Official Plan and master plans

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Human services plan

Read about the City’s plan to increase access to services and facilities for Ottawa’s diverse communities and citizens.

Infrastructure Master Plan

A growth-focused plan for Ottawa’s water resource systems

The purpose of the City of Ottawa's Infrastructure Master Plan (IMP) is to support the overall city-wide Official Plan (OP) goals of creating more vibrant, healthy and complete neighbourhoods across the municipality while ensuring long-term affordability for both the City government and residents.

Efficient management, responsible operation and judiciously targeted growth of water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure play a major role in the pursuit of these goals. The IMP supports the OP by ensuring there is enough infrastructure capacity in the right areas of the municipality at the right service levels at the right time to accommodate development and redevelopment until 2046 when the City of Ottawa population is expected to reach 1.4 million.

The current version of the Infrastructure Master Plan was approved by City Council on June 25, 2024.

Land Evaluation and Area Review (LEAR)

The Province of Ontario requires municipalities to protect prime agricultural areas for long-term use for local agriculture. The purpose of a Land Evaluation and Area Review system, or LEAR, is to assist in the identification of these prime agricultural areas.

In 2011 Ottawa was home to 1,125 farm holdings, comprising 120,000 hectares of farmland dedicated to a mixture of cash crops, livestock operations and a growing number of local fresh food producers. These operations produced agricultural products with a value estimated at over $200 million.

In December 2016, the City of Ottawa adopted a new LEAR system to replace the system developed by the former Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton in 1997. That system resulted in the identification of the agricultural areas designated as Agricultural Resource Areas as shown on Schedule A to the City’s Official Plan.  

What is the LEAR system?

The primary component is the identification of land, comprised of soils, classed as 1, 2 and 3 in the Canada Land Inventory  (CLI).

These soils provide the greatest flexibility to support a variety of crops. A LEAR system also uses other factors in addition to soil class in order to identify the best areas of ongoing agriculture. The results of the assessment of each rural property using the LEAR criteria are mapped and the prime agricultural areas are identified as areas of 250 ha or greater that are predominantly CLI classes 1-3 soils.

This new LEAR system updates a number of factors to respond to new soils mapping and reflects changes in the size and nature of farms over the last 20 years. The Ontario Municipal Board directed the City to complete this update as part of the comprehensive review of the Official Plan.

The LEAR report has two volumes:

LEAR Volume 1 [PDF 3.61 MB] contains a description of the new LEAR system and how properties are scored.

LEAR Volume 2 [PDF 7.59 MB] contains LEAR data for each scored property.

Anyone can use the LEAR map to search for their property and see the new LEAR scoring or download the printable map [PDF 5.77 MB].

How is the LEAR system used?  

The new LEAR was used as part of the review of the Official Plan and will inform the assessment of applications in the Agricultural Resource Area designation, such as new renewable energy projects or new agriculture-related uses.  

Changes proposed to the Agricultural Resource Area designation following the update of the LEAR system have been incorporated into the Official Plan.

Related links

Canada Land Inventory (CLI) soil capability for agriculture mapping  

Official Plan Amendment #180

Further information

City of Ottawa
Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development
110 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, ON K1P 1J1
613-580-2424
Email : planning@ottawa.ca

Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan

View or download the Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan [PDF, 10.6 MB].

Executive summary

City parks are important cornerstones and an indicator of a city’s quality of life. They provide a distinctive identity to a city and distinguish one city from another. The residents of Ottawa value and use parks as gathering places, places to play, places for relaxation or discovery and to engage in active organized sports and cultural pursuits. Where and how the City of Ottawa grows is expected to change substantially over the coming years. While the City may change and grow, residents should have continued excellent access to the benefits and services provided by its parks and recreation facilities.

This is the City’s first combined Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan and is a supporting document to the City’s Official Plan (2021). This Plan identifies the need to add more parkland and recreation amenities to serve the needs of the City’s residents to 2031.

Graphic image

Key elements of the Parks and Recreation Facility Master Plan include:

  • an inventory of all current municipal active parkland and recreation facilities;
  • a summary of population, growth and demographic projections;
  • recommendations for the amount of new parkland and number of new recreation facilities needed by 2031;
  • strategies for achieving the Plan’s recommendations.

Provision level targets and recommendations within the final version of this Plan will have been approved by Committee and City Council for municipal, active parkland and for twenty-three facility types (such as recreation complexes, aquatic facilities, sports fields, etc.) per 1,000 residents. Recommendations are based on consultation feedback, staff input, analysis of current inventory, population projections, priority neighbourhoods, recent usage and recreation trends, municipal benchmarking and the application of an affordability lens.

This Plan will be used by City staff and the development community as they plan and develop new parks and recreation facilities across the City. This information may be of value to other recreation providers including community associations, sport organizations, colleges and universities as they plan for the future.

The Plan identifies and explains the main methods by which the City can fund the capital construction of new parks, indoor and outdoor recreation facilities, the replacement of facilities that are at end of life, the redevelopment of existing parks, indoor and outdoor recreation facilities and the addition of new amenities to parks and recreation buildings. Each funding source has its own restrictions and main usage, which are discussed within this Plan. These limitations are discussed and issues that may need to be re-examined are identified.

The City conducted several rounds of consultation specific to the Plan. Consultation methods included surveys, online consultation sessions and targeted meetings that ran from January to the end of July 2021. The City also received, accepted and analyzed feedback via phone, fax, mail and email. Note that consultations were carried out at a time when significant public health restrictions were in force requiring primarily a virtual approach.

Stakeholders included individual residents, institutional partners such as the National Capital Commission, the school boards, colleges and universities, industry groups, sports organizations, community associations, staff from numerous City departments, advisory committees and non-profit organizations working with equity deserving residents. The City of Ottawa Report on findings from Women and Gender Equity Strategy Consultations in 2019 highlighted the priorities that have been considered during development of the Plan, including a gender inclusive city, representation, and resident engagement.

A more detailed description and analysis of the consultation that formed part of the preparation of this Plan is available in the supporting City of Ottawa Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan – Consultation Summary Report. This Plan has been prepared in part to fulfill the requirements of producing a municipal parks plan under Section 42 of the Planning Act. The COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act, introduced as Bill 197, received Royal Assent in July 2020. The Province concurrently released Ontario Regulation 509/20, Community Benefits Charges and Parkland, under the Planning Act. A new subsection requires that all current parkland dedication by-laws that calculate parkland dedication based on the alternative requirement to be re-enacted by September 2022, or they will expire on this date.

Once the Plan is approved by Committee and Council demonstrating the need for more parkland, it will be possible to continue to collect alternative parkland dedication funds. This is important if the City wishes to continue to collect the funding required to provide parkland at the rate that will meet its residents’ projected future needs related to growth.

The City has undertaken the development of an Anti-Racism Strategy through its Anti-Racism Secretariat (ARS) to address systemic racism confronting Indigenous, Black, Asian, Muslim, Jewish, and other communities. Ensuring all of these perspectives are represented sufficiently is critical to the formation of a meaningful and impactful, data-informed, and data-driven Plan. This Plan acknowledges that it will align with any future Anti-Racism Strategy approved by Council, and that decisions concerning recreational assets will apply an anti-racist approach concerning the development, evaluation and measurement of policies. The plan will apply the elements of the Anti-Racism Strategy to achieve an increase in the diversity in City partnerships and locating new facilities in neighbourhoods that have high concentrations of equity-seeking communities that experience high levels of economic disadvantage.

Transportation Master Plan

February 2024 Update

The Transportation Master Plan (TMP) – Part 1 was approved at the City Council meeting of April 26, 2023. Part 1 included the TMP Policies, Active Transportation Projects and Networks, and Transit and Road Project Prioritization Frameworks for TMP Part 2. The final documents are available below:

The Transportation Master Plan – Part 2 is underway and will include the development of the TMP Capital Infrastructure Plan. The TMP Capital Infrastructure Plan will identify transit and road projects that are needed to accommodate future travel demand and that should be included within the City’s ultimate transportation networks.

 Until the TMP Capital Infrastructure Plan is approved by Council, the following components of the 2013 TMP remain in effect:

  • Rapid Transit and Transit Priority Networks
  • Road Networks
  • Rapid Transit, Transit Priority and Road Projects

For more information on the TMP – Part 2,  including engagement opportunities, please visit the TMP project page or contact the TMP team at TMPUpdate@ottawa.ca

On November 26, 2013 Ottawa City Council unanimously approved the Transportation Master Plan, Official Plan, Infrastructure Master Plan, Ottawa Cycling Plan and Ottawa Pedestrian Plan. Together, these five plans set the vision for Ottawa's future growth to 2031.

The Transportation Master Plan (TMP) identifies the transportation facilities, services and policies that the City of Ottawa will implement to serve a projected population of 1.14 million people by 2031. It sets direction for the City's day-to-day transportation programs and provides a basis for budget planning that is consistent with the growth management policies of the City's Official Plan.

The TMP will come to life through mechanisms such as long-range financial plans, mid-range implementation plans, annual budgets, program development, area and corridor transportation studies, design or practice guidelines, and Community Design Plans.

The City is currently updating the TMP based on the Scope of Work approved by Council in June 2019. For more information about the TMP Update, visit the project website for the Transportation Master Plan Update.

If you have questions regarding the Transportation Master Plan, please contact:

Transportation Planning
Planning, Real Estate and Economic Development Department
Email: tmpupdate@ottawa.ca

2013 Transportation Master Plan (full version) [ PDF 15 MB ]

Preface [ PDF 404 KB ]
Chapter 1 [ PDF 544 KB ]
Chapter 2 [ PDF 1.3 MB ]
Chapter 3 [ PDF 177 KB ]
Chapter 4 [ PDF 198 KB ]
Chapter 5 [ PDF 207 KB ]
Chapter 6 [ PDF 214 KB ]
Chapter 7 [ PDF 298 KB ]
Chapter 8 [ PDF 192 KB ]
Chapter 9 [ PDF 183 KB ]

Annex A : Rapid Transit, Transit Priority, and Road Projects [ PDF 256 KB ]

Annex B: Maps [ PDF 95 KB ]
Map 1 Cycling Network – Primary Urban [ PDF 1 MB ]
Map 2 Cycling Network – Primary Rural (with Scenic Entry Routes) [ PDF 2.5 MB ]
Map 3 Rapid Transit and Transit Priority Network – Ultimate Network [ PDF 1.1 MB ]
Map 4 Rapid Transit and Transit Priority Network – 2031 Network Concept [ PDF 1.1 MB ]
Map 5 Rapid Transit and Transit Priority Network – 2031 Affordable Network [ PDF 1 MB ]
Map 6 Road Network – Urban [ PDF 1.4 MB ]
Map 7 Road Network – Central Area/Inner City [ PDF 453 KB ]
Map 8 Road Network – Rural [ PDF 1.4 MB ]
Map 9 Road Network – Select Villages [ PDF 1.1 MB ]
Map 10 Road Network – 2031 Network Concept [ PDF 1.1 MB ]
Map 11 Road Network – 2031 Affordable Network [ PDF 1 MB ]

Annex C : Glossary [ PDF 138 KB ]

2013 Ottawa Cycling Plan and Ottawa Pedestrian Plan

The Transportation Master Plan - Part 1 includes the plans and policies for active transportation in the city, formerly documented under the 2013 Ottawa Cycling Plan and Ottawa Pedestrian Plan. The Transportation Master Plan Part 1 was approved at the City Council meeting of April 26, 2023. Part 1 included the Active Transportation Projects and Networks, and TMP Policies related to active transportation. The new Part 1 documents replace the 2013 Ottawa Cycling Plan and Pedestrian Plan.

 Here are the approved TMP -Part 1 materials

 If you would like more information on the Transportation Master Plan including the active transportation components please visit the project page or contact the TMP team at TMPUpdate@ottawa.ca

The 2013 Ottawa Cycling Plan (OCP2013) is a long-term strategy to strengthen and support cycling in the city. It was developed as part of the Building a Liveable Ottawa process, which also led to updates of the City's Official Plan, Transportation Master Plan, Ottawa Pedestrian Plan and Infrastructure Master Plan.

The project and network maps that support the OCP2013 can be found in the on-line geoOttawa mapping tool, in the Layer List tool under Cycling and Cycling Plan. A complete description on how to use GeoOttawa can be found in Annex C of the cycling plan.

2013 Ottawa Cycling Plan [ PDF 21.3 MB ]

The existing pedestrian network and the future Affordable Pedestrian Network projects approved in the  Ottawa Pedestrian Plan (OPP) 2013 can be viewed in map format on-line at geoOttawa. Under the drop-down menu "More Layers" click on Pedestrian Plan to initiate. A complete list of the future Affordable Pedestrian Network projects can be found in Annex E of the Ottawa Pedestrian Plan.

2013 Ottawa Pedestrian Plan [ PDF 6.8 MB ]

Ottawa Transition Board Final Report

The Ottawa Transition Board oversaw the amalgamation of the Region of Ottawa-Carleton and 11 municipalities to create the new City of Ottawa on January 1, 2001. The work of the board is summarized in its final report [PDF – 5.2 MB]. If you wish to receive this report in another format or any other public documents created by the board, please contact the City of Ottawa Archives at 613-580-2857 (TTY: 613-580-2401) or archives@ottawa.ca.