INTRODUCTION
This survey reports on the inventory
of vacant industrial and business park land either zoned industrial and/or
designated as Employment Area or Enterprise Area in the Official Plan as of the
end of 2007. The survey covers both urban and rural areas of Ottawa. For
brevity the balance of the report refers to these lands as industrial.
The City of Ottawa’s Official Plan designates major
industrial areas in the urban area as Employment Area or Enterprise Area.
Smaller urban industrial areas are usually designated as General Urban Area and
are identified as industrial through zoning, while all rural industrial parks
are recognized by their zoning and have no specific designation in the Official
Plan.
In most instances, land parcels based on ownership
form the basic unit of observation. These may be further subdivided based on
variations in zoning or other factors. For technical information on the parcel
mapping, refer to the Appendix.
This edition is the newest in a series of similar
monitoring reports prepared by the City and (prior to 2001) the former Region
of Ottawa-Carleton since 1984. The survey is updated every two years.
HIGHLIGHTS
The total city-wide supply of vacant
industrial and business park land stood at 1,969.5 net hectares as of the end
of December 2007.
Approximately
61% (1,204 net ha) of the vacant land supply is located in the urban area,
split between 242 net ha inside the Greenbelt and 962 net ha outside the
Greenbelt. A total of 765 net ha of land are provided in the rural area.
Eighty-five
percent of the land in business parks inside the Greenbelt has been developed
as of 2007. Of the 242 net ha that remain, nearly half (106.4 net ha) are in
public ownership through the Airport Authority, Hydro One, Federal agencies or
the City of Ottawa. Three-quarters of this land (75.5 net ha) is not currently
available for private sector development.
During 2006 and 2007, a total 94.6
hectares of industrial land were developed (including 1.5 ha on expansion lots),
comprised of 59 ha in 2006 and 35 ha in 2007. A little over three-quarters
(77%) of this occurred in the urban area.
Employment area designations in the
urban area were largely unchanged in the last two-year period. In the rural
area the Carp Airport saw a major reconfiguration of it’s boundary, converting
134 ha to other uses.
Using running average rates of
consumption over the last 23 years, the city has an estimated 24 to 26 year
supply of vacant urban land (a more detailed analysis of the land supply is
being done as part of the Employment Lands Strategy project.) Rural land represents about a 78 year supply
at historic development rates.
LAND SUPPLY
There was a total of 1,969.5 net hectares of vacant
industrial land in the city of Ottawa at the end of 2007 .
The distribution of these lands by major geographic area is illustrated on Map
1. A detailed list by area is provided in Table 1.
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The urban area had 1,204.3 net ha of vacant land,
split between areas inside the Greenbelt, with 242.3 net ha, and urban centres outside the Greenbelt, with
962.0 net ha. The rural part of Ottawa had 765.3 net ha.
Changes to the total land supply is the product of
changes to industrial park boundaries, lands being developed, new lands being
designated or zoned as industrial, or existing industrial lands being
designated or zoned as something else. Overall, the city-wide supply is down by
approximately 227.7 net ha from 2005. A total of 94.5 ha were developed for
industrial and other employment uses including development on expansion lots.
The remaining 133.2 ha represent a net loss of vacant industrial land to other
uses mainly through amendments to the Official Plan or zoning by-law. The bulk
of this loss was in the rural area through a zoning change in the Carp Airport
Industrial Area.
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Ottawa’s business and industrial park land
designations in 2006-07 were more stable than in some past surveys and only
minor changes from OMB decisions, amendments to the Official Plan or zoning
having occurred. Industrial areas that have been modified include:
- The Riverside Uplands area was redefined through an OP amendment
to designate additional greenspace, resulting in a loss of 11.0 net ha of
vacant industrial land.
- A total of 9.3 ha were removed from the Ottawa South Business Park
boundary at the corner of Conroy and Walkley Roads, resulting in a loss of
2.8 ha of vacant land as a result of an OMB decision to permit a Loblaws
store.
- Boundary changes in the Orleans Industrial Park resulted in losses
of about 23 ha to the park itself and 13 net ha of vacant industrial land.
- The Carp Airport Industrial Area was reduced by about 134 ha for
the West Capital Development residential subdivision, resulting in an
overall loss of 122 net ha of vacant industrial land in the rural area.
A few business park boundaries have been modified to
better define existing industrial or
non-industrial uses. In most cases the result of these changes did not
affect the supply of vacant industrial land. For example, the
Hawthorne-Stevenage Business Park and Rideau North Industrial were redefined to
exclude pockets of existing residential uses included in past surveys. The
Coventry Industrial Park has been expanded to include two developed lots in the
west. With the move of its staff to the South Merivale Business Park underway,
the RCMP site on the Vanier Parkway has been included as part of the industrial
park inventory even though there are no existing vacant lands.
Other gains occurred through minor redefinitions of
boundaries as a result of changes in zoning. For example, the Colonnade
Business Park gained two new vacant industrial lots totaling 9.6 ha (8.5 net
ha) north of Colonnade Road. The Kanata North Business Park gained about 18 ha
from additional lots being added in the Innovation Drive area (a reversal of a redesignation made in
2003).
Numerous small changes also occurred due to updated
POLARIS property database. This made the 2007 survey the most spatially
accurate survey undertaken to date. A detailed table of changes in each
industrial area is provided in the Appendix (Table A-1).
Inside Greenbelt Supply
Overall, 87.5% of industrial land inside the
Greenbelt is already developed. Of the remaining 242.3 net ha of vacant land,
the majority (85% or 206.0 net ha) is located east of the Rideau River in mostly
traditional industrial areas. More than half of this supply is concentrated in
the southeast, within the Hawthorne-Stevenage,
Ottawa South and South Walkley-Albion industrial areas. Although there still
remains 133 ha on 16 large lots, about 70 ha of this are owned by Federal
agencies. For example, vacant lands in the NRC area will likely be retained for
NRC, CSIS or other federal uses, and development on any of the airport areas
would be limited to employers willing to accept a land lease arrangement. The
National Capital Commission’s land holdings in the Hawthorne-Stevenage area
have yet to be put up for sale, although they are zoned for heavy industry.
West of the Rideau River, business
parks are either fully developed or have only limited amounts of vacant land.
The west area’s supply of industrial land amounts to only 36.3 net ha. Most of
the prime vacant parcels are located within the Colonnade, Rideau Heights and
Merivale Business Park areas and the former Steenbackers site in Bells Corners.
Once these are developed future industrial construction on any of the City’s
west-end business parks will be restricted to redevelopment and/or expansions
on existing properties.
With the exception of the Riverside
Uplands industrial area, which would require some extension of piped services,
all vacant lots inside the Greenbelt are fully serviced by both water and
sewer, with major and local water and sewer pipes at or near vacant properties.
Urban Outside Greenbelt Supply
Vacant industrial land in the urban area outside the
Greenbelt accounts for 962 net ha or nearly 80% of the total urban supply. The
distribution of industrial land is located in three primary areas, West (Kanata
309.0 net ha, Stittsville 9.1 ha), South (South Nepean 194.5 ha, Riverside South
198.3 ha and Leitrim 66.6 ha) and East (Orléans 184.4 ha). At a community
level, the resulting splits are; 33% in Kanata – Stittsville, about 20% in each
of South Nepean, Riverside South, and Orléans, and 7% in Leitrim.
All business parks have some vacant land, but the
Ottawa-Goulbourn, Hazeldean and Youville industrial areas are approaching build
out. In contrast, the majority of land in the Kanata West, 416, Riverside
South, Leitrim and Orléans industrial parks has not been subdivided into
building lots and account for a total of about 732 ha (about 623 net ha).
About 513 net ha of vacant land in the urban area
outside the Greenbelt is considered as serviced with water and sewer services
at or in close proximity to vacant properties. The remaining 449 net ha require
infrastructure improvements before development can occur. Required servicing
improvements by area include:
-
major and local water and sewer pipes throughout the 416 Business Park
-
major and local water and sewer pipes in three northwest lots in Kanata West
-
major and local sewer pipes in the southwest lots of Kanata West
-
major and local and sewer pipes in Albion-Leitrim
-
local water and sewer pipes in Orléans Industrial Park
Rural Supply
There were 765.3 net ha of vacant
industrial land in the rural areas of Ottawa. About 65% of rural industrial
land (496.4 net ha) is located west of the Rideau River, and is concentrated
along Carp Road north of Highway 417. East of the Rideau, industrial areas are
clustered along Highway 417 and Bank Street (old Highway 31).
These lands serve uses that do not
require large amounts of water and typically cater to land extensive uses such
as storage, warehousing, construction and transportation, as well as industrial
uses associated with quarrying. Development is typically on private well and
septic systems. However, a few rural industrial areas are partially serviced.
These include the A.G. Reed and South Gloucester industrial areas that have
piped water services but private septic systems and the Richmond Industrial
Area with private wells but a central sewer system.
LAND CONSUMPTION
A combined total
of 94.6 net ha were developed on both vacant and expansion industrial land in
the two-year period of 2006-2007. A total of 59.7 ha were consumed in 2006 and
only 34.9 ha in 2007, both falling shy of the City-wide average of 60.8 ha per
year.
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Consumption
of land in the last 23 years has been seen significant fluctuations,
particularly in the urban area, as shown in Figure 2. This highly variable pattern follows economic cycles. The
strong economy of the mid and late 1980’s fostered high industrial land
consumption, peaking in 1987. The recession years of 1990’s were marked by low
consumption, dipping to only 22 ha in 1991. A new period of growth began in the
latter part of the 1990’s, peaking during the high-tech boom of 2000-01. The
downturn in the city’s technology industry post-2001 led to high suburban
office vacancy rates, especially in Kanata, further reducing already low land
consumption. By 2005 consumption was at an all time low of only 15.9 ha.
Despite higher consumption in 2006 and 2007 there has been a further decline in
the overall average consumption rate since 1985. The last few years have been
characterized by conservative, non-speculative, build in response to demand
development activity.
Land consumption inside the Greenbelt totaled 25.2 ha in the
last two years (16.3 in 2006 and 8.9 in 2007), lower than the 27.8 ha running
average for the area established by the end of 2005. Two-thirds was consumed in
Ottawa’s east end industrial areas especially in the Hawthorne-Stevenage and
Newmarket-Cyrville industrial parks. The remaining third was taken up in the
Rideau Heights area.
Outside the Greenbelt, a total of 47.9 ha, including 1.5 ha on
expansion lots, were developed. A total of 29.7 ha were consumed in 2006 and
18.2 ha in 2007. Most of this was in the west with 27.9 ha of land developed in
Kanata and Stittsville. A total of 16.5 ha were built on lands in South Nepean
and 3.5 ha in the Orléans. No land was developed in Leitrim.
Consumption in the rural area in 2006-2007 occurred at an
above average pace for both years, with 21.4 ha developed, split two-thirds in
the rural west along the Carp Road corridor and one-third in the east along
Bank Street and in Vars.
There is a gradual increase in the share of urban
industrial land consumption occurring outside the Greenbelt. This is partly due
to the shrinking supply of land inside the Greenbelt and partly to the maturing
of suburban lands. Figure 3 shows the shift in share from inside to outside the
Greenbelt that began in earnest in 1996, with the majority of consumption occurring in
suburban industrial areas in 10 of the last 12 years. This is expected to
continue in the future.
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Note: trendline in Figure 3 is based on the percentage
share of land consumption occurring outside the Greenbelt
Land Consumption Rate
Applying an average consumption rate
is the most straightforward means of estimating the future supply of industrial
land in demand-years of land. Demand-years
are determined by calculating average annual consumption over a specific period
of time and dividing that into the available supply.
Older editions of
this report applied a straightforward land consumption rate based on the
average of land developed for industrial uses since 1985. With a few
exceptions, this was considered to be acceptable because industrial park
boundaries and the general types of development occurring on industrial land
were fairly consistent from one year to the next. Reports published after 2001
introduced two consumption rates for the urban area that took into account the
amount of land being consumed for both industrial and non-industrial uses (i.e.
non-employment uses) on land designated as industrial. This alternative
consumption rate was intended to address situations where significant amounts
of industrial land were being developed for other uses, especially uses that
had little or no employment associated with the development, such as golf
courses or residential development.
Table 2 and Figures 4 and 5 show annual
and running average consumption from 1985 onward. The running average has been
declining since 1985, although a small peak can be seen during the tech boom of
2000-01.
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*
Annualized Consumption Rates in Table 2 are running averages for the current
year and all preceding years. Hence, the rate shown for 1997 is the average for
the 1985-1997 period, the rate for 2007 is the average for the 1985-2007
period, etc.
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*
Averages in Figures 4 and 5 are running averages for the current year and all
preceding years. Hence, the average shown for 1997 is the average for the
1985-1997 period, the average for 2007 is for the 1985-2007 period, etc.
The urban consumption rate
over the long term is in the range of 45 to 50 ha per year, with a 23-year
average ranging between 45.5 ha per year for industrial (employment based) uses
only and increasing to 51.1 per year when all uses are included. Even though
the trend is slowly dropping, the rates have not changed significantly since
the early 1990’s.
The average 23-year rate
for the rural area is 9.8 ha per year. This trend has been dropping gradually
since 1985.
Applying consumption rates
covering the 23-year span for both urban and rural areas to the net vacant
supply of 1,204.3 ha and 765.3 ha respectively, the estimated reserve for the
urban area is between 24 and 26 years, and in the rural area is 78 years. Both
reserves assume that no new lands will be added or taken away from the existing
industrial supply.
However, the supply of and demand for
industrial and business park land is more complex than this simple method
implies. Factors of access to transportation systems, proximity to markets,
materials and labour force, compatibility with adjacent land uses, cost of land, business-specific location
requirements, the need for large amounts of water or electrical power, and
other factors may all affect the effective supply of sites for specific users
of industrial land.
CONCLUSION
Ottawa’s vacant
industrial land in the 2006–2007 period recorded a relatively small reduction
in its supply, despite a small increase in consumption compared to the last
monitoring period of 2004-2005. One of the important points of this survey is
the fact that inside the Greenbelt the distribution of available land is more
limited than ever before. The City is currently undertaking as Employment Lands
Strategy study to address issues of the future industrial land supply.
Appendix
Maps and Land Parcels
Maps in this report are
at a scale of 1:25,000 except when noted. The location and size of individual
parcels are mapped in ArcGIS from the POLARIS parcel fabric database. This
provides a high degree of accuracy, and is more precise than techniques
available for previous surveys. The parcel fabric is consistently being
updated, a single lot as depicted in older surveys may not be completely
identical to what is depicted in this report even though the lot may look
similar. As such, area calculations should only be viewed as current from the
most recent edition of the report.
In the majority of cases,
the entire property is removed from the vacant land inventory when the land is
developed. Because of the nature of industrial construction a parcel is
considered as developed only when above grade permanent structures are built or
being built at the time when fieldwork is being done. In cases where the land
is primarily intended for outside storage a lot will be considered developed
when it is actually being used for it’s intended long-term purpose.
There are some instances when only a portion of a
property parcel is developed. If the remaining part of the parcel is judged to
be of a significant size the remaining portion is placed in the “expansion”
category. These lots are depicted on the detailed maps but are not counted as
part of the overall vacant industrial land supply unless at some point the area
is severed and a new lot is created. On the other hand, if any development does
take place on an expansion lot the area of the development is counted as part
of the land consumption rate.
Land areas of individual parcels shown in this
inventory may be expressed as net or gross hectares. Calculations of overall
supply in this report are based on net hectares. Generally, lots greater than
five but less that ten ha are categorized as either gross or net based on
factors such; lot configuration and shape, whether it fronts on an existing
road that can provide direct access, sizes of neighbouring lots in the area.
These lots and those that are ten or more ha in area are converted to net
hectares using a standard netting down of 15% (from empirical research of
Ottawa industrial patterns) to allow for roads and ancillary uses such as
stormwater facilities.
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