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Ecology Ottawa and Walkable Ottawa’s petition on 15-minute neighbourhoods is somewhat technical, because the Zoning By-law it addresses is also technical! We’ve created this document to help explain the petition’s three demands.
Demand 1: Develop a Transitional Neighbourhood Parking Strategy to increase density in neighbourhoods and retain permeable surface.
Most Ottawa neighbourhoods lack adequate transit and active transportation infrastructure to transition to a 15-minute neighbourhood. The city needs practical strategies for parking until they do.
Why? Because builders are unlikely to build at the density to support 15-minute neighbourhoods without being able to provide parking, where residents must rely on cars until transit catches up. At the same time, the City struggles to fund transit and active transportation infrastructure needed to support 15-minute neighbourhoods until we build neighbourhoods with enough density and a tax base to pay for it. This creates real barriers to creating 15-minute neighbourhoods.
The City needs a practical strategy to address this issue. Providing permissions for neighbourhood parking lots and/or small parkades located close to neighbourhoods (accompanied by form-based regulations to ensure fit/compatibility with adjacent residential zones) could provide solutions. Beyond zoning, the City should consider greater use of street permit parking in neighbourhoods slated for greater density.
Demand 2: Strengthen the tree retention and “room for trees” provisions of the proposed bylaw.
Ottawa has taken important steps in the draft Zoning By-law to ensure we make space for trees to thrive. Zoning language should not be watered down during ongoing review of zoning proposals. If anything, language should be clarified and strengthened to ensure no loopholes exist.
Why? Because tree space provisions in zoning are critical to meeting the City’s tree canopy objectives. They recognize the important role that trees play in 15-minute neighbourhoods by creating shade and interest, in addition to key environmental and climate change benefits. The City must hold firm on any pushback against these new provisions in favour of more building square footage or hardscaping.
Demand 3: Reduce commercial parking maximums to mitigate car dependency and encourage walkability.
Allowing high maximum commercial parking rates in or near 15-minute neighbourhoods supports car-centric development and threatens the viability of small shops that serve 15-minute neighbourhoods.
Why? Because every 15-minute neighbourhood needs small, neighborhood-based shops and services to support residents and be supported by residents. But the proposed bylaw permits large amounts of parking with larger stores – even in the Inner and Outer Urban Transect areas of the city, where Ottawa’s Growth Management Strategy depends on neighbourhoods becoming more walkable.
This threatens the establishment and survival of small neighbourhood shops. Imagine one box-store that relies on customers from many neighbourhoods, but only residents living closest to the store can walk there. This greatly reduces the likelihood of a small walkable shop setting up in any of the other neighbourhoods. Large parking areas also degrade the walking/cycling environment, and encourage more, rather than fewer, car trips by residents, which is counterproductive to creating and sustaining 15-minute neighbourhoods.