Report to/Rapport au :
Planning and Environment Committee
Comité de l'urbanisme et de
l'environnement
and Council / et Conseil
21 January 2005 / le 21 janvier 2005
Submitted by/Soumis par : Ned Lathrop, Deputy City Manager/Directeur
municipal adjoint,
Planning
and Growth Management / Urbanisme et Gestion de la croissance
Contact Person/Personne
ressource : Richard Kilstrom, Manager / Gestionnaire
Planning, Environment and Infrastructure
Policy/Politique d'urbanisme, d'environnement et d'infrastructure
(613) 580-2424 x22653, richard.kilstrom@ottawa.ca
SUBJECT: |
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OBJET : |
APPEL 78 INTERJETÉ AU SUJET DU PLAN
OFFICIEL – RICHCRAFT HOMES |
REPORT RECOMMENDATION
That the Planning and Environment
Committee recommend that Council:
1. Support
the redesignation of a parcel of land owned by Richcraft Homes adjacent to the
Carp River and Walter Baker Park, from Major Open Space to General Urban Area;
2. Postpone
a decision on the designation of a parcel of land owned by Richcraft Homes
adjacent to the Aviation Parkway, pending completion of the Greenspace Master
Plan in April;
3. Communicate this position to the Ontario Municipal Board at a pre-hearing scheduled for February 28, 2005
RECOMMANDATION DU RAPPORT
Que le Comité de l’urbanisme et de
l’environnement recommande au Conseil :
1. d’appuyer
la redésignation d’une parcelle de terrain adjacente à la rivière Carp et au
parc Walter Baker et appartenant à Richcraft Homes de « Principal espace
libre » à « Secteur urbain général »;
2. de
reporter une décision sur la désignation d’une parcelle de terrain adjacente à
la promenade de l’Aviation appartenant à Richcraft Homes, en attendant
l’achèvement du Plan directeur des espaces verts en avril;
3. de faire connaître cette position à la Commission des affaires municipales de l’Ontario à l’occasion de la conférence préparatoire prévue le 28 février 2005.
BACKGROUND
Council adopted the Ottawa Official Plan in May, 2003
and the Minister of Municipal Affairs issued a Notice of Decision on November
19, 2003. At the end of the 20-day
appeal period, 85 appeals had been filed with the Ministry for forwarding to
the Ontario Municipal Board.
The Appeal:
Appeal 78 relates to the land-use designation
of two land parcels owned by Richcraft Homes Ltd. and to four separate policy
provisions.
The first parcel is 1.64 hectares in area and
is located at the corner of the Aviation Parkway and Ogilvie Road, in former
Gloucester, as shown in Location Plan 1.
This site is designated Major Open Space on Schedule B of the Official
Plan and the appellant is requesting a General Urban Area designation.
The
second parcel is 1.2 hectares in area and located between the Carp River
corridor and the existing limits of Walter Baker Park in former Kanata, as
shown in Location Plan 2. This parcel
together with the adjacent park are
designated Major Open Space on Schedule B of the Official Plan. The appellant is requesting a General Urban
Area designation on this parcel.
The
following policies have been appealed:
·
Greenspaces,
Section 2.4.5, Policy 1(d) because the appellant states this policy proposes
the City develop an acquisition policy for Greenspace but does not state what
the policy will be or when it will be adopted;
·
Greenspaces,
Section 2.4.5, Policy 3, which prohibits the redesignation of any greenspaces
pending completion of the Greenspace Master Plan. The appellant states that this inappropriately allows the City to
prohibit and frustrate applications;
·
Greenspaces
Section 2.4.5, Policy 5, which allows the City to acquire environmental lands
in advance of the finalization of an acquisition policy. The appellant argues that this should not be
a discretionary policy;
·
Major Open Space,
Section 3.3.1, Policy 1 which states that Major Open Space lands are intended
to be in public ownership. The
appellant argues that this means the City should acquire its lands.
When the new Official Plan was prepared no new
decisions were made about lands protected for environmental purposes. Those lands that were protected in previous
plans or zoning by-laws continued to be protected in the new Plan. A very specific policy was included in the
Official Plan (Section 2.4.5, policy 1) which states that “the City will
develop a Greenspace Master Plan by the end of 2004” that will, among other
things, review the designation of each parcel of land and will develop a land
acquisition policy. In December, 2004,
Planning and Environment Committee received a report indicating that the date
for delivery of the Greenspace Master Plan to Committee has been extended to
April, 2005 to accommodate some targeted consultation.
Parcel 1 Gloucester
The Aviation Parkway parcel is still being
assessed as part of the Greenspace Master Plan and staff will bring a
recommendation forward on it in April.
The outstanding evaluation relates to how a recreational pathway can be
accommodated through or around this site.
As can be seen on Location Map 2, the parcel has frontage at 1298
Ogilvie Road and wraps around the existing residential area as far south as the
hydro corridor. The parcel was
designated as Open Space in the former Gloucester Official Plan and this was
carried forward as a Major Open Space designation in the new Plan. The parcel was purchased from the NCC by
Richcraft Homes and therefore, unlike most Major Open Space lands, is no longer
in public ownership.
The Greenspace Master Plan, to be delivered in
April, 2005 will identify whether all or part of this parcel is required for a
recreational pathway and will also propose a securement policy for lands that
the City wants to protect as publicly accessible Greenspace. When Council is making decisions about this
parcel it will be important to look at it in the context of the entire
Greenspace network to assess the relative value of it and its contribution to
the system.
Parcel 2 Kanata
Sufficient work has been done to indicate that
the City does not require the Kanata parcel of land for Greenspace purposes and
a General Urban Designation can be supported on Schedule B. This parcel was interpreted to be part of
Walter Baker Park at the time that the Official Plan was being prepared and as
such the designation of the land was carried over to the new Plan as Major Open
Space. On receipt of the appeal by
Richcraft Homes, staff investigated the need for this property as part of the
greenspace system and determined as follows, that:
·
The major
environmental values of this property are already protected through a
reservation of 30 metres along the Carp River corridor. This corridor is to be retained as public
land in the plan for Kanata West. This corridor, which only impacts a small
part of the Richcraft site, is sufficient to provide for a continuous pathway along the river and to protect the lands
in the floodplain.
·
The parcel is not
identified as having any significant natural features or functions and is not a
candidate Urban Natural Feature.
·
The parcel is not
of sufficient size or connectivity to be required by the City for expansion of
Walter Baker Park. Due to its size and
shape, the parcel is too small for the construction of playing fields or to add
any significant functionality to Walter Baker Park.
·
There is no
formal public use being made of the property that will be jeopardized by its
development for General Urban purposes.
· The site is not required as parkland for the development of Kanata West.
CONSULTATION
There has been no additional consultation on this matter. However, the Greenspace Master Plan will be subject to public consultation and will impact on the decision for the Aviation Parkway parcel The Ward Councillors were provided with information on this item.
The recommendation to remove the Major Open Space designation from the Kanata parcel is consistent with the environmental objectives of the Official Plan. The recommendation to consider the Aviation Parkway parcel in the context of the complete system is also consistent with the objectives of the Official Plan.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Re-designation of the Kanata parcel will remove one matter from the list of appeals of the new City of Ottawa Official Plan and avoid the time and expense of dealing with that matter at a hearing. Retaining the Major Open Space designation on the Kanata parcel would oblige the City to acquire the land when the City’s interests in the parcel will already be achieved on part of the site located along the river corridor.
DISPOSITION
Staff will communicate Council's position to the Ontario Municipal Board on February 28, 2005.