Ottawa city council asks province to reinstate nine-storey building heights on minor corridors

Some community groups are angered that the public wasn’t consulted before councillors passed the motion last Wednesday.

Published Nov 25, 2023 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 3 minute read

Ottawa City Hall. Photo by ERROL MCGIHON /POSTMEDIA

In a head-spinning move that has angered some community groups, Ottawa is asking the province to reverse its decision to override the city’s official plan on building heights.

A walk-on motion, approved by council this week in a 19-2 vote, instructs city officials to ask Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra to reinstate rules allowing higher buildings heights along minor road corridors. It’s something the city’s planning committee rejected two years ago, when it approved Ottawa’s new official plan.

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At the time, city staff had recommended higher buildings, but council bowed to pressure and limited buildings along minor corridor roads to four storeys.

In 2022, former Ontario housing minister Steve Clark overrode that decision. In a controversial move that also opened up new parcels of land for development, Clark ignored council’s will and approved buildings of up to nine storeys on minor road corridors in Ottawa’s downtown region, up to six storeys in the inner and outer urban areas and up to seven storeys in suburbs outside the Greenbelt.

That decision proved Clark’s undoing. A damning auditor general’s report found fault with the land transfer, prompting Clark to resign and the RCMP to launch an investigation. Calandra, Clark’s replacement as minister, backed down. In reversing the land transfers, Calandra also abandoned the higher height limits.

Stittsville Coun. Glen Gower. Photo by Tony Caldwell /POSTMEDIA

Stittsville Coun. Glen Gower, who brought the motion to council last Wednesday, said the worsening housing crisis made it “imperative” that Ottawa accept the higher heights it had rejected just two years ago. After his walk-back, Calandra gave municipalities 45 days to let the Ontario government know if they were happy with the change on building heights.

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“It was out, then in, then out. And council decided this week to put it back in,” Gower said.

The shortage of affordable housing — or housing of any sort — growing waitlists and the pressure from the federal and provincial governments for cities to intensify development make higher buildings needed, he said. In addition, some developments have already been approved based on the higher height limits.

“Two years ago, we were in a housing crisis, but it’s become far more acute,” Gower said. “The federal government is giving clear signals to the city around the density targets it wants to see. It’s a different environment than it was in 2021, when committee made that original decision.

“If we had been asked in this environment to make the same decision, we would have been hard-pressed to lower the heights to four storeys. And that’s ultimately what I think it came down for most people on council.”

Councillors Rawlson King and Riley Brockington were the only ones to vote against the motion last Wednesday.

The move has drawn fire from some community groups angered that the public wasn’t consulted beforehand.

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Alex Cullen, a former city councillor and a spokesperson for the Federation of Citizens Associations. Photo by Tony Caldwell /POSTMEIA

“If you’re going to change an important public document that guides growth, that will have an impact on our neighbourhoods, then you should allow residents to have our say,” said Alex Cullen, a former city councillor and a spokesperson for the Federation of Citizens Associations, which represents more than 70 community associations in Ottawa. The FCA lobbied councillors to oppose Gower’s motion or to at least send it back to the planning committee for study.

“We didn’t want urban sprawl. We were willing to buy into intensification as a way of limiting sprawl. But there are nuances,” Cullen said.

The FCA says higher height limits makes sense along major roads and along the transit corridor.

“When it came to minor corridors in residential areas, we were prepared to accept some intensification, but there’s a question of how much is too much,” Cullen said. “We knew there was a push on more density, but it can’t be a blank check.”