An unusual urban boundary fight lands, virtually, at city hall Monday

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, May 11, 2020

City councillors will take the first step on Monday in deciding how much land, if any, should be pumped into the urban boundary as the city plans for nearly 30 years of growth.

It could be the most contentious issue of council’s four-year term, since debates over the pace of urban sprawl, the impact of intensification and price of housing tend to draw emotion from those who closely watch municipal planning decisions.

(...)Why does it bring so much controversy?

Urban sprawl is a major environmental issue and environmental advocates consider any expansion to the urban boundary a disaster because it adds more cars on clogged roads, bulldozes natural land while potentially adding costs to the property tax base. Ottawa, thanks to the 2001 amalgamation, is geographically huge and residents benefit from a large undeveloped area outside the urban boundary. At the same time, homebuilders invest in land and respond to the demand for housing types in the market. A short supply of one type of in-demand housing could drive up prices.

(...)Who’s against the city’s recommendation?

Environmental advocates and the development industry both oppose the staff proposal, but for different reasons. More than 500 people on Friday were watching Ecology Ottawa’s “online rally” opposing an urban-boundary expansion. Advocates who oppose an expanded urban boundary want the city to grow through intensification on existing lands. On the other end of the spectrum are developers, such as those represented by the Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association, which wants an even larger expansion of the urban boundary and a smaller intensification target.

Pellerin: Ottawa should boldly go where the Official Plan actually suggests

By Brigitte Pellerin, Ottawa Citizen, May 10, 2020

Challenges and setbacks do not build character, it’s often said. They reveal it. And I’m sorry to say the current pandemic is making it hard to deny that our municipal government is controlled by Timidity World Champions.

You know who’s bold? The French government, which agreed to a significant bailout of Air France, badly hurt by COVID-19, on the condition that the airline cancel domestic flights between cities where rail service is available.

Here, by sorry contrast, we’re still debating whether to open up more than a few short bits of roadway so pedestrians and cyclists can have safe areas to be outside and exercise while practising physical distancing. Even Toronto is taking action on this, for crying out loud.

And don’t get me started on the expansion of the urban boundary. It’s obvious we need more housing to accommodate the growth in population everybody expects in the next decade or two. But does it have to mean more sprawl — again — just because that’s the path of least resistance?

Sprawl is terrible for the planet, and it’s not great for humans either. Low-density, car-dependent neighbourhoods are perfectly designed to make people unhealthy and stressed out. Going with more of what we know doesn’t work is not leadership.

The urban boundary debate is vitally important, so should it happen online?

By Joanne Chianello, CBC News Ottawa, May 9, 2020

There have been many firsts in Ottawa's municipal arena during these COVID-19 days, from virtual council meetings to Zoom news conferences to online community open houses.

On Friday, the latest "first" came from Ecology Ottawa and a number of other groups, which held an online rally to call for holding the urban boundary steady.

As far as rallies go, it lacked chanted slogans and crowds waving placards. But while it didn't have the visual and audible impact an offline rally might, it did attract more than 500 people. Who can remember the last time an in-person rally attracted that many people to city hall?

The rally is in advance of one of the most important firsts ever at city hall — a major policy debate Monday that will occur online, with public delegations phoning in their comments.

(...)The city's planners — and Mayor Jim Watson — don't believe residents or builders are prepared for the sort of change communities would undergo if the boundary remained steady. Instead, they're advocating to add up to 1,650 hectares to Ottawa's urban edges.

(...)Yes, there's been a year of consultations.  And the city says more than 45,000 people "have been reached." The report's been out for three weeks — longer than is legally required — but during a time when we are preoccupied with a dramatic and stressful pandemic.

The city has argued that the urban boundary question must be decided soon because it paves the way for other major policies that follow, including the official plan and transportation master plan updates. But city manager Steve Kanellakos mentioned recently the transportation plan work may have to be put off anyway, due to COVID-19 related constraints facing staff.

So what's the rush?

In fact, there is no legal reason this decision needs to be made now. Council put off a byelection for months, so it could certainly have given the public a bit more time to adjust to the COVID-19 reality, to start paying attention to issues other than handwashing and physical distancing.

At the very least, it could have chosen a less vital issue with which to experiment with an untested democratic process.

Community gardens open to delight of green thumbs

By Kimberley Molina, CBC News Ottawa, May 8, 2020

The soil is ready to be tilled and seeds wait to be planted at community gardens across Ottawa after the province reversed a decision declaring them off limits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On March 30, the Ontario government declared the gardens "recreational amenities" and ordered them to remain closed, but public pressure forced a reconsideration.

"Because food is an essential need in our communities, whether we're growing on our balconies or our yards or in community gardens or on the farms in our communities, this is an essential service," said Moe Garahan, co-chair of Sustain Ontario's Community Growing Network and executive director of Just Food in Ottawa.

'Vast gulf' in urban boundary battle as poll suggests people OK with expansion

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, May 8, 2020

A poll commissioned by one of Ottawa’s big development lobbyists illustrates the mountain small community groups have to climb if they’re going to convince city council to refuse a staff recommendation to expand the urban boundary.

Robb Barnes, the executive director of Ecology Ottawa, observed the “vast gulf in resources between the two sides” of the urban boundary fight, which, at an organizational level, has environmental groups and community associations up against homebuilders.

(...)The EKOS research shows people are skeptical that the next generation will be able to afford homes in Ottawa. For people surveyed who have an opinion on the issue, they would rather drive to a nearby town to buy a home rather than renting inside the city if Ottawa housing prices keep rising.

Green energy surpasses coal as top power source during coronavirus lockdowns

By Meghan Wray, Global News, May 6, 2020

As coronavirus lockdowns continue, Earth has had some breathing room to recover.

The latest good news comes from the U.S., where the country’s slowing economy has boosted renewable energy, with power generation sources like solar, wind and hydro overtaking coal-fired power for 40 straight days.

A report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) credits the boost to low gas prices, warmer weather and a huge dip in electricity demand, thanks to stay-at-home orders requiring businesses to close and people to stay put.

Gower and Bergeron: Official Plan should focus on how we build, not where

By Glen Gower and Véronique Bergeron, Ottawa Citizen, May 6, 2020

Between now and 2036, 400,000 new residents will come to live in Ottawa, and city planners are writing a new Official Plan to help guide that growth. On May 11, the planning committee will decide how to manage this growth while maintaining the quality of life, employment opportunities and affordability that make Ottawa a great place to live.

So far, the debate has been focused on where the new homes should be built: inside the current urban boundary (intensification) or outside (urban expansion)? The rhetoric has been black and white: intensification is good and expansion is bad. As is often the case, city planning isn’t so cut-and-dried. Where we build is not as important as how we build.

Urban growth has become synonymous with urban sprawl. We cannot stop growth, but we can stop sprawl through smarter planning. The patterns of development that have given us a spread-out city have been created by policy, not simply by expansion.

Chris Selley: Sidewalk's 'smart city' could've succeeded somewhere normal. But this is Toronto

By Chris Selley, Ottawa Citizen, May 7, 2020

Twelve acres. Roughly six Canadian football fields. That’s how much of Toronto’s prime waterfront real estate Sidewalk Labs — Alphabet Inc.’s (i.e., Google’s) urban-innovation arm — was at least theoretically planning to develop before walking away on Thursday, citing economic uncertainties born of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Quayside, as it’s called, is a tiny chunk of a sprawling, 750-acre parcel of post-industrial moonscape surrounding the mouth of the Don River. Waterfront Toronto — an arm’s-length agency formed by the municipal, provincial and federal government — wants to turn Quayside into an innovative mixed-use neighbourhood and, in 2017, Sidewalk won a (fairly perfunctory) contest to make it happen. (Andrew MacLeod, president and CEO of Postmedia, parent company of the National Post, joined Waterfront Toronto’s board in 2019.)

Sidewalk clearly had its eyes on developing more than that tiny chunk. But if its near-utopian vision had been borne out, that would have been no bad thing. This neighbourhood would privilege active transportation, with wide sidewalks and heated bike lanes and adaptive traffic signals that give slower pedestrians more time, and no street parking. There would be demand-based pricing for road usage. An automated underground freight-delivery system would cut down on the need for delivery trucks. “Modular pavement” would allow quick, non-labour-intensive repairs, reconfigurations and access to utilities.

It would be a mixed-income and family-friendly community: 20 per cent low-income and 20 per cent middle-income, with 40 per cent of units two-bedrooms or larger. It would be fantastically energy-efficient. It would discourage waste production using “pay-as-you-throw chutes” leading to pneumatic tubes that would rocket your trash, recycling and organic waste to the proper facilities.

City reopens parks, but not playgrounds

By CBC News Ottawa, May 6, 2020

Effective immediately, the city is reopening green spaces within public parks, but amenities such as play structures and benches remain off limits, as do dog parks, sports fields and basketball courts.

Since March 27, people have only been allowed to walk, jog or cycle through city parks, and risked an $880 fine for lingering or using park equipment.

Now people can once again stretch out on the grass or throw a ball, as long as they're not in groups of more than five. The city is also encouraging people to remain two metres away from anyone who's not a member of their household.

"It's really good because I think a lot of individuals who live in high-rise buildings don't have the privilege of a backyard," said Nancy Blane, who was enjoying Wednesday evening at Strathcona Park.

How many lives will the coronavirus save?

By Ian Lipton, National Observer, May 6, 2020

As the death toll from the global pandemic continues to increase, one question not being asked is: How many lives will the coronavirus save? The answer will provide the context we need to help avert an even greater loss of life from the coming climate crisis.

Global average temperatures are approaching the critical 1.5 C threshold above pre-industrial levels that many scientists predict will begin to trigger climate catastrophe. This will lead to a growing number of deaths from drought-induced food and water shortages, heat waves beyond human tolerance, flooding, severe storms and new vector-borne diseases.

While it is true the widespread availability of carbon-emitting fossil fuel energy has greatly improved living standards and life expectancies since the industrial revolution, global warming resulting from our carbon-based economies will soon cost more lives than the coronavirus ever will.

Every 1,000 tonnes of carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels results in approximately one future premature human death, according to Prof. Richard Parncutt in a paper published last October in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.

 

Councillors call on city to reopen park green space

By Hillary Johnstone, CBC News Ottawa, May 5, 2020

Seven Ottawa city councillors have co-signed an open letter calling on the city and province to reopen green spaces in Ottawa's parks, as city staff say they're working to "reassess" the closure.

"We are writing to ask that, in consultation with local boards of health, you reopen the green spaces in public parks as soon as possible," says the letter, co-signed by councillors Shawn Menard, Riley Brockington, Catherine McKenney, Carol Anne Meehan, Rawlson King, Jeff Leiper and Theresa Kavanagh.

"Many residents have been struggling with physical and mental health without adequate space to physically distance while getting outside. Access to nature, open spaces and room for exercise are important and necessary coping strategies that are well documented to increase well-being and physiological resilience," the letter reads.

(...)The open letter only calls for green space to be reopened, not playground equipment or other amenities.

Councillors call for more lane closures on Bank Street

By Judy Trinh, CBC News Ottawa, May 5, 2020

Some downtown councillors and other advocates are putting pressure on the city to expand pedestrian space along Bank Street so residents can safely access essential services by foot or bicycle — but the plan is getting some pushback from local businesses.

Capital ward Coun. Shawn Menard is surveying his constituents to see if they support blocking off the southbound curbside lane of Bank Street between Glebe and Third avenues. The three-block stretch includes a grocery store, pharmacy and hardware store.

It's a proposal Centretown resident Sandy Miller said she would support after a near miss Monday afternoon when she stepped off the sidewalk on Bank Street to avoid a group of people.

"Right about that moment a car was coming and [the driver] swerved. I don't think he would have hit me, but we both kind of jumped," she said. "I saw the look on his face and thought, 'There's not quite enough room here.'"

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