City of Ottawa committee rejects urban boundary expansion request in Stittsville

Ottawa City Hall (CTV News Ottawa)

The City of Ottawa’s planning and housing committee unanimously rejected a proposed expansion to the city’s urban boundary in Stittsville.

Caivan filed an application with the city to add land at 5971 Flewellyn Road, 1770 Shea Road and 1820 Shea Road to the urban boundary and redesignate the lands as “Neighbourhood” under the Suburban Transect to support the development of a residential subdivision, with 360 housing units.

City staff, however, recommended councillors reject the proposal, saying the city has enough land available for housing.

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According to a presentation to the committee, the city must have at least 15 years’ worth of available land for housing under the 2024 Provincial Planning Statement. The latest analysis shows that the city has 25 years’ worth of available land, meaning expanding the urban boundary is unnecessary.

This amounts to 1,581 net hectares of designated and available land for housing development. The Provincial Planning Statement requires 1,267 net hectares.

“At this point, we’re taking a consistent approach on all of these coming forward that this is premature, and we believe there is enough land at this time,” said general manager of Planning, Development and Building Services Marcia Wallace.

“We’re working very hard to unlock the lands that were included but not yet built on in the last growth management strategy and that’s why we believe we have lands to accommodate the growth in our official plan.”

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The decision would mean the city would have to defend its position at the Ontario Land Tribunal.

Staff told councillors this would be one of five urban expansion matters in Ottawa that are before the Ontario Land Tribunal. The city’s position that it is inappropriate for the tribunal to add land to the urban boundary because there is no identified land need.

The lands at Flewellyn and Shea roads are adjacent to the Stittsville South Urban Expansion Area, which was added to the urban boundary as part of the 2022 Official Plan. Staff said the planning process is underway for the adjacent land, and the rejection of proposal before committee on Wednesday would not affect it.

With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Josh Pringle