Mega-warehouses, truck centres, new subdivisions approved: it’s time Ottawa residents, especially rural citizens, knew more about the planning process in Ottawa. Here’s your chance…

November 25, 2021

The news in Ottawa is full of reports about new developments that may, or may not, be what citizens want. A new truck distribution centre was approved just off the south end of Merivale, despite a jam-packed road system and nearby homes; a developer wanted to remove trees from a site near Hunt Club and Riverside to accommodate a new car dealership; the quiet village of North Gower might see a huge truck distribution centre and warehouse in an area people thought was “highway commercial” off the 416, and might only see a gas station and convenience store.

In all these cases, the proposed developments went through the planning process at City Hall. Citizens learned about the approvals afterward (in one case, the Merivale area truck centre, the City councillor was sandbagged, too) and were told, it’s done.

The new Official Plan was recently approved in Ottawa but most people had no idea what was in it, particularly not the echoes from the City’s “Energy Evolution” strategy, which called for massive amounts of wind power in one of its “models.” (And still has a target of 2025 for 20 megawatts of wind power.)

The City is now sponsoring a “primer” on planning to be held December 2nd and 6th via Zoom presentation.

It’s time we were better informed, more aware of what changes are being proposed at City Hall, and how to get involved in the process because surely, there is more to come.

See the details and registration information here.

Because, you can fight City Hall.

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