.

“It’s basically finished as far as I’m concerned,” he said, referring to council’s deadlock on secondary suites. “It may be the next election.”

In its report to council, city bureaucrats advised a mandatory licence would not bring existing illegal suites into compliance, would be difficult and costly to enforce, and would overlap with a secondary suite registry.