City Hall Corner

Updates from Councillor Hill on City Hall meetings and policy

October 4, 2024

Committees started this week with an update from Finance and Corporate Services, where we received a report from staff recommending some tweaks and improvements to the Affordable Housing CIP. A CIP or Community Improvement Plan is one of the few tools council has to encourage economic activity that is good for city building but may not be the first choice for industry. CIPs provide that incentive by reducing the new tax burden of uplifted properties over a set period (importantly, it does not reduce the property tax the owner was paying prior to the uplift, so the City never loses revenue and taxpayers do not have to pick up the bill). In this case, the Affordable Housing CIP is designed to encourage developers to build more affordable rental units in Ottawa. The staff recommendations to update this CIP include making the definition of what counts as “affordable” rent clearer, better establishing standards for rental units (i.e. the developer can’t make the rent market rate by removing market standard amenities) and adjusting the program to address changes in provincial law.

On Wednesday, Council met for an efficient meeting to discuss the Idling Bylaw and review recommendations for Voluntary Donations for Community Benefits. As we discussed in previous newsletters, I opposed the Idling Bylaw at committee, and voted against it again here at council. I’m not comfortable passing bylaws, with all the penalties that come with them, as a “communications strategy.” I did vote for an amendment to make the bylaw a little less burdensome, by raising the idling time in hot or cold days from 5 minutes to 10 minutes and returning idling in other periods back to 3 minutes instead of the proposed 1 minute. I respect the intent of making a bad bylaw slightly better, but at the end of the day I couldn’t support passing the final motion, even in an improved state.

Looking Ahead

Next week’s big meeting is Transit Commission, where we can expect several important updates. Staff will be giving a more detailed update on the interim plan for bus routes with the opening of Line 2 and 4, and the pause on implementing the New Ways to Bus routes until April 2025. We’ll also be getting an update on our electric bus program, which so far has struggled with supply chain issues. Finally, staff have provided a report on their approach to safety management on the Confederation Line in response to some tough questions I had for the OC Transpo team earlier in the year. An opportunity Thursday for a lot of tough questions, and hopeful some insightful answers. You can read the agenda here.