New city zoning bylaw will drive ‘shocking’ new intensification.

Existing housing stock does not meet the demand for housing. Housing costs have become exorbitant due to investor commodification of housing, money laundering, low interest rates.

For low income Canadians, availability of affordable housing plummeted with the cancellation of almost all social housing in the 1980s and in Ottawa, according to Professor Steve Pomeroy at Carleton University, we lose 31 affordable units for each new unit of housing being built.

To meet housing demand and projected population growth, Ontario has set a goal of building at least 1.5 million homes by 2031 and has assigned housing targets to the province’s fifty largest municipalities to meet this goal.

Intensification no longer ‘gentle’

When done well, intensification has all the benefits discussed before in the Chronicle: reduction of greenhouse gases as people enjoy15-minute neighbourhoods, faster and better transit, more mobility options, and closer access to amenities. More equity. More efficient use of infrastructure.

Yet Ottawa’s communities are genuinely concerned. The basic principles of the Official Plan (OP) for “gentle intensification” have disappeared. The senior staff who negotiated the OP no longer work at the city. An understaffed team (only eight of seventeen positions allocated are staffed) is trying to manage the gargantuan task of transforming Official Plan guidance into a new Zoning By Law (ZBL).

The Federation of Citizens Associations, an advocacy organization representing about 70 citizen’s groups in Ottawa, called the ZBL’s new density and height targets “shocking.” While the Official Plan called for targets of three or four units per lot, Manor Park like other established communities in the inner urban area, has found that the proposed zoning bylaw proposes eight to 12 units per lot and more. (The term ‘lot’ refers to the property upon which a single or several dwellings are built.)

Furthermore, a lot can be subdivided, allowing the number of new units permitted to increase another 8 to 12 units per new lot.

Low turnover

The argument for much-increased density is that the turnover rate for inner urban areas like Manor Park is only 1 to 2 percent per year, so there is need to push the throttle. (The term ‘turnover’ is used to track the rate of dwelling units added to properties through demolition or construction, e.g. the addition of a basement apartment, coach house, small apartment building.)

During staff’s presentation to Councillors on the first draft version of the ZBL, one builder testified that by increasing the density and height permitted, it will become possible to overcome the current expensive land prices to build larger multi-unit buildings in established neighbourhoods.

If these densities and new heights remain in the ZBL, intensification will be faster, and our communities will be vastly different from what we expected from the Offical Plan

Why so aggressive?

If in effect, the draft ZBL is set at 8 to 12 units per lot for inner urban areas, it will take us to 150 units per hectare: a goal which will endure long past when the urban areas reach the Official Plan’s 60 to 80 unit per hectare target. Vanier has already discovered that its density target has gone from 250 to 450 units per hectare!

Yet, Provincial Planning Statement released in August only calls on cities to strive for fifty units per hectare in designated neighbourhoods.

According to the Official Plan Monitoring Report, “from July 2018 to June 2021, the OP target was 40% intensification, with actual achieved intensification averaging 51%.” – of which 52% was in the inner urban area. Ottawa’s target of 151,000 housing units has been exceeded since 2018, with 41,444 dwelling permits issued compared to the projected 33,527. (The term ‘unit’ refers to a dwelling, whether an apartment or a house, regardless of size.

While the city is already exceeding its provincial density targetspopulation expansion is slightly below predictions.

So, why the rush?

Other questions yet to be answered include:

• How will significantly  increased street parking be managed until we have adequate transit?
• Will 15-minute neighbourhoods be possible without bylaws requiring developers of “mid” and “high” rises on corridors to create active ground-level retail that is affordable for small businesses?
• Will the ZBL’s regulations for property set backs be enough for shade trees to survive?
• Why is Ottawa not considering greener approaches to stormwater management such as swales, gardens, and trees?
• Will heights be measured in meters or the less specific “stories” that developers are asking for.

The new zoning directions would no longer account for varying elevation levels between lots to manage water dispersal or to protect against height creep, let alone create attractive streetscapes. Can older areas avoid flooding with fewer trees and more hard surfaces? Will higher costs of heating and air conditioning with reduced tree canopies cancel green house gas savings? How will businesses coming into neighbourhoods be managed?

Inevitable conflicts

I worry most about the small apartments designated “family size” at 860 square feet (know to be amended to 740 square feet with only two bedrooms coupled with City’s a 2,056 deficit of ground-oriented housing, like townhouses, being built relative to set targets. (source: Official Plan Monitoring Report)

Can schools be maintained if families with children increasingly abandon the inner urban areas for the suburbs when family homes are replaced by small apartment units or condominiums that don’t have access to outside playing areas and the streets are full of parked cars?

Is the 15-minute neighbourhood possible? Will libraries, city services, schools, and other amenities be within walking distance? Are small walkable stores even viable anymore? Will there be enough parks and recreation centers when the inner urban area already does not meet City goals for park space per citizens Enough affordable housing?

Will the city mediate when inevitable conflicts arise between neighbours, multiplexes, shelters, or rooming houses?

What can you do?

The City has said it is open for change before the draft ZBL goes back to committee.

The good news is that Hemlock is not longer a minor corridor.

Staff have advised that comments on the first draft be submitted before October 31, 2024 although they will be considered until December 31, 2024,

After that, any changes will be more difficult. And, extremely hard after the second draft goes to committee in March 2025. Further the latest status report to the Planning and Housing Committee noted that Council will be asked to make final decisions on some factors like height and transitioning from high buildings along corridors to low rise neighbourhoods behind them in March!

To calculate the maximum number of units proposed for your own lot try Council Leiper’s simple calculator: Simple density calculator – Kitchissippi Ward.

Visit Engage Ottawa website https://engage.ottawa.ca/zoning to learn more.

Email your comments to newzoning@ottawa.ca.

Feel free to contact Rideau-Rockcliffe Councillor Rawlson King.

New provincial laws exclude “third party” appeals to the Ontario Land Tribunal. Community involvement in new site plan development will depend on developers. There is no right to challenge buildings under nine stories.

This could be our last chance!