Comité
de l’urbanisme
01 October 2011 / le 1ièr octobre 2011
Submitted by/Soumis par : Nancy Schepers, Deputy City Manager/
Directrice
municipale adjointe, Infrastructure Services and Community
Sustainability/Services d 'infrastructure et Viabilité des collectivités
Contact
Person/Personne-ressource: Richard Kilstrom, Manager/Gestionnaire, Policy
Development and Urban Design/Elaboration de la politique et conception urbain,
Planning and Growth Management/Urbanisme et Gestion de la croissance
Elaboration de la politique et conception urbaine
(613)
580-2424 x22653, Richard Kilstrom@ottawa.ca
SUBJECT:
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OBJET :
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That the Planning Committee receive this report for information.
Que le Comité de
l'urbanisme prenne connaissance du présent rapport.
At its meeting of August 24th, 2010, City Council carried a staff report to approve the deletion of the requirement to construct sections of sidewalk on certain local streets in the Barrhaven South Half Moon Bay subdivision. The Ward Councillor had moved a motion at the former Planning and Environment Committee to not install the sidewalks over concerns regarding the relationship between pedestrian sidewalks and vehicular driveways in new suburban developments. Staff was directed to review the criteria used for determining the location of sidewalks on local streets in new suburban neighbourhoods and report back to Planning Committee. In preparing this response, staff reviewed design guidelines and cross-section guidelines currently in use for sidewalks and new residential roads as well as the Council-adopted policies of the Pedestrian Master Plan.
Sidewalk Design Guidelines 2002
In 2002, City Council adopted the "Sidewalk Technical Design Guidelines" with amendments for sidewalk construction. Regarding the location of sidewalks the document recommends:
Cross-section Guidelines for New Residential Roads – 2007
In 2007, following extensive consultation between the City and various external stakeholders, staff produced updated right-of-way (ROW) cross-sections for new residential roads. The cross-sections were developed to reduce the likelihood of conflicts between utilities and assets within the road right-of-way and to streamline the development review process. They are intended to apply to new ‘greenfield’ developments and to the extent practical to infill developments. The 18.0 m cross-section was typically used in the past in new ‘greenfield’ development; however, there is an increasing use by developers of the 16.5 m right-of-way. The 16.5 m cross-section is to be applied to local roads in urban/suburban residential developments where it can be demonstrated that it results in higher housing densities. Mattamy Homes has used this standard in designing several of their subdivisions in both Barrhaven and Kanata. The City is supportive of the use of alternative development standards to achieve modest-priced housing as part of the housing mix in new suburban subdivisions. The use of a 16.5m right-of-way standard is one example of this. Modest-priced starter homes in the form of stacked townhouses and ground- oriented townhouses at relatively high densities have been built in several new ‘greenfield’ subdivisions where developers have utilized the narrower right-of-way.
An integral part of the process of updating the cross-sections was the formulation of a set of principles to minimize future conflicts and impacts on lifecycle costs. Several relevant principles are:
The City’s design guidelines for the construction of sidewalks indicate the minimum sidewalk width to be 1.8.m. Provisions have been made to accommodate a sidewalk on the 16.5m and 18m right-of-way standards, if required. On the 16.5 and 18m rights-of-ways, sidewalks can be accommodated on one side of the street. There is no boulevard requirement.
Ottawa Pedestrian Master Plan Recommendations - 2009
The Ottawa Pedestrian Master Plan is a policy document adopted by City Council in 2009. The document highlights the need for walkable communities as desirable places to live, work, learn, worship and play. To accomplish this, new communities must be designed to provide easy and safe walks to goods and services that residents need and use on a regular basis.
Although there is the perception by some residents that sidewalks merely exist as a means to walk to their homes, the Master Plan points out sidewalks also exist for residents to walk to neighbourhood amenities, open space, employment and shopping.
In accordance with the Pedestrian Plan, the City requires that developers apply the pedestrian planning tools and methods contained in the Plan. Section 7 of the Plan outlines the Pedestrian Improvement Process. This is a methodology to examine the base pedestrian network requirements at the neighbourhood level to determine the desirable and necessary pedestrian facilities to accommodate the needs of pedestrians based on a logical analysis of pedestrian origins, routes and destinations/attractions. The focus is to connect the community to key pedestrian destinations with the installation of sidewalks and pathways, and to ensure seamless integration into existing and planned pedestrian facilities.
The Plan includes recommendations for sidewalk widths, locations and buffers for new developments. For local streets, the residential density would be 10 units/ha or more. On new local streets with right-of-way widths of 18m or 16.5m, sidewalks can be accommodated on the street, if required.
Safety and Other Cities
As part of this review, research on the inclusion of sidewalks on local streets in other municipalities in Canada, and on the safety impact of constructing sidewalks on local streets was conducted.
The research indicates that the very existence of sidewalks on local streets more than doubles the pedestrian safety factor as compared to not having sidewalks. With regards to compact suburban neighbourhoods, the research found that in other Canadian municipalities with conditions similar to Ottawa, sidewalks on one side of the street in such subdivisions are the norm and can be achieved within a narrow right-of-way.
CONCLUSION
City staff believe that sidewalks are important in forming vital links for pedestrian movement. This does not mean, however, that sidewalks must be provided on all local streets in new subdivisions. As mentioned earlier, sidewalks are necessary when they serve to connect a community to key pedestrian locations. This means sidewalks should be included in new subdivisions where they will eventually connect or serve as a direct route to transit and destinations such as schools, community centres / parks, retail outlets, commercial offices, seniors’ centres/care residences and other pathway systems. Streets that are designed as P-loops, for example, or have low traffic volumes due to them providing local access only, and do not provide an important link between homes and a particular destination do not need sidewalks.
As a result of this review, in future, the matter of the location of sidewalks in new subdivisions will continue to be resolved through examination of the need for sidewalks and discussions between staff and the proponent prior to draft plan approval with input from the Ward Councillor, who must concur with the conditions of approval.
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Public Works Department
The Public Works
Department is supportive of the report as it is an information update regarding
sidewalks in suburban developments, which includes the application of the
“Cross-section Guidelines for New Residential Roads”.
In 2007, during
consultation surrounding the Guidelines, the Public Works Department provided
the following input, which continues to be relevant to current winter
maintenance operations:
On streets with a
sidewalk on one side that are developed under the updated Cross-section
Guidelines for New Residential Roads, additional per-km snow removal costs are
to be recovered over and above the annually produced per-km growth costs for
sidewalks. This is to account for
increased challenges in conducting winter maintenance operations that are a
result of vehicles parked in laneways that encroach onto the sidewalk and the
reduced capacity to store snow in the right of way. These barriers can
produce less than ideal winter maintenance results.
There are no legal implications associated with this report.
RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS
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There are no direct financial implications associated with this information report.
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