The rules are changing in Ottawa for landowners who are thinking of applying for an Official Plan Amendment (OPA) to extend Ottawa’s Urban Boundary. At a technical briefing today, the City of Ottawa unveiled plans to update the City’s growth projections five years earlier than scheduled, allowing more housing to be planned sooner, and implement a new application process allowing landowners to apply for expansions before the projections are finalized.
Provincial changes
The Province of Ontario introduced a new Provincial Planning Statement (PPS) in August. According to the PPS, private landowners can request an urban or village expansion at any time. Requests would have to be received through an Official Plan Amendment (OPA) application.
The PPS will take effect on Sunday, October 20.
Under the Planning Act, such expansions have historically been considered only during an Official Plan update, which take place every five years. In Ottawa, the next update period is scheduled for 2030, but staff propose moving it up to 2025 in recognition of more recent population projections from the province.
Ottawa’s approach
Under the process unveiled by City staff today, landowners in Ottawa would have a choice.
- Apply for an Official Plan amendment at any time for a fee of up to $1.8 million.
- Wait for the Official Plan update in 2025 and apply with no fee.
The fee has been calculated to ensure cost recovery, aligning with the City’s position that growth must pay for growth. It reflects how much it would cost the City to review land needs, infrastructure capacity, and location alternatives. This cost-recovery approach is consistent with other application fees for development applications.
This approach also recognizes that there is already enough land within the current urban boundary to meet population and growth needs. It also reflects the City’s commitment to building more homes more quickly.
Reasoning
Each application would require much of the same work that is required during an Official Plan update.
Updating the Official Plan is a necessary process to ensure Ottawa has enough land to achieve its planning goals. It is a comprehensive document and updating requires time and resources. Updating the current plan, which was approved by Council in 2020, cost $3.4 million.
Should landowners choose to add lands prior to the completion of the 2025 Official Plan update, expansion applications would be assessed based on current Official Plan growth projections, the adequacy of land supply as well as infrastructure capacity. They would require new studies to confirm that there is enough capacity within existing or planned infrastructure, including:
- Water
- Sanitary
- Stormwater
- Transportation
According to the PPS, any expansion applications must not require an upgrade to the City’s Infrastructure or Transportation Master Plans. If additional upgrades are needed, the 2025 Official Plan update is the appropriate process rather than an application.
There is no cost to landowners to have lands assessed as part of a Comprehensive OPA starting in 2025.
Building homes in Ottawa
Solving Ottawa's housing crisis is a team effort. The City of Ottawa is doing its part by breaking down barriers so that builders can get shovels in the ground more quickly. This is why staff have proposed this flexible solution to the PPS and moving up the Official Plan date to 2025.
To help address the housing crisis, Council committed to providing home builders enough opportunities to build 151,000 quality market homes by 2031 – or 15,100 new dwellings per year.
- In the first half of 2024, the City has already put applicants in a position to seek building permits for 10,566 dwellings.
- Since tracking began in January 2023, the City has granted permissions or approved development applications for 42,060 dwellings.
- Over that same time period, builders have requested permits to build 6,840 housing units, which is approximately 16 per cent of what is available. This leaves more than 35,200 units still in the pipeline.
Next steps
The proposed process and fee structure will be discussed on Wednesday, October 9 at a special joint meeting of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Planning and Housing Committees (link). Council will vote on a final proposal on Wednesday, October 16.
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