By Brigitte Pellerin, Ottawa Citizen, August 15, 2019
The City of Ottawa is reviewing its tree bylaws (it has two) and needs our input. Allow me to jump on the roof and point at its dark, flat, surface. Put trees there!
You laugh. Who’s ever heard of trees on a roof, right? Well, us, for one thing. We’ve had a few on top of the Ottawa Courthouse on Elgin Street since 2012, along with 60 plant varieties scattered over 70,000 square feet. There are a few other local green roofs: the Rideau Centre, the National Arts Centre, Algonquin’s Centre for Construction Excellence, Ashbury College, which uses part of it as an outdoor classroom, and the Canadian War Museum.
(...)“Green roofs and other green infrastructure implementations play a key role in slowing down, soaking up and filtering rainwater, increasing our city’s resilience in a changing climate,” says Vi Bui of Ecology Ottawa, adding that many jurisdictions have introduced bylaws mandating such roofs in certain circumstances, including Toronto. That city’s bylaw goes back to 2010 and makes new buildings of a certain size include a given portion of greenery on their roof.
https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/pellerin-healthy-ottawa-why-the-city-needs-more-tree-huggers