Housing construction underway in Barrhaven: The city shouldn’t impose more restrictive height bylaws inside the greenbelt. Photo by JULIE OLIVER /PostmediaArticle content
The release of the second draft of Ottawa’s new zoning bylaw hasn’t received much fanfare. At a city council meeting on April 16, it’s expected to be officially approved for public consultation.
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For those who parsed through the first draft, the second might not look that much different. But there is one key item that, if implemented, immediately stands out as a missed opportunity and a risk to Ottawa’s ability to reach its housing targets: height permissions for neighbourhoods.
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When the first draft was released, it recognized the need to overhaul our zoning to match the housing goals laid out in the city’s Official Plan. It allowed four units per lot and some front-yard parking, and eliminated parking spot minimums.
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While there will be differing opinions expressed about appropriate heights, densities, parking and more, the key metric we should use to evaluate our zoning bylaw is whether it will allow us to achieve our housing targets.
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Yes, zoning can and does balance competing interests, such as new housing, trees and green space, which make complete communities. But if zoning does not provide a reasonable opportunity to build the sheer amount of housing we need for our growing population, then it fails us as a collective city.
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The city’s Official Plan, which council adopted in November 2021, relies on increasing density in existing neighbourhoods for 25 per cent of its housing growth. That’s about 45,000 new homes over the next 20 years. Existing neighbourhoods are well-suited to accommodate this modest intensification, given that they are already characterized by roads, transit, municipal infrastructure and services, including libraries, rinks and fire stations.
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Specifically, this means converting or replacing 15,000 current single-detached homes, or lots originally meant for less dense housing types, into multi-family buildings of about the same size with three or four housing units.
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The second draft of the proposed zoning bylaw keeps heights in neighbourhood zones, labelled N1 and N2, inside Ottawa’s greenbelt to 8.5 metres or two storeys tall. But in the suburbs, neighbourhood zones can be 11 metres high, allowing for the construction of three-storey buildings.
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It is unclear why the city would want to limit the potential for density for neighbourhoods inside the greenbelt more than in the suburbs when those very neighbourhoods have better access to amenities and public transportation.
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The city’s own modelling anticipates that at most 40 per cent of lots inside Ottawa’s greenbelt and only 30 per cent of lots outside the greenbelt would take advantage of maximum zoning permissions. Why wouldn’t we want to capitalize on our best opportunities for low-rise density in these strategic areas?