City of Ottawa planning committee rejects urban boundary expansion in Barrhaven

Ottawa City Hall in autumn. (CTV News Ottawa)

Ottawa’s planning and housing committee has rejected a proposal to expand the city’s urban boundary in a parcel of land in the Greenbelt area for a housing development.

The 72-hectare area is on O’Keefe Court, east of Highway 416 and north of Fallowfield Road. The application proposes approximately 1,493 residential units with some medium density and mixed-use blocks.

City staff, however, recommended against bringing the land into the urban boundary, primarily because of the work required to make the land liveable.

“The primary reasons are that no land need has been demonstrated, servicing upgrades required to support the development are not cost-effective, the location lacks sufficient road and transit access, and the proposed expansion would create a leapfrog pattern of growth inconsistent with logical and phased urban development,” a report for the committee said.

Staff also say the city currently has a sufficient amount of land to accommodate growth.

“The Provincial Planning Statement requires municipalities to maintain a 15-year supply of designated residential land and a three-year supply of serviced land. Ottawa currently exceeds these requirements, with nearly 25 years of supply once recent expansions are included, meaning no additional land is required,” staff said.

In addition, the city says it has initiated an update to growth projections in response to the provincial government’s updated population projections for Ottawa and a report on population, housing and employment forecasts is anticipated in January.

Miguel Tremblay, a partner at Fotenn, a proponent of the application, argued the land could be designed and built to accommodate transit and meet other requirements.

“This is essentially an intensification. In our opinion, an urban community is a better use of land with a broader range of densities and contributes to a more complete community,” he said. “These lands can actually be developed now… with minimal servicing interventions.”

Ultimately, the committee sided with city staff and rejected the proposal to include the lands in the urban boundary.

South March expansion deferred

The committee was also expected to vote on a proposal for a 4,000-unit housing development in the South March area, northwest of Kanata,

Again, city staff recommended rejecting the proposal for reasons similar to the rejection of the O’Keefe project, saying there is no demonstrated need to add additional land to the urban boundary.

The applicant, however, requested the item be deferred to the new year. Committee members voted 9-1 in favour of deferring the motion to 2026, with Clarke Kelly, the ward councillor, voting against deferral, saying the item should be discussed immediately.

The same item must still be discussed at the agriculture and rural affairs committee on Thursday, but it’s likely that another motion to defer it will be moved.

Staff told the committee that the proponents want to have additional discussions with the city about the project, and the results of the city’s updated growth management strategy, slated to be discussed early next year, may alter their decision on whether they wish to proceed with an appeal on the file.

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