Before we get started on this story, we need to make something clear. It’s about the City’s new Zoning By-law. Not everyone finds the Zoning By-law interesting and not everyone has the time it takes to understand how it works. One man who does is Robert Sandercott, and it’s his mission to help as many people as possible to understand it – and to get involved in shaping it.
Robert is part of the small team of urban planners crafting a new Zoning By-law for Ottawa. The Zoning By-law sets the rules about what people can build on a specific property without seeking additional permission from the City.
"Zoning shapes how Ottawa will grow,” says Robert, “but at the individual level it will also impact, in a very definable way, how our neighbourhoods will evolve.”
But where does one start? There are more than 300,000 properties across this city and figuring out how to update and simplify the zoning rules for all those properties has taken an immense effort.
Robert’s primary focus has been on preparing the framework for rules around the Neighbourhood Zones, which are the primary residential zones in the new by-law. It’s the part of the by-law he thinks will garner the most public interest. Why? “Because,” he explains, they cut to the heart of questions about how our neighbourhoods will change in the next two decades.”
For the first draft, which was released in May, the goal was to update and simplify the regulations for residential communities.
“We need the by-law to be effective in bringing about the vision of the Official Plan,” says Robert, “but we also committed to using as few words as we could and language that any resident could easily understand."
Our goal with crafting easy-to-read processes and regulations is to have more residents engaged in city planning. Making the text easier to understand will help those whose first language is not English or French and anyone not familiar with technical planning terms.
The current Zoning By-law is already so complex and it is a challenge to break it all down. Existing residential zones are broken into five primary zones, each with multiple different sub-zones depending on where the property is located.
“You total those up," says Robert, “and you’re going to find there are more than 140 distinct sub-zones!”
The new by-law proposes a simpler structure, with just 36 sub-zones. “There are six primary zones that regulate permitted density and building height and six sub-zones to regulate neighbourhood character,” says Robert. “Think elements like building width, or how close you can build to the property line.”
The aim is to encourage more new homes within existing communities by simplifying limits around where certain types of residential buildings can be built.
The new Neighbourhood zones will also make certain that what people see from the street is sensitive to what is already in the surrounding neighbourhood. It will be less concerned with limiting what can be built within that building. That’s a change that will help open new areas of Ottawa to infill while also promoting what is termed missing-middle housing – multi-unit residential buildings, including condominiums, that have eight to 12 dwelling units.
The Official Plan calls for significant increases in missing-middle housing through intensification – that is, built in existing neighbourhoods. Encouraging greater density in existing communities will result in much needed housing across Ottawa, but without the significant costs to build and service new infrastructure like roads and sewers.
“We can talk about intensification all we want, but at a certain point, we have to actually change the regulations to permit it,” says Robert.
Robert would be the first one to invite feedback on the first draft. “We will consider every comment we receive, “says Robert, “and provided it doesn’t go against the policies of the Official Plan, we hope to reflect those comments in the next draft.”
“The more feedback we hear, the better our final report will be,” says Robert.
If you’re eager to offer your own feedback, head over to engage.ottawa.ca/zoning. You will find a primer on the Zoning By-law there, as well as the text of the first draft. You can add your feedback directly into the draft with the easy-to-use tools on the site, or you can simply email your comments to Robert and his team. The site also lists upcoming consultation events happening through September, and you’re invited to take part.
The aim is to have the second draft out for consultation in March 2025. Following a second round of public comment, staff will prepare the third and final draft in time for Council to approve before the end of 2025.