Zoning Bylaw - Ensuring transit corridors and downtown absorb a fair share of growth

Comments at Council

I was also able to represent several motions and directions at council this week regarding zoning.  The bottom line is that we have a housing crisis.  Students graduating from high school and university can’t afford to move out.  Young professionals are living house poor.  We’re not Toronto or Vancouver yet, but the cost of housing is getting out of control in Ottawa. The city needs to take bold action to address this.  I am committed to being part of this solution.  See my comments in council here.  I want to ensure that our zoning reflects the need for transit-oriented development (focusing on the $8B LRT).  The current zoning version allows lower building heights in areas downtown than what is allowed here in Barrhaven. I presented and passed motions at council this week to address that and ensure that density can be built where we need it most – downtown. If you have questions on this, please reach out.

(Newsletter: April 17, 2025)

Committee recap (Newsletter: April 4, 2025)

This week was a busy one for city business.  I participated in a joint committee meeting regarding the new zoning bylaw. I spoke on this to my core concern – improving our transit oriented development policies along the LRT and downtown.  You can find my comments here and if you want to talk more on this, please reach out.  It is not right for the bulk of the city's development to be shouldered by Half Moon Bay and Riverside South, and I will address this.  We will continue to grow, but so must other parts of the city – especially along the LRT.

Implications for our community (Newsletter: March 28, 2025)

On Monday of next week we will have the first committee debate on the new Zoning Bylaw, which you can file under ‘boring, but really important’.  I have become quite active on this file as I am consumed with strategies that improve affordability, and increasing our housing supply is the principal mechanism.  To not improve our annual housing starts, we risk the pent-up demand for housing (read our young professionals looking to move out into independence or to transition from renting to home ownership) translating to another massive spike in house prices – which will destroy affordability and quality of life in the city.  I want to see less bureaucratic processes which prevent intensification along the LRT line, where presently there are a ton of single detached neighbourhoods which need to over time transition into multi-story higher intensity buildings.  This will improve city traffic flow and create a better balance of development in the downtown core as compared to suburban sprawl. It also makes better planning sense because the current situation of having high intensity suburbs (like Half Moon Bay) and protected low-rise neighbourhoods next to the LRT downtown is just backwards.

Meetings regarding the Zoning bylaw (Newsletter: March 7, 2025)

I have had numerous meetings over the past several months regarding our updated Zoning Bylaw process.  It can be a dry topic, but it will have a significant impact on the future growth of our city. At the start of council, we committed as a City to supporting the creation of 131,000 housing units by 2031. To make this goal a reality there is a serious requirement to upzone city density in the downtown and along the major transit corridors. It would be a ridiculous outcome if Barrhaven is asked to take on greater density in Half Moon Bay, but Glebe building heights are protected. My perspective on this issue is that housing costs are one of the principal driving factors that has deteriorated the cost of living over the past 5 years. In order for our children and current working young professionals to have a future where house ownership is an achievable goal, we as a city can’t just maintain the status quo. I committed to improving the state of affordability in our community and stabilizing rent and home prices is the most impactful way that I can influence this – and I am committed to that outcome.  If you are interested in the current state of this process, see the latest update from the city here.  As I said recently at council, I want to see the proper process undertaken such that fulsome resident and stakeholder engagement is not short circuited and that we get to a well informed and balanced solution.