Ottawa takes a beating at Ontario Municipal Board
OMB orders council to reinstate 2007 plan that would see Ottawa’s boundaries expand by 850 hectares over the next 20 years
BY KELLY PATTERSON, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN JUNE 5, 2011 9:42 PM BE THE FIRST TO POST A COMMENT
Ottawa City Council took a beating at the Ontario Municipal Board Friday, after drawing a line in the sand with developers over how much the city should be allowed to expand in coming years.
In a case that cost the city an estimated $400,000, the OMB ordered council to reinstate a 2007 plan recommended by city staff that would see Ottawa’s boundaries expand by 850 hectares over the next 20 years.
Two years ago, the city had voted instead to restrict expansion to 230 hectares over a shorter term of 15 years, relying on intensification to fill the gap — a decision that some 20 developers promptly appealed to the OMB.
While the developers lost their bid for an expansion of 2,500 hectares, the OMB ruled that the city could not tear up the plan that was made in 2007 after lengthy and comprehensive consultations, and suggested council had been trying “to avoid results of an extensive planning exercise.”
The question of just how much Ottawa should grow was a major issue in last year’s municipal election, with Mayor Jim Watson vigorously campaigning against unbridled urban sprawl, and incumbent Larry O’Brien pushing for expansion, aided by a ring road.
“We had a feeble case to start with and council’s position was weakened further by a politically motivated decision,” said Rainer Bloess, the sole councillor to oppose fighting the case before the OMB when the city voted on the matter in January.
“The appeal was a waste of money for all parties and councillors need to learn a lesson about planning and legal ramifications when they ignore solid facts to grandstand for the sake of dogmatic self-delusions,” said Bloess.
Watson was not available for comment Sunday, but spokesman Bruce Graham said the mayor “has always been clear that uncontrolled urban sprawl is not healthy or affordable for our city and that is why he continues to support sensible curbs on growth.”
Watson is reserving comment on the OMB’s ruling specifically until he has consulted with city staff Monday.
“We’re very pleased with the result,” said John Herbert, executive director of the Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association. “We feel vindicated … in the sense that (850 hectares) was the amount originally recommended by staff and approved by the planning committee.”
Herbert says the council’s 2009 decision to reject the 850-hectare limit was “an emotional vote that radically altered” what the city’s professional planners had recommended. He added that it was “a political decision,” taken at a time when then-mayor O’Brien and several councillors were away, and it only passed by one vote.
He added that the builders were “very pleased” that OMB also ordered the city to change a requirement that targets for intensified growth within city limits be met before any expansion is approved.
“That’s simply not possible,” he said, explaining that the requirement was based partly on the belief that so-called empty nesters will embrace life in condos rather than single-family homes.
“That’s very unrealistic. How do you put a gun to someone’s head and say, ‘Thou shalt move to a high-rise because the city says you should?’” Herbert argued. “They just won’t do it,” he said, adding that research shows seniors are among the healthiest and wealthiest ever, and tend to stay in single-family homes longer than previous generations. “We expect that trend to continue,” he said.
Tim Marc, lead counsel for the city on the OMB case, conceded that “certainly council will be disappointed. … The board gave a lot of weight to the process city went through from 2007 to 2009 and that factored more into the decision than I expected.” Marc had told councillors in January they had a 70-per-cent chance of winning.
However, he also noted that the board’s “decision did provide a fair amount of recognition for the process that council provided for leading up from May 2007 to June 2009, and that’s something we can build upon” in future planning.
Most notably, the board endorsed the city staff’s assessment of growth needs rather than the developers’ argument that the city needs to grow by 2,500 hectares, he said: “Certainly, the developers did not get the result they were seeking from the board either.”
Marc says the decision to limit growth to 230 hectares over the next 15 years was not at odds with the staff’s projections, because it factored in the use of vacant land already within the city’s boundaries. Council chose a 15-year time span for this plan because that is how long it would take for the potential intensification within city limits to be exhausted, forcing more outward growth, he explained.
Jocelyne Turner, spokeswoman for the City of Ottawa, says there are 2,327 net hectares of vacant land within the boundaries, according to a 2009 staff report.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
Read more:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Ottawa+...#ixzz1OSR7aRyY
Prev
Linear Mode
