Planning and Environment Committee
Comité de l'urbanisme et de l'environnement
10 April 2008 / le 10 avril 2008
Submitted by/Soumis par : Nancy Schepers, Deputy City Manager
Directrice municipale adjointe,
Planning, Transit and the
Environment
Urbanisme, Transport en commun et
Environnement
Contact Person/Personne ressource : Richard Kilstrom, Manager
Planning
Branch/Direction de l'urbanisme
(613)
580-2424 x, richard.kilstrom@ottawa.ca
SUBJECT:
|
REVIEW OF THE OFFICIAL PLAN
and INFRASTRUCTURE MASTER PLAN - PRELIMINARY PROPOSALS |
|
|
|
OBJET :
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examen du plan officiel et du plan directeur de l’infrastructure –
propositions préliminaires |
That Planning and Environment Committee receive the preliminary policy
proposals for the Official Plan and Infrastructure Master Plan contained
respectively within Documents 1 and 2 and direct staff to undertake public
consultation as outlined in this report.
Que le Comité de
l’urbanisme et de l’environnement prenne connaissance des propositions de
politiques préliminaires concernant le Plan officiel et le Plan directeur de
l’infrastructure contenues respectivement dans les documents 1 et 2, et
enjoigne le personnel de mener des consultations publiques, tel qu’il est
indiqué dans le présent rapport.
This report launches consultation on the third stage of
the Official Plan Review and Infrastructure Master Plan Review. Work on the Transportation Master Plan is
being done in parallel and all three Plans will come together in November 2008
for tabling at Council.
Table 1: Stages of Official Plan and Infrastructure Master Plan Review
|
Stage |
Time Frame |
Actions |
|
Stage 1: Scoping of Issues |
May to August, 2007 |
-Talked to Ministries -Talked to Advisory Committees -Talked to Councillors -Undertook rural consultation -Reviewed changes to legislation |
|
Stage 2: White Papers |
-Prepared White Papers and worked with rural groups to prepare Discussion Papers on key issues -Feedback received through City Café, Rural Café, Councillors’ Café and on-line discussion along with a few written submissions. |
|
|
Stage 3: Preliminary Proposals |
January to June, 2008 |
-Review all policies to determine requirement for update -Table preliminary proposals at Planning and Environment Committee (PEC) -General public consultation -Targeted consultation |
|
Stage 4: Evaluation of Future Urban Area |
July, August, September, 2008 |
-Establish evaluation criteria for assessing future urban locations -Undertake evaluation -Establish area-specific intensification targets -Table outcomes at PEC in September or October and review outcomes with public |
|
Stage 5: Draft Official Plan Amendment and Draft Master Plans |
November, 2008 to February, 2009 |
-November, 2008 - Table draft OPA and draft Master Plans at PEC -January, 2009 – Public Information Meeting -February, 2009 – Public Meeting at PEC |
The attached documents present preliminary proposals for moving forward. They are intended to generate discussion and to be revised over the course of the next few months through public consultation. In each proposal, Part One discusses and makes recommendations on some of the larger issue areas. Part Two identifies every change that is being proposed and is illustrated in a table that aligns with the current Official Plan.
This review is an update of the Plans and not a return to first principles.
Unlike the creation of the 2003 Official Plan, land-use designations are not changing to any great extent so few individuals properties are affected. Many proposed changes arise from a need to be consistent with the recent Provincial Policy Statement and these requirements have been known and discussed for some time. Staff have identified three matters in the Official Plan that will require significant consideration.
1. Urban Intensification: The proposal includes a definition of intensification and the need to establish an intensification target citywide and by area. But, more importantly, it sets out a strategy for the successful implementation of intensification. Communities, Councillors, staff, and developers all must make a commitment to resolving the conflict that accompanies intensification proposals.
2. Urban Boundary: The preliminary proposal suggests that the City establish a “performance-based” urban boundary. The Official Plan would identify Future Urban Areas and require that various criteria be met before these lands are developed. One of the key criteria would be achievement of a citywide intensification target. During consultation the criteria would be refined. Over the summer, various locations for Future Urban Areas would be assessed and the outcome would be provided to Planning and Environment Committee in September. The proposal also indicates that some additional urban land will be required to be added to the urban boundary to meet the requirements of the planning period to 2031.
3. Amount of Rural Development: Various Working Groups examined specific topics as part of the Rural Settlement Strategy. No group looked at the big picture with respect to rural development. The Official Plan says that rural development will focus on villages but, in fact, 60 per cent of rural growth has occurred outside of villages. The Provincial Policy Statement indicates that a limited amount of development may occur in the rural area (outside of villages). The rural community, through Working Groups and workshops, has expressed the full range of desires regarding future rural development – its location and amount. Consultation on this issue will focus on a clear assessment of the options and an attempt to build consensus or express a majority view.
Some aspects of the Infrastructure Master Plan impact on Official Plan policies and some are more procedural. In the Official Plan report there is a section on Capacity Management related to providing piped infrastructure capacity to support intensification. This will be reviewed as part of the intensification consultation. There is also a section on Protection of Groundwater in support of rural development, which will be reviewed as part of the rural consultation. The Infrastructure Master Plan proposals provide more detail on the Capacity Management Strategy.
Over the last number of months, staff has met with representatives from the Building Owners and Managers Association, the Greater Ottawa Area Homebuilders Association, and representatives familiar with Employment Areas, in order to investigate various policy directions. These discussions will continue as we move towards more refined policies.
Staff has also met with the Rural Working Groups and these discussions will start again in May. Staff have met with representatives from Community Associations to discuss various ways to have meaningful consultation on the draft proposals. We have also built up a mailing list of more than 3000 people with an interest in being informed about the review of the Official Plan and Master Plans. Notices of all meetings, workshops and reports are distributed through this mailing list.
Based on discussions to date, the following public consultation strategy is proposed.
1. Train the trainer: In order to get information out to communities, staff will hold an urban meeting and a rural meeting for representatives of Community Associations. They will take the information back to their communities and guide the discussion for providing feedback. Staff will identify the key areas where additional suggestions from the community would be valuable. The urban meeting is proposed for May 13 and the rural meeting for May 20, both in the evening.
2. A general information evening will be held for those who do not belong to Community Associations. It will be the same as the “train the trainer” session but held on May 15 in the evening.
3. Advisory Committees: staff will provide the opportunity to Advisory Committees for a briefing on preliminary proposals (May and June).
4. Intensification Forum: This will be a series of events in late May including guest speakers and panel discussions. The first event will be on May 27 in the evening. The final intensification workshop will be held on Saturday June 7 and will focus on developing a strategy for a successful approach to intensification.
5. Rural Settlement Strategy: Consulting first with the Working Groups and then with the rural constituents in general, the objective will be to assess the options related to the amount and distribution of rural development. A workshop will be planned for May 31.
Contact staff names are provided in the preliminary proposals and staff may be contacted directly by the public at any time.
Funding for consultation activities has been provided for in the Official Plan Review account, 112730
Document
1 Part 1 - Official Plan Review Preliminary
Proposals (on file
with the City Clerk and available on the City’s website)
Part 2 - Official Plan Part Two - Summary of Proposed Policy Changes (on file with the City Clerk and available on the City’s website)
Document
2 Part 1 - Infrastructure Master Plan Review
Preliminary Proposals
(on file with the City Clerk and available on the City’s website)
Part 1 - Attachment A- Managing Infrastructure
Capacity to Support Intensification and Infill (on file with the City Clerk and
available on the City’s website)
Part 2 - Infrastructure
Master Plan Part Two - Infrastructure Minor Policy Area Changes (on file with the City Clerk and
available on the City’s website)
These
attachments are available in English only at this time. The City of Ottawa may
translate these documents or parts thereof on request. Requests for translation
should be forwarded to Lesley.Paterson@ottawa.ca or
(613) 580-2424 ext. 21611 or to the French Language Services Division at
DSF-FLSD@ottawa.ca or (613) 580-2424, ext. 21536.
Planning, Transit and the Environment Department staff will undertake the public consultation as described in this report.