Ottawa City Council’s Planning and Housing Committee and Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee met on December 17 in a joint meeting to discuss the final draft of Ottawa’s new Zoning By-law. We learned that staff had proposed undoing some of the gains made on bike parking, which is of course critical to transitioning our city from car dependency to sustainability. Please read our delegation!
"I wanted to make sure I was mimicking the Ecodistrict Ottawa is a part of, which is the St. Lawrence Lowlands. Another thing we wanted to consider was the type of plants. We wanted plants that 1) were drought resistant, 2) staggered blooms (spring, summer and fall) and 3) co-planted well together..."
The City describes its draft 2026 Budget as pursuing affordability—usually with reference to keeping property taxes low. But does this approach really yield affordability? Ecology Ottawa, with its partners in the Peoples Official Plan coalition, submitted a letter to Mayor Sutcliffe and the rest of City Council challenging this approach.