Staff presentation on changes to Zoning By-law resulting from Bill 23

Presentation

At the October 4 Planning and Housing Committee meeting, we passed interim Zoning Amendments, until Council adoption of the new Zoning By-law, for the City of Ottawa to be compliant with Bill 23, the Provincial legislation that permits 3 units to be built on every site that has city services. This means that R1 zoning, which restricts building to one home on one lot, is effectively over for many College Ward neighbourhoods. Single units can now be three units, and semi-detached can effectively have 3 units each, for a total of 6 units on one lot. This is a big change, and one I know will be felt by many neighbours in Ottawa. I was sure to share information about the provincial bill during my campaign, and in my first communications in office, but if you missed it, you can find it here: How will Bill 23 affect residents?

At the October 4 Planning and Housing Committee meeting, we passed interim Zoning Amendments, until Council adoption of the new Zoning By-law, for the City of Ottawa to be compliant with Bill 23, the Provincial legislation that permits 3 units to be built on every site that has city services. This means that R1 zoning, which restricts building to one home on one lot, is effectively over for many College Ward neighbourhoods. Single units can now be three units, and semi-detached can effectively have 3 units each, for a total of 6 units on one lot. This is a big change, and one I know will be felt by many neighbours in Ottawa. I was sure to share information about the provincial bill during my campaign, and in my first communications in office, but if you missed it, you can find it here: How will Bill 23 affect residents?

This interim zoning provision is intended only to be in place until the full comprehensive zoning bylaw review is complete (https://engage.ottawa.ca/zoning), and it seeks to harmonize those pieces of zoning that regulate triplexes with other zoning that regulates secondary dwelling units, because this new zoning could be considered either way. A major part of the discussion was on the provision of parking, and it was decided that you could offer rear yard parking (like triplexes) but with the caveat that 15% of the yard has to remain soft landscaping (currently no landscaping minimums are in place under the bylaws).

A maximum 70% of a rear yard  will be permitted for parking in the R1-R5 zones, whereas today no such restriction exists and one could hypothetically use their entire rear yard for parking. I am satisfied that this interim solution will bring some predictability for both residents and builders who are looking to move forward with Provincial direction, but have been waiting for a year for this to come to pass.

For more information, please check out the summaries from the City.

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Algonquin College has been hard hit financially on two fronts: an 11 year tuition freeze and a sharp reduction in the number of foreign student visas. Both of these factors have made Algonquin's finances untenable, and the college's response has been to cut some of their most successful programs:

List of Recommended Suspended Programs by School

Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence (ACCE) 

Sustainable Architectural Design  

Horticultural Industries  

Horticulture Techniques – Apprenticeship  

Pembroke Campus (Pemb) 

Business (Program still offered at the Ottawa Campus and AC Online) 

Business Fundamentals (Program still offered at the Ottawa Campus and AC Online) 

Computer Programming (Program still offered at the Ottawa Campus and AC Online) 

Environmental Management and Assessment (Program still offered at the Ottawa Campus) 

School of Advanced Technology (SAT) 
Manufacturing Engineering Technician  

Faculty of Arts and Media Design (FAMD) 
Pathways to Indigenous Empowerment (New Indigenous Studies programs offered)  

Applied Museum Studies 

Design Foundations 

General Arts and Science – Aboriginal (New Indigenous Studies programs offered) 

Journalism 

Music, Media and Film Foundations  

General Arts and Science (except English for Academic Purposes)  

Music Industry Arts  

Illustration and Concept Art 

School of Business and Hospitality (SOBH) 

Bachelor of Culinary Arts & Food Science (Honours) 

Bartending  

Business Development and Sales  

Hospitality – Hotel and Restaurant Operations Management  

Tourism – Travel  

Law Clerk  

Event Management  

Financial Services  

Paralegal  

School of Health Studies (SOHS) 

Pre-Health Pathway to Certificates and Diplomas  

Pre-Health Pathway to Advanced Diplomas and Degrees (Program still offered at our Pembroke Campus)  

School of Wellness, Public Safety & Community Studies (SWPSCS) 

Recreation and Leisure Services  

Fitness and Health Promotion (Program still offered through AC Online) 

Hydro Ottawa: After the derecho, adapting to change. A report for College Ward 8

A year before I was elected, the derecho changed everything. Thousands of trees downed, telephone poles and wires destroyed, and days without electricity for many residents. And then, after I was elected, we had an ice storm that again took down branches and took out hydro.

For a while, it seemed like we couldn't go a month without brown-outs and black-outs. And I raised questions to Ottawa Hydro. Why hasn't tree trimming been done? Why isn't the Bells Corners Substation complete and online? What can we do to make our electricity supply more reliable?

Hydro Ottawa answered. The Bells Corners substation was completed and is now online, helping with reliability for thousands of homes. Tree trimming has become a regular activity. And the number of blackouts in College Ward has been sharply reduced. Hydro Ottawa recently provided me with a slide deck to show what's changed. I hope you'll take a look.

Whitmore/Cline/Sherman Infrastructure Renewal: a Q&A

Much of Nepean’s infrastructure, including roads, sewer pipes, and drinking water lines, was built in the 1950s and 60s. As it gets older, the City routinely checks the condition of the sewer and water pipes and makes plans to replace them.

When that work is planned, the City also redesigns the road itself, since it has to be ripped up anyway. City policy is that, wherever possible, the new road must be built to a slower speed limit (30 km/h for residential neighbourhoods), with sidewalks.

Recently, I’ve received several questions from residents along Whitmore, Cline, and Sherman about these policies and the upcoming infrastructure renewal project. I thought it might be helpful to offer a Q&A to help set the facts straight:

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