Council today approved a new Solid Waste Services By-law to guide the City’s waste collection, removal and disposal programs. The by-law was updated following a fulsome review and incorporates policy and program changes that Council has approved since 2012. They include:
- Transitioning the Blue and Black Box recycling program to provincial regulations
- Transferring responsibility for public waste receptable collection from Parks Maintenance and Forestry Service to Solid Waste Services
- Introducing the three-item curbside collection limit
- Requiring mandatory participation in the Green Bin program for multi-residential properties
- Adding language for clarity making interpretation and enforcement easier
Council passed a motion to exempt agricultural properties from the new three-item limit for applicable unavoidable farm and agricultural waste until staff reports back with a recommendation in Q4 2025.
Council approved a Poverty Reduction Strategy to provide residents with the resources they need to make decisions about their well-being and pursue their full potential.
The strategy was developed under the guidance of a community-led advisory group representing vital sectors. It is a result of wide scope engagement as 354 residents, stakeholders, and persons with living and lived experience of poverty participated in three roundtables and multiple listening sessions. It is built on five key pillars, including food security, employment, financial security, economic development, and integrated and simplified pathways to access supports.
The strategy will help guide City efforts to reduce poverty and highlights work already underway. It recommends short-term priorities for both the City and the wider community including:
- Holding a community-led food security forum in 2025 in partnership with the food sector
- Establishing a working group to coordinate food security efforts, enhance policies
- Increasing funding for mentorship programs for Indigenous, Black and racialized youth, and skills development programs for racialized and newcomer youth
- One-time funding for tax-clinic coordination citywide and coordinating income and employment security measures
- Assessing Ottawa’s labour market and identifying workforce needs and opportunities
Funding needed to implement the strategy will be presented to Council for approval as part of the 2025 budget process.
Council approved the City’s continued administration of the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefits program for 2024-25. The Province allocated $2.2 million to the City of Ottawa, which will assist approximately 247 households and provide an average monthly subsidy of $954 to help with costs for permanent housing.
Council approved new municipal consent and utility circulation fees, as well as updated road cut and temporary road closure permit fees, to ensure the City can recover the costs of the work. Municipal consent and utility circulations help mitigate impacts on existing infrastructure and facilitate coordination of construction projects within the right-of-way. The City has not historically charged a fee for municipal consent, nor recovered the cost of conducting utility circulations except through historic annual payments by telecommunication carriers as part of their Municipal Access Agreements.
The new fees will come into effect on January 1, 2025 and help:
- Improve service delivery for permit issuing
- Facilitate continued service delivery within targeted timelines
- Maintain service levels and provide capacity for the review and coordination of development works under the site plan control and plan of subdivision application processes
- Ensure more efficient administration of the City’s right-of-way
- Provide staff resources to coordinate work and mitigate mobility impacts citywide
- Improve responses to Service Requests and inquiries through better tracking of permits
Council approved the 2024 Development Charge Background Study Amendment Report and By-laws. In May, Council approved a new schedule of development charges and a new development charges by-law, allowing for the continued collection of fees and ensuring essential infrastructure and services keep pace with growth in Ottawa. Council has since adopted the 2024 Infrastructure Master Plan (IMP), bringing the development forecast for water and wastewater services in line with Official Plan population and employment targets to the year 2046. The amendment study captures all updated IMP projects and costs, and would adjust the development charge rate to ensure the City can deliver the water and wastewater infrastructure needed to support anticipated growth.
Council also approved minor amendments to the Traffic and Parking By-law to enhance accessible parking opportunities. The amendments will allow and regulate signed, accessible, designated on-street parking for a pilot project in 2025 for Accessible Parking Permit holders. Staff will develop a one-year pilot to evaluate whether designated on-street, accessible parking spaces improve services to people with disabilities and older adults.
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