Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve struggled to write the blog post I’d normally write about the planning changes imposed by Queen’s Park through Bill 23 and the changes to our Official Plan. Virtually every facet of our city planning is affected.
Rather than write my usual dense, unreadable policy backgrounder, I’m going to take a page from my colleague Glen Gower’s book and try to bullet-point the changes that are most impactful, then provide a few paths residents might take. The Province is conducting hearings into Bill 23 as part of the legislative path, and it has not yet been passed. Changes to the Official Plan are immediate and there’s no clear path to reversing that; it is likely that where there is a will there is a way.
I’d encourage everyone to read City staff’s analysis of Bill 23. I’ve posted the documents here.
Bill 23
Official Plan
In addition to Bill 23, the Province has also changed Ottawa’s Official Plan. Here are some of the key changes of which Kitchissippi residents will want to take note.
So what does it all mean?
It is an understatement to suggest that Bill 23 and the changes to the Official Plan are a Hallmark Christmas morning for developers large and small. Every indication is that they open new greenfields and environmentally sensitive lands to new suburban developments. They will allow much greater intensification within the urban boundary. Development proposals will be fast-tracked without regard to their design or the impact to households already in affordable housing. Revenues that would normally accrue to the city to build things will be significantly reduced, and sprawl-related costs increased. There will be less municipal oversight and community influence over developments, and the statutory basis to force those to be more sustainable will be gone.
Clearly Premier Ford considers that supply must be put on steroids to address the very real issue of market affordability. There are virtually no proposals to deal with very deeply affordable housing which is arguably the more critical issue facing Ottawa and Ontario cities today (although not-for-profit housing developers will absolutely benefit from some of the same measures being offered to the sector).
There is considerable uncertainty as to whether these measures, however, will result in much more housing than would otherwise be built. Ottawa City Council is no laggard with respect to approving developments and we only have the word of developers that fees to build infrastructure, parks, and the other foundations of a livable city are a definitive hurdle to home ownership. There are very legitimate questions being asked about the Provincial population growth numbers asserted for Ottawa that are a bedrock on which Bill 23 has been built.
The overall effect will be to perpetuate the mistakes of seventy years of urban planning, building sprawling cities that are financially unsustainable and environmentally catastrophic, car-centric and increasingly devoid of public spaces and programming.
In Kitchissippi I’m concerned that a population boom will exacerbate big expensive issues like stormwater management, transportation demand management and the availability of recreation infrastructure even as our ratepayers are required to increasingly subsidize sprawl that diverts scarce tax dollars. Gentrification will continue to ravage our neighbourhoods with few municipal tools to mitigate that. The workings of an unfettered housing market result in multiple and related failures to accomplish public interest good, and Bill 23 removes many of the regulatory tools we use to address those failures.
What to do?
Civil society is mobilizing to reject the worst proposed changes and adding your voice to their efforts is a real and meaningful way to resist.
Multiple stakeholders will be holding a rally tomorrow, November 15, at City Hall at 1:00 that includes groups such as Ecology Ottawa, the Alliance to End Homelessness and the Federation of Citizens Associations. You can read the basis for the Alliance to End Homelessness’ opposition here and sign their public letter to the Province here, and Ecology Ottawa’s here. I’ve included a copy of the Federation of Citizens’ Associations below in which they argue for a more robust consultation process in addition to outlining their concerns about the bill. I’d encourage residents who are concerned to attend the event.
The Association of Municipalities Ontario has posted a full list of consultations underway with deadlines that you can find here. The various consultations open a new page that includes a comment submission button. Of course, you should also write to our Member of Provincial Parliament, Joel Harden at jharden-qp@ndp.on.ca about your concerns, although I have no doubt that he will be highly aligned with measures that threaten cities' environmental, financial and equitable sustainability.