Urban Boundary Expansion - Update

What’s happening now?

The Official Plan http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/planning/op/opa_en.html was approved by Ottawa Councillors and by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. A significant issue in Ottawa’s recent Official Plan process was whether or not to expand the urban boundary in order to permit more residential development in areas that are currently rural.

Thirty appeals to the Plan were filed by developers who own land within Ottawa which was not rezoned Urban. Each of these appeals will be reviewed by the Ontario Municipal Board. 

The Taggart Group of Companies, which is the parent company of Tamarack Homes, has appealed the entire Plan. They own land in Cumberland east of Cardinal Creek to Frank Kenny between Regional Road 174 and Wilhaven. Taggart has plans for an Orleans-style development with an estimated 4,220 housing units.

Mattamy Homes, which owns land south of Renaud between Mer Bleue and Tenth Line, has also filed an appeal. The Greater Ottawa Home Builders Association has appealed many parts of the Plan on behalf of its members.

The CVCA is taking an active role in this process. Find out more

June 14 preliminary hearing

The first preliminary hearing with the Ontario Municipal Board took place at city hall on Monday, June 14. Several CVCA representatives attended the hearing, which is open to the public.

Cumberland resident Tamara Belle-Isle was granted participant status on behalf of concerned citizens on the city-wide matter of the Urban Boundary expansion.  This entitles her to state her case before all parties, including the judge from the OMB, lawyers representing the city and the 25 lawyers representing the developers.

Two other members of the Cumberland community were also granted participant status on the issue of the moratorium on country lot estates. There is no predicting the ruling of the OMB, which is final.

What’s next?

July 19 -20, 2010– The OMB will determine who is granted party status.

The Federation of Citizen's Associations (a group of community associations across Ottawa, of which CVCA is a member) has requested party status on the Urban Boundary expansion and Country Lot Subdivisions. All lawyers representing the developers contested the FCA’s party status at the June 14 meeting. The FCA will present a motion at the July meeting which may or may not be accepted. At the very least, FCA will be granted participant status.

August 26 & 27, 2010- the procedural order will be determined. Appeals relating to the same issues will be grouped together in order to streamline the process.

February-March 2011 - The actual hearings will likely take place over five weeks. The first phase will decide whether or not to expand the Urban Boundary, and if so, by how much land.

Should the OMB decide to expand the urban boundary, the hearing will move on to Phase 2 in order to determine which land will be permitted for development.

How you can get involved

If the OMB agrees to expand the urban boundary, there may be an opportunity for concerned citizens to become participants. Individuals who made a submission to Council last spring should consider this opportunity to get involved in the process.

The CVCA will continue to monitor this issue and remain involved in the process. We will provide updates as the hearing moves forward. In the meantime, the CVCA welcomes your concerns, advice and suggestions.