After two days, 19 hours and more than 100 delegations of concerned residents and stakeholders, the virtual committee meeting to consider a possible expansion of Ottawa’s urban boundary has set next Tuesday, May 19 as the final day for councillors debate and vote on motions that will shape the city’s approach to intensification over the coming decades.
Ottawa’s urban boundary separates the current buildable land in the city from the rural areas and villages beyond.
This week’s joint meeting of the planning and the agriculture and rural affairs committees asked councillors — and the 109 residents who signed up to give their two cents on the boundary issue — to consider a staff proposal to expand the existing boundary by 1,350-1,650 hectares.
Staff put forward the proposal to provide the nation’s capital with enough space to accommodate housing for a projected 400,000 new residents by 2046.
The debate divides residents, developers, community groups and the councillors elected to represent them.
With each delegation prompting questions and debate between residents and councillors on the committee, the meeting was stretched over two days to make time for everyone to speak their piece.
The committee had a hard stop at 5 p.m. on Tuesday when an Ottawa Public Library board meeting was scheduled to begin, but councillors were able to meet their tight deadline right on cue as the final delegation wrapped up by 4:45 p.m.
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With the public-facing portion of the debate over, next week’s meeting will see councillors pose questions to staff and consider motions to revise staff’s recommendation.
Some feel the fate of the urban boundary, which will ultimately be settled at the May 27 city council meeting, will define this council’s legacy.
“It’s the most important decision the mayor and council have this term,” said Robb Barnes, executive director of Ecology Ottawa, during Monday’s meeting.
Housing debates heat up
If the city says no to expanding the urban boundary, it will need to accommodate 100 per cent of the impending population growth through intensification, a prospect that worries those who feel Ottawa’s existing buildable land will not facilitate a good mix of housing density in the years ahead.
Put another way, some critics of maintaining the boundary argue Ottawa’s many wards will take on the high-rise apartments that already define the city’s downtown core.
City planner Royce Fu explained in a presentation on Monday that, in order to attract the young families the city will need to facilitate its growth projections, Ottawa needs to offer more three-bedroom dwellings such as detached, semi-detached or row houses.
While the traditional three-bed home usually calls to mind suburban neighbourhoods, Fu pitched a “613flats” building concept. Playing on Ottawa’s area code, these domiciles would feature six rooms in one dwelling with three bedrooms, as well as a basement that could be finished or converted into a rental unit or granny flat.
Fu’s proposed home plan seeks to strike a balance between the density Ottawa needs to accommodate growth and the amount of floor space growing families are after.
Ottawa’s projected growth rate is expected to be highest in the near-term, so Fu said the city needs to quickly build out more of these three-plus-bedroom homes in the next few years — in addition to more mid-rise apartments — to attract and retain new families with suitable housing.
Among the delegations speaking on Monday was Peter Norman, vice president and chief economist at Altus Group, which was retained by the Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association (GOHBA) to study the urban boundary issue.
Norman said that the affordability of housing in Ottawa is put at risk when the supply of land is constrained.
He also said the city’s intensification targets, especially related to ground-oriented units “may be extremely difficult to achieve.”
Norman noted that younger homebuyers are most directly affected by a scarcity of traditional family homes on the market as older generations are aging in place and delaying their eventual downsizing, putting home ownership further out of reach.
Some councillors questioned Norman’s arguments connecting an expanded urban boundary to more affordable housing.
While home prices might drop as more land is made available for ground-oriented units, the infrastructure costs to set up new neighbourhoods are passed on to homeowners through property taxes.
Additionally, homes built beyond the urban boundary often require residents to own a vehicle — adding another hefty cost to monthly bills.
Championing liveable neighbourhoods
In that same vein, some delegations spoke against urban sprawl as the antithesis of walkable, transit-oriented neighbourhoods.
Barnes positioned the urban boundary debate as a climate policy discussion, arguing that how Ottawa uses its land is the most direct power it can exercise in combating climate change.
Total greenhouse gas emissions would drop no matter which boundary option the city chose, Fu noted in his presentation, but the transportation needed to accommodate to far-flung suburban zones has a more direct impact on emission levels than so-called “15-minute neighbourhoods,” where the majority of common amenities can be found within a walkable distance.
Backed by an Ecology Ottawa petition with more than 5,000 signatories asking the city to “hold the line,” Barnes said that Ottawa was ready and willing to accommodate the level of intensification needed to maintain the urban boundary.
“We really think the community buy-in is there. It’s up to council to take the nod and move in that direction,” he said.
Orléans Coun. Matthew Luloff pushed back on Barnes, noting that whenever developers propose a 30-storey-plus apartment in an urban neighbourhood, they face resistance from residents in the area.
As a successful test case, Barnes offered his own neighbourhood, Old Ottawa East, where he said the developer of the Greystone Village project worked proactively with the local community association to foster cooperation on the multi-building development.
The final result is not a perfect compromise — it never will be, Barnes said — but it’s an example of what can be done when developers and the community work within prescribed limits on intensification.
Ottawa’s business community appears to be in favour of the city’s balanced approach.
Cyril Leeder, the longtime head of the Ottawa Senators and the current CEO of Myers Automotive, spoke Monday on behalf of the Ottawa Board of Trade, an advocacy group uniting hundreds of the city’s businesses.
Leeder spoke personally about wanting to keep Ottawa’s kids in the city by providing an array of affordable housing options, but also noted that the newcomers to the country who will comprise a significant portion of the slated population growth will only want to move to the city in the first place if it maintains the liveable reputation of a world-class capital.
He believes the city’s balanced approach, with both a boundary expansion and higher intensification targets, will hit the sweet spot for affordable housing prices while maintaining Ottawa’s midsize character.
“The ability to acquire your own home has been one of Ottawa’s key advantages in the past and we are concerned, as business leaders, that our city is quickly losing that advantage,” Leeder said.
“We need to intensify, but we also need to ensure that owning a home is practical, accessible and affordable for a large percentage of our residents.”
Councillor amendments to consider — eventually
When the committee resumes at 9 a.m. on May 19, councillors will have the chance to debate between themselves what they’ve heard and consider a few additional motions.
River Coun. Riley Brockington put forward a motion to increase the proposed level of intensification to 70 per cent by 2041-2046, up from the 60 per cent target staff have suggested.
Eli El-Chantiry, chair of the agriculture and rural affairs committee, moved a motion to exclude prime farmland from any proposed development should it fall within an expanded urban boundary, and Osgoode Coun. George Darouze put forward a similar proposal to protect bedrock, soil and gravel resources.
Kanata South Coun. Allan Hubley added a motion to include proximity to transit corridors in the evaluation for prospective expansion land.
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