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Updates from Councillor Hill on City Hall meetings and policy
April 26th, 2024
Community Services Committee
An otherwise quiet Community Services Committee on Tuesday captured a lot of attention due to a staff report recommending a feasibility study on how (or if) the City can make the toboggan hill at Mooney’s Bay Park safer. The City has been concerned about the safety of this hill since 2017, when Mooney’s Bay Park hill was taken off of the designated sledding list and officially closed. Unfortunately, despite the City “closing” the hill, it was still accessible to the public and a child was killed due to the unsafe conditions of the hill in 2021. Since, 2021 steps have been taken to make the hill inaccessible for sledding to prevent future tragedy. This has caused some upset to local residents, who have used the hill as a winter staple for many years. In 2022 my colleague, Riley Brockington, brought forward a motion requesting staff provide options to modify the hill to make it safe enough to reopen to the public. At committee the up to $250,000 for the study was reduced to $150,000 by my colleagues, who were understandably concerned by the cost.
Planning and Housing Committee
Wednesday was a dense planning committee. In addition to five zoning bylaw amendments, the committee approved the addition of a Riverside South Secondary Plan to the City’s Official Plan and reviewed a proposal by Councillor Ariel Troster to explore the creation of an anti-renoviction bylaw. The Troster motion also came with over 17 delegations, both tenants looking to share their own experiences and landlords seeking to explain the necessity of major renovations.
The Renovictions motion led to an interesting debate with my colleagues, and delegates. Renovictions is a term coined by certain tenant groups to describe when a landlord sends an eviction notice to a tenant in order to complete significant renovations to the unit. The allegation from pro-tenant groups is that the current rules are too lax and that landlords deploy this tool to get rid of residents locked in to lower than market rent. Landlords defend the tool, claiming it as a necessary “break glass in case of emergency” for when a unit or building requires significant repair or updating in order to protect resident safety and to keep a building viable as a business. The motion will rise to council, and if passed, staff will then return later in the year with a recommendation on the feasibility of implementing a renoviction bylaw in Ottawa. So, we’re still a long way off from any decisions. Regarding ‘renovictions’, there have been about 184 cases of renovictions in a five year period in a city with over 147,000 rental units. There has also been an increase in supportive contracted arrangements between landlords and tenants whereby tenants that are forced to move can receive a compensation to assist their transition. This will undoubtedly continue to spur discussion as it is genuinely a tricky issue to balance. We absolutely should come down hard on bad actors trying to abuse the rules to make a quick buck. But in a housing affordability crisis we need to be careful that council isn’t adding additional disincentives to the creation of rental units in our market. I’m keen to see how this debate continues to unfold.
Looking Ahead
We’ll kick next week off with a jam packed special meeting of the Planning and Housing and Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee on Monday. Committee members will be reviewing the first 96 page draft of the new Zoning Bylaw. As a member of the Zoning Bylaw Council Sponsors Group, I’ve been following this legislation for several months now. Staff has put some interesting ideas on the table for council and then your feedback to help shape the second draft, coming to committee in 2025. Making our zoning process simpler and more intuitive is one of the most important things we can do as a city to address the housing crisis. I’m looking forward to starting the first phase of that process next week.
On Wednesday, Council will be reviewing the Mooney’s Bay Park hill report, this week’s planning proposals, and the water items from the last environment committee. A nice pallet cleanser after a policy heavy zoning meeting on Monday.