Transportation committee approves 'restrictive' new rules on gardens build on city right of ways

“I think it’s important that we move forward with clarification.”

Published Jun 22, 2023 • Last updated 37 minutes ago • 4 minute read

William van Geest maintains a garden in front of his Centretown apartment building. Photo by Jean Levac /Postmedia

A committee of Ottawa city council has approved a series of regulations attached to a bylaw governing residents’ use of municipal rights of ways for gardens as well as legalizing and regulating little libraries.

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The amendments to the 2003 Use and Care of Roads bylaw, passed by the transportation committee on Thursday, are aimed at ensuring that roadways are safe and unencumbered, that staff have access to utilities for maintenance and that underground infrastructure is not damaged.

At the same time, the amendments give residents firm guidelines about what they can build or plant on city rights of way.

As it stands, only grass is technically permitted on a right of way, but thousands of Ottawa residents don’t know this rule or have ignored it. Unless there is a complaint to the bylaw office, though, no action is taken.

The new set of regulations, expected to be before city council on June 28, allows for gardening on the right of way without need for a permit. In that respect, the bylaw is quite permissive. But the regulations in the package also outlines definite restrictions.

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Only “soft landscaping” would be allowed under the amendments, which means planter boxes would not be permitted.

Other regulations would address how close a garden could be to a bus stop, city tree, hydro transformer or fire hydrant. Plants would have to be less than 75 centimetres tall.

Another regulation bans growing edible plants in right of way gardens, including fruit trees, which has caused on outcry about the right to grow food as prices increase.

“In some areas, the right of way may be the only land access a resident has to grow food,” Kate Veinot, coordinator of the Community Garden Network, told the committee.

Some felt it was important to formalize the rules so residents knew what was permitted and what was not.

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“We had residents in one of my neighbourhoods in New Edinburgh who experienced problems with bylaw,” said Rideau-Rockcliffe Coun. Rawlson King, who believes that, with “real policy” in place, there will be fewer calls and complaints.

“I think it’s important that we move forward with clarification.”

The regulations change the spirit of how the bylaw is perceived, King said. “It’s really a sprit of permissiveness since the previous bylaw prohibited any alterations to the ‘grass boulevard’ within the right of way. I think we have to remember that. So everything was illegal.”

The other important element is that there will not be a requirement for a permit to plant on a right of way, which will have implications for city staff resources, King said.

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“The proposed bylaw amendments are also designed to minimize risks and liabilities for the city, but attempt to find balance where residents can be involved in gardening and act as community stewards of the right of way,” King said.

The city report on the matter also revealed concerns about contaminated soil in areas used to grow food and the possible health effects. Ottawa Public Health has asked Public Health Ontario for a review of the approach other municipalities are taking on the benefits and drawbacks of growing food on rights of way. Ottawa’s transportation committee is to receive and discuss those findings by the end of June 2024.

A coalition of community groups fought the proposed changes, saying right of way gardens maintained by residents provided shade, biodiversity, food and a sense of community to neighbourhoods and also increased tree canopy to battle the effects of climate change.

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The groups argued that thousands of gardens had already been built on city rights of ways. A resident growing a garden doesn’t own the land outright, but is using it and caring for it, although they have to understand that the right of way may be used, for example, for Hydro Ottawa access.

Many people don’t know where the city’s right of way starts and ends. In some downtown neighbourhoods, the right of way covers almost the entire distance between the street and a residence, the transportation committee heard.

Angela Keller-Herzog, executive director of Community Associations for Environmental Sustainability, says height restrictions in the proposed bylaw will keep people from planting trees on rights of way. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia

Sustainable food proponents said raised beds should be allowed because they could be filled with clean soil.

“There are plenty of raised beds. They’re practical,” said Angela Keller-Herzog, executive director of Community Associations for Environmental Sustainability (CAFES).

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She believes there will be unintended consequences to introducing restrictions in the bylaw.

“Height restrictions will keep people from planting trees. We’re at a junctions where we need to move to embrace climate resiliency and food resiliency,” Keller-Herzog said. “We should be trying to support urban ecology, not cut it off at 76 centimetres. We want to get ready for heat waves and encourage people to plant trees.”

The committee also approved amendments to allow for installation of little libraries on city-owned spaces up to a half-metre from roadways.

Under the current bylaw, there is no official framework to permit installing a library within a right of way. So far residents have been able to build libraries on the city-owned spaces on a case-by-case basis, but the rules have been inconsistent.

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College ward Coun. Laine Johnson said many residential streets in the outer urban areas had no sidewalks or raised curbs and many residents had built libraries close to roads without causing problems. She proposed the motion allowing libraries to be built with a half-metre of roads, and it was passed.

Stittsville Coun. Glen Gower said there were still questions he wanted resolved before next week’s council meeting. “I just want to make sure we’re considering everything from a traffic, a parking and a right of way perspective.”