Backgrounder               Document 1

 

As Ottawa’s population continues to increase, there is a mounting need to ensure that the City remains positioned to effectively and efficiently manage this growth.   

 

Ottawa 20/20 sets out the City's vision for planning where it wants to go over the next 20 years, and how it will get there.  It is a small steps process that will be borne of public interest and commitment to build a city for the future in which all individuals and businesses can thrive and flourish.

 

The aim of this initiative is to protect and build on the quality of life citizens value by ensuring all issues that accompany a growing and changing population are addressed, such as dealing with increased traffic; providing greenspace; ensuring all people have access to the basic services; building and maintaining a sense of community; and strengthening local arts and heritage. 

 

The initiative began with the Smart Growth Summit in June 2001. Later, in the spring of 2002, Ottawa conducted an extensive series of consultations with our residents designed to help establish the principles that would guide the City’s growth.  The ‘Charting a Course’ consultations produced the seven guiding principles that have become the backbone of the Ottawa 20/20 initiative.

 

The Ottawa 20/20 Principles:

 

§     A Responsible and Responsive City;

§     A Caring and Inclusive City;

§     A Creative City Rich in Heritage, Unique in Identity;

§     A Green and Environmentally Sensitive City;

§     A City of Distinct, Livable Communities;

§     An Innovative City Where Prosperity is Shared Among All; and

§     A Healthy and Active City.

 

The next step in this initiative will be the completion of the City's five growth management plans in the spring of 2003.  Each of these plans is guided by the Ottawa 20/20 principles.  Together the plans will guide future growth and set the path for achieving the Ottawa 20/20 vision.

 

The five plans Ottawa 20/20 growth management plans are:

 

Each phase of Ottawa 20/20 and the development of the interrelated growth plans contains a public consultation process. Community collaboration is a fundamental underpinning of the Ottawa 20/20 vision and will be key to the initiative’s success.

The Ottawa 20/20 Growth Management Plans

 

Human Services Plan

 

·         The HSP is the “people” component of the Ottawa 20/20 process. The Plan provides a 20-year vision and directs the priorities, strategies that the City will focus on for the next five years.  The Plan speaks to the need for investment in community funding, health, recreation, social services, arts and culture, libraries, housing and emergency protection services. Its goal is to deliver focused, flexible and sustainable human services aimed at protecting the city’s human strengths while addressing its human needs.

·         The content of the HSP document is based on two main themes: quality of life and sustainability, and three priority areas including:

o        Creating safe and healthy neighbourhoods

o        Ottawa as a working city,

o        A focus on prevention.

·         The HSP’s development is predicated on concepts related to citizens having access to the basics, sustainability, collaborative community building, unity and diversity, innovation and creativity.

·         Contact:  Nancy Jackson at 580-2424 ext. 24237 or Nancy.Jackson@ottawa.ca

Arts & Heritage Plan

 

·         Ottawa's Arts and Heritage Plan will focus on the cultural development of our community and city in partnership with economic, environmental, physical and social plans. Its development is based on a collaborative, community-building model.

·         The Arts Plan will aim to spark and support the building of Ottawa as a creative city - a city that:

o        encourages all of us to be creative;

o        keeps our local literary, media, performing and visual artists here and attracts others to join them;

o        provides the means for Ottawa's creative sector to contribute its full potential to the local economy;

o        prompts us to think "out-of-the-box", to break away from conventions and to experiment; and

o        stimulates interaction and encounter across discipline, cultural background and profession.

·         The Heritage Plan will aim to preserve Ottawa's local identity and define its sense of place by focusing on:

o        providing responsible leadership and stewardship of Ottawa's history and heritage;

o        documenting the contributions of Ottawa's entire and diverse population to the city's development;

o        preserving and interpreting our rich documentary, material and built heritage;

o        identifying and protecting our public and sacred civic places and cultural landscapes; and

o        celebrating and showcasing our local history and heritage.

·         Contact:  Cathy Shepertycki at 580-2424 ext. 14035 or cathy.shepertycki@ottawa.ca (Arts Plan) Gilles Seguin at 580-2424 ext. 23165 or GillesL.Seguin@ottawa.ca (Heritage Plan)

 

Official Plan

 

·         The Official Plan directs the physical development of the city. It is supported by the Transportation Master Plan, the Environmental Management Plan and the Infrastructure Master Plans (Water, Wastewater, and Stormwater Master Plans).

·         While the Official Plan will remain robust regardless of changing circumstances, changes in population, land supply and infrastructure requirements will be monitored and adjustments in the Plan will be made as necessary. 

·         The Official Plan is a legal document with the following mandate:

o        Provide the basis for municipal decision-making on land use matters

 

o        Have regard to matters of provincial interest defined by the Provincial Policy Statement under the Planning Act;

 

o        Provide a basis for approval of public works carried out by the City in conformity with this Plan;

 

o        Provide a basis for the approval of a zoning by-law which provides a finer level of detail to guide land uses, in conformity with this Plan.

 

·         The strategic city-wide initiatives of the Official Plan are to:

o        Manage growth (provide sufficient land for urban purposes; contain growth and limiting urban expansion; focus on compact, mixed-use development; structuring the city around the Downtown, Town Centres, activity centres, and corridors).

 

o        Maintain environmental integrity (focus on compact form to reduce energy use and protect green space; plan on the basis of natural systems),

 

o        Ensure the efficient and effective provision and use of infrastructure (a balanced transportation system, efficient water, wastewater, and stormwater system)

 

o        Build liveable communities (attention to urban design, complete communities, affordable housing, heritage, community design plans, and collaborative community building)

 

·         Community Design Plans are the vehicles for community-based planning and the implementation of the principles directing Ottawa 20/20.  They also articulate key elements of community design and provide detailed direction to the zoning by-law, as well as help establish local budgeting and implementation priorities. 

·         The Official Plan will be strengthened by the coordinated contribution of the other growth management plans. As well, initiatives outside the Plan will help to implement the growth management vision. Many of the keys to implementing the Official Plan lie outside of the Plan in other initiatives that the City could either lead or partner with others.

o        The Ottawa 20/20 vision will largely be achieved through community collaboration.

 

o        Progress on achieving the Ottawa 20/20 principles through the Official Plan and other growth management plans will be monitored collaboratively with all parties.

 

·         Contact:  Lesley Paterson at 580-2424 ext. 21611 or lesley.paterson@ottawa.ca   

 

Economic Strategy

 

·         Building on the success and momentum of the Economic Generators Initiative, the Economic Strategy will establish policies to continue growing a strong and diverse economy.

·         The Economic Strategy includes plans for three key Ottawa business markets:  the Export Sector (cluster based economic development main approach), the Local Market and the Rural Sector. These three plans will be merged into one harmonized document on January 2003.  The three streams are:

·         The export market:  key industry clusters that sell products or services outside Ottawa and fuel the local economy;

·         The local Ottawa market:  made up of businesses that sell products or services primarily to residents and other businesses within Ottawa; and

·         The rural market: covering agricultural and other businesses that operate within Ottawa's extensive rural areas.

·         In addition, there will be two sub-plans that will apply to all markets: a plan for broadband telecommunications technology and the Talent Plan to nurture and deploy skilled human resources in support of the overall economic strategy.

·         The Business Development Branch of the City of Ottawa's Development Services Department is leading the development of the Economic Strategy

·         Contact:  Michael Murr at 580-2424 ext. 25195 or Michael.murr@ottawa.ca

 

Corporate Strategic Plan

 

·         A Corporate Strategic Plan will be released after completion of the other growth management plans.  Because the Plan is being developed within the Ottawa 20/20 framework, it will not be a traditional strategic plan - the content will be more focused.  That focus is on the way the city conducts business, and in particular internal/organizational strategies necessary to support Ottawa 20/20 and its associated plans.  While the other growth management plans have an outward or community focus, the strategic plan will look inwards to the administration of the City and the organizational practices required to achieve Ottawa 20/20.

·         Contact: Jack Toppari  580-2424 ext. 26014  Jack.Toppari@ottawa.ca