Official Plan and master plans

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

The Infrastructure Master Plan is currently under review. Provide feedback on Engage Ottawa!

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 2031 when the City of Ottawa population is expected to reach 1.14 million.

Chapters 1 to 4 [ PDF 1.5 MB ]
Chapter 5.1 to Section 5.3 [ PDF 6.7 MB ]
Chapter 5.4 to Section 5.6 [ PDF 7.6 MB ]
Chapter 6 to 9 [ PDF 206 KB ]
Annex A.1 [ PDF 221 KB ]
Annex A.2 [ PDF 4.1 MB ]
Annex A.2 Wastewater Project Sheet [ PDF 5 MB ]
Annex A.3 Schedules 1 to 4 [ PDF 4.2 MB ]
Annex A.3 Schedules 5 to 7 [ PDF 3.5 MB ]
Annexes B to D [ PDF 224 KB ]

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

Christopher Rogers
Program Manager
Infrastructure and Water Services
110 Laurier Ave West
Ottawa, ON K1P 1J1
Tel.: 613-580-2424, ext. 27785
Email: christopher.rogers@ottawa.ca

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.

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

Official Plan

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.