How will Bill 23 affect College Ward residents?
The More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022, often referred to as Bill 23, is a new law from the Province of Ontario that changes a number of regulations that govern how municipalities, like Ottawa, operate...
I have said many times that we need more housing and housing that people can afford. I support that the province wants to address this need and further bold actions already taken by Ottawa, but I have serious concerns about what this means for municipalities in Ontario, residents of Ottawa, and College Ward
This legislation makes housing a question of quantity and diminishes the important role municipalities play in providing for quality and support for growth. It also limits the City’s ability to fund growth by removing some development and parkland charges, compromising our ability to deliver a livable, resilient, and attractive City. Development charges are one-time fees on new residential and non-residential properties to help pay for a portion of the growth-related infrastructure requirements, like sewers and roads.
The More Homes Built Faster Act came as a surprise to Ottawa. As you may know, Council approved a new Official Plan (New OP) in October 2021 that set out a vision for increasing the density and diversity of Ottawa’s neighbourhoods. The New OP received provincial approval on November 4, 2022. Ottawa City Council approved a new Parks and Recreation Master Plan in October 2021, and a new Parkland Dedication By-law in July 2022. Staff are currently preparing Transportation and Infrastructure Master Plans, all needed to plan for the infrastructure, services, and amenities needed in our city.
Traffic and Parking
Under the Act, one of our greatest planning tools–background studies for services and infrastructure–is no longer an eligible use of development charges. The cost of studies is relatively small compared to the cost of implementation, and these studies save the City millions in capital and operating costs. If funding for studies is compromised, the City will be less able to “future-proof” growth to ensure traffic and transit stays smooth and safe. The More Homes Built Faster Act also prohibits regulating minimum parking requirements, likely leading to more on-street parking.
Density
Intensification is familiar to us in College Ward, but with this new Act, the City is limited in managing how this happens. It overrides some zoning by-laws, such as those regulating minimum unit size, and now allows for up to three units in a house. Municipalities can no longer seek details about exterior design or landscaping features, unless related to matters of heath, safety and accessibility through Site Plan Control, the process that allows the City to influence development so that it is safe, functional and orderly. Buildings of up to 10 residential units will be exempt from Site Plan Control entirely.
Financial Impacts
City staff believe the financial impact to Ottawa from the The More Homes Built Faster Act is in the range of $26 million annually. If growth will not pay for growth, taxpayers will. A funding gap already exists for growth-related costs, making it more difficult to fund renewal and ensure parks, community facilities, and services keep pace with new demand, especially in existing neighbourhoods, like those in College Ward. Without new revenue sources, improvements could be delayed, levels of services reduced, or have the costs passed on to taxpayers.
Ottawa’s Heritage
The More Homes Built Faster Act affects Ottawa’s ability to take care of our historic buildings and neighbourhoods. Right now, staff bring forward a handful of designations each year and they maintain a list of about 4000 properties on a heritage register that are not designated (protected by law). New limits to the heritage register, and changes to what can be designated, will make it more difficult for the City to address reconciliation, equity, and diversity in its heritage program and will likely also result in greater uncertainty for owners and residents, leading to more formal and costly appeals.
Parks and Recreation
Reduced funding from development growth for parks affects the City’s ability to provide and improve recreational services needed for functional and enjoyable neighbourhoods. Changes to the fees which supported these amenities and services will require the City to reevaluate its existing plans, adding more costs to Ottawa. For example, new caps on parkland would impact stormwater management and may require the reopening of master servicing studies to avoid flooding.
Water Management and the Natural Environment
Working with our local conservation authorities, the City of Ottawa has shown that balanced growth leads to better and more sustainable outcomes. These conservation authorities, who provide responsibility and oversight, have been amended under the Act. This, combined with changes to rural development policies, wetland and other environmental policies, and the emphasis on growth expansion, will have long-term impacts such as increased flooding risk and the loss of diverse and mature ecosystems.
As we learn more details about the The More Homes Built Faster Act, I will be providing you with updates.
In my opinion, the Bill is not going to help build affordable housing, but it will impact available services and property taxes. I’m pleased to say that the City of Ottawa – elected members and staff alike – are committed to doing what we can to mitigate the harmful aspects of the bill. I encourage you to reach out to your MPP, and do not hesitate to contact my office.
Today, the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee unanimously approved my motion to improve road safety across Ottawa. Here's my motion:WHEREAS speeding continues to be one of the most significant road‑safety concerns raised by residents across the City of Ottawa, particularly in residential neighbourhoods and school zones where vulnerable road users, including children, are at heightened risk; and
WHEREAS recent City data has shown a substantial increase in speeding in school zones, with compliance dropping from 87 percent to 41 percent within a 12‑week period following the removal of Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) cameras, and high‑end speeding increasing from 0.3 percent to over 4 percent during the same period; and
Whereas speed data is an important input in understanding risk related to more serious collisions; and
WHEREAS the city’s current approach to collecting speed data is limited and does not provide a full picture of speeds across the roadway network, and
WHEREAS other jurisdictions across Canada and internationally are increasingly incorporating innovative, technology‑enabled, and data‑driven approaches—including, predictive analytics, and AI‑supported monitoring systems—to inform their road safety programs; and
WHEREAS the City of Ottawa is currently undertaking work to update the Road Safety Action Plan, which will guide the road safety priorities for the next term of Council; and
WHEREAS this work presents an opportunity to modernize and strengthen the inputs used to make informed data-driven decisions about road safety;
THERFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT staff, through the update to the City’s Road Safety Action Plan, leverage advanced data analytics, predictive modelling, and AI‑supported technologies, where appropriate, to enhance the City’s ability to identify, monitor, and respond to speeding trends and inform road safety priorities
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT staff consider speed management as a focus area when developing the Road Safety Action Plan that will be presented to Council in 2027.
Read the Year Three Progress ReportDear Neighbours,
I am pleased to provide you with the College Ward Annual
Progress Report, showing the work that we did in 2025. I work hard every day to represent you on the
issues that are important to our neighbourhoods.
I hope this Progress Report is informative of the projects we
took on last year, and that it demonstrates my continuing
transparency and accountability to you. There is still more
always to do, and I list some future areas of interest.
Warm regards,
Laine
The news this week wasn’t good. Thousands of bus trips cancelled again in February. LRT down to one train for the foreseeable future. When it comes to Ottawa’s public transit, it seems there’s never good news.
Even the announcement of progress on the LRT East project was met with cynicism, given that the trains that Line 1 uses continue to have “spalling” issues with the wheel assembly.
When will it end? And what am I – one of the members of OC Transpo’s governance body – going to do about it?
Since 2022, I’ve been wrestling with myself over a feeling of powerlessness about OC Transpo, in conflict with my ability as a decision maker to affect change.
I have residents who are suffering immeasurably from a lack of service. Algonquin College students have the biggest uptake of the U-pass of all of Ottawa’s post-secondary institutions, but they can’t get to and from classes reliably. Bells Corners’ routes were cut during the pandemic, and the subsequent elimination of the 200 series through the New Ways to Bus changes have completely isolated that community from transit.
