Ottawa and Zoning By-laws – what does it all mean?
The City of Ottawa is currently in the process of developing a new Zoning By-law, scheduled to be approved by City Council in 2025.
What is a Zoning By-law and why is it important?
The Zoning By-law is one of the City’s most important tools for controlling what is built within its boundaries. You may have heard a lot about the City’s new Official Plan over the last few years and thought ‘Why do we have to update another document?’ The Zoning By-law is a more detailed set of regulations that helps implement the Official Plan. If the Zoning By-law is not kept up to date with the Official Plan, the two risk becoming out of sync. This can cause confusion and delays for councillors, city staff, developers, and residents.
The Zoning By-law dictates:
- What types of uses are permitted in buildings and on properties (residential, industrial, commercial, etc.)
- The height and massing of buildings
- The density of properties and areas
- Permissions, requirements and standards for parking (both vehicle and bicycle)
What has been done so far?
The City of Ottawa initiated its Zoning By-law review in 2021. In 2022, a Zoning Implementation Report was released that dictated the strategies that will be used to implement the strategies from the Official Plan. More recently in 2023, the City released discussion papers that focused on seven themes that will be addressed in the new Zoning By-law. These themes were:
- Climate Change, Resiliency, and Public Health
- Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
- How Zoning Can Regulate Trees
- Land Use Strategies for the New Zoning By-law
- Neighbourhood Character
- Neighbourhood Zones
- Rural Zoning Issues
While the content of the discussion papers was detailed, articulate and comprehensive, the accompanying surveys that gave residents their first opportunity to comment on the Zoning By-law review process were short-sighted and filled with biases.
What would we like to see?
The first draft of the new Zoning By-law is scheduled to be released in early 2024. Better South Keys Centre is excited to see its development and urges the City of Ottawa to expedite its completion. As mentioned previously, the disconnect between the Official Plan and Zoning By-Law creates issues that could lead to the delay of important affordable housing being constructed. Bringing the Zoning By-Law up to date should be one of this Council’s most pressing items of the term.
Better South Keys Centre would also like to see a more robust round of public consultation on the themes discussed in the Discussion Papers. It is important that the public has a chance to provide their input before the process has advanced too far that changes would be too time-consuming.
How will the new Zoning By-law impact South Keys Centre?
Once the new Zoning By-law is implemented, it will give a clearer picture of what we can expect to see South Keys Centre become. As a group, our hope is that it will “evolve into a vibrant, and amenity-rich community that embraces active transportation and healthy living and acts as a regional hub for Ottawa South where all life stages, income levels, and abilities are able to thrive.” With regard to the Zoning By-Law, we are particularly interested in seeing:
- A wide range of uses allowed across South Keys Centre, including but not limited to residential, commercial, office, institutional, and community.
- A shift of focus from car-centric planning and design to one that promotes walking, cycling, and transit connections. This means things like removing vehicle parking requirements (developers can still build parking, but they get to choose how much instead of a mandated amount from the City).
- Building height and density focused around Greenboro and South Keys stations with the rest of South Keys Centre being mainly mid-rise
When the Zoning By-Law is brought up to date with the Official Plan it will help expedite new projects by removing the need for costly and time-consuming Zoning By-Law amendments. It will also make clear to residents what can be built. This will help get housing built faster and transform South Keys Centre into the urban hub we believe it can be one day.
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