M E M O / N O T E D E S E R V I C E |
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M E M O / N O T E D E S E R V I C E |
|
|
To /
Destinataire |
Chair and
Members of Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee and Planning
and Environment Committee/ Président et membres du Comité des services organisationnels et
du développement économique et du Comité de l'urbanisme et de l'environnement |
File/N° de
fichier: ACS2009-ICS-ECO-0003 |
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From /
Expéditeur |
Nancy
Schepers, Deputy City Manager/ Directrice
municipale adjointe, Infrastructure Services and Community
Sustainability/Services d’infrastructure et Viabilité des collectivités |
Contact/Personne
ressource: Ian
Duff, Manager, Economic Development, 613-580-2424, ext. 22339 |
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Subject / Objet |
City of
Ottawa Employment Land Strategy/ Stratégie pour
les terres servant à des fins d’emploi |
Date : January 20,
2009 Le 20
janvier 2009 |
The purpose of this memo is to advise Committee of staff’s rationale for undertaking an employment land strategy that will contain potential actions and opportunities that the City might pursue to protect, enhance and facilitate the development of its employment land base as a strategic asset. This memo also provides an update and summary of the phase 1 study findings and outlines next steps.
Since 2001, 35 percent of the City’s designated
employment land supply has been re-designated as a result of pressures related
to residential and retail growth. In
addition, land costs have escalated resulting in an inability for many small,
medium and some large employment related developers and businesses to compete
with large residential developers and retail companies for key sites having
desirable location characteristics.
In August 2008, the City of Ottawa’s Economic
Development Division, in consultation with the Planning and Growth Management
Branch, engaged Metropolitan Knowledge International (MKI) to inform the City
on the viability of its employment land supply to meet the City’s needs to the
year 2031. Their work is intended to provide context and direction for the
update of the City’s Economic Strategy as well as to provide information to the
Planning and Growth Management Branch for the update of the City’s Official
Plan.
The Employment Land Strategy is to provide an
understanding of the distribution and adequacy of the City’s remaining employment
land supply, whether it is situated in the most optimal locations, and can meet
future growth and demand. Based on this assessment, strategies will be
presented to determine how the City can improve the quality of the existing
employment land supply to maximize the development potential of employment
lands and to better position these lands for employment opportunities and
investment.
The scope of the work is being performed in two
phases. The first phase of the study examined:
(1)
The
City’s economic outlook, employment base, and employment sectors that will
drive Ottawa’s employment growth in the future;
(2)
Development
trends in Ottawa to determine where industries are locating and what their
needs are;
(3)
The
overall supply of market viable employment land to meet demand based on
employment sector growth forecasts; and
(4)
Assessment
of the quality of Ottawa’s employment land and whether it is investment ready.
The second part of the project is the strategic
phase and is currently in progress. Based on the information gathered in the
first phase, the second phase will suggest strategies the City may wish to
pursue in order to direct economic growth in Ottawa through the strategic
planning of Ottawa’s employment land base. This phase will also examine best
practice strategies of municipalities in Canada and the United States, identify
employment office needs as well as the strategic planning efforts of the
Federal Government to meet its office space needs. In addition, it will identify tools, capital servicing priorities,
incentives and policy measures that the City may wish to utilize in order to
attract investment and ensure that the City is best prepared for employment
opportunities when they arise.
Employment projections by major sector to 2031
indicate that economic and employment growth will continue at a steady pace in
Ottawa. By size, the four largest employment sectors in 2031 will be:
(1)
Federal
public administration
(2)
Health
care and social assistance
(3)
Professional,
scientific and technical services; and
(4)
Retail
The implications of growth in these sectors
will be the ongoing demand for office space as existing offices age and ongoing
relocation continues. The second implication is the continuation of rising
development costs for office space in the downtown core as remaining available
sites are utilized. As a result, there will be a need to intensify development
in existing employment nodes inside the greenbelt and there will be increased
demand for sites outside the greenbelt that have good road and transit
accessibility.
The Phase 1 analysis concluded that a
substantial proportion of office and institutional employment (up to
approximately 60 per cent) could be accommodated through infill, redevelopment
and intensification efforts, given directed investment to enhance
transportation capacity and long-term initiatives to support redevelopment of
existing sites. Planning for employment activities near rapid transit stations
and having appropriately zoned sites will facilitate intensification while
achieving other City objectives such as increasing transit ridership and
realizing a more compact urban form.
In terms of the Official Plan review, a key
part of the phase 1 study is to determine whether the current supply of
employment land is sufficient to meet demand to 2031, and whether additional
employment land is required to be designated.
Based on annual employment land consumption trends, the study found that
Ottawa’s vacant employment land supply is more than sufficient to 2031 and
there is no need for additional designated land for employment purposes. However, the phase 1 analysis identified two
critical issues:
1)
Not
enough employment lands are located in areas of high market demand. - Interviews with the development community
indicate that vacant employment lands are not located in highly desirable
locations and do not have convenient highway access to meet market demand. It
is important to understand the needs of the commercial and industrial sector
regarding locations that provide quick highway access, minimal congestion and
optimum parcel sizes in order to ensure that Ottawa retains its traditional
industrial base and remains competitive in the North American market.
2)
Servicing and other constraints limit the actual supply to meet
demand. - There are
issues concerning the quality of the vacant land supply with much of it
unserviced while having additional encumbrances such as zoning, adverse
ownership and environmental constraints that make it unattractive to outside
investors or suitable for large employers. The difficulty in finding a suitable
location for the new La Cité campus is an example of this critical issue.
The City will need to be proactive
towards improving the marketability and quality of the existing land supply to
meet the projected demand for employment lands and to be able to capitalize on
attracting future investment. Servicing is a key issue in this regard.
Overall, the availability of
“shovel-ready” employment lands in desirable locations will be critical to
absorption ( i.e. well-located, serviced lands with the infrastructure and
servicing already in place for development to commence).
Although the vacant employment land supply has
been deemed to be sufficient, it will be important to understand whether an
appropriate strategy can be developed that can overcome the significant constraints
that apply to this land supply. Phase 2 will investigate how such lands may be
unencumbered and whether additional measures are required to increase the land
supply in locations that meet market demand through rezoning and other means.
·
Complete
Phase 2 of the study. This will
include:
o
Review
of five other municipal employment land strategies relevant to Ottawa’s
situation
o
Continue
to consult with the Federal Government as Ottawa’s largest employer and
employment sector to determine their long term employment needs and objectives
o
Develop
a feasibility analysis to understand the financial impact of development costs
as it varies in different areas of the City
o
Establish
what should be the City’s role in expanding the employment land base
o
Identify
actions, priorities, policies, tools and incentives to encourage employment
investment
·
Continue
to consult with the City’s Commercial Developers for feedback and input
·
Prepare
a report to Committee and Council in conjunction with a process for updating
the City’s Economic Strategy to present opportunities and courses of action the
City may wish to pursue.
The City has met with the federal government to obtain their input and has been meeting regularly with representatives of the commercial development industry in Ottawa for input into the study. These representatives have been assisting the City as a focus group and have also been interviewed by the City’s consultants as part of the research on identifying issues facing the industry.
Original
signed by
Nancy Schepers
cc: Kent Kirkpatrick, City Manager