• About
  • BRINSTON/SOUTH BRANCH/NORTH DUNDAS/NORTH STORMONT
  • Donate!
  • Ottawa’s “Energy Evolution”: wind turbines coming to rural communities
  • Wind Concerns Ontario

Ottawa Wind Concerns

~ A safe environment for everyone

Ottawa Wind Concerns

Tag Archives: Official Plan

Who’s boss in city planning? Ottawa’s new Official Plan? Or the energy strategy document, community group asks

24 Thursday Feb 2022

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

electricity bills, Official Plan, Ontario, Ottawa, Randall Denley, wind farm, wind turbines

Community group files request for review with Municipal Affairs ministry


Official Plan says no industrial wind turbines permitted on valuable agricultural land but it also says its Energy Evolution document drives city actions. That document calls for hundreds of turbines. [Illustration: City of Ottawa Climate Change newsletter]

February 24, 2022

Community group Ottawa Wind Concerns has filed a comment on the city’s Official Plan with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs over concerns about where the document ranks in Ottawa’s planning structure.

“Our worry is that Ottawa’s expressed view that the Energy Evolution document and climate change plan overrides all policies and action means statements in the Official Plan could be subject to amendment at any time,” chairperson Jane Wilson wrote in the group’s submission, filed yesterday.

“What we have is an Official Plan that looks like an Official Plan, but it also appears to have a back door through which the City can make changes and take action by using another plan—one that did not go through any public engagement process.”

The intent of an Official Plan in Ontario is that it is the single document which outlines the direction for the city, Wilson says. In the case of the City of Ottawa, this direction may actually be subordinate to the Climate Change Strategy and the Energy Evolution document.

The community group comment referred to page 23 of Ottawa’s new Official Plan where the city asserts: “The policies of this [Official] Plan should be read as supportive of the Climate Change Master Plan.”

And, on page 26, the City states, “The Climate Change Master Plan and associated Energy Evolution and Climate Resiliency strategies provide the analysis and action plans for City-wide action.”

Ottawa Wind Concerns said the group is worried about how this affects policy on renewable power generation facilities, specifically large or industrial-scale wind turbines.

The Energy Evolution document calls for the possibility of hundreds of wind turbines in the city’s rural areas in a model of how Net Zero might be achieved, while the Official Plan makes statements about industrial-scale wind turbines not being permitted on valuable agricultural land.

“Essentially, it looks like the City is saying, its Energy Evolution document trumps everything. We’re saying, that’s not how a municipality is supposed to use an Official Plan.”

The contents of the Energy Evolution document, approved by Council in 2020 with no public input, are not widely known among Ottawa’s citizens.

There has been criticism from media and analysts who have read it.

Local media branded the strategy document “an expensive pipe dream,” with its $57B (estimated) price tag. Political commentator Randall Denley said the Energy Evolution report was “only the beginning,” and promoted “unachievable goals.”

“How high are they prepared to raise taxes,” he asked, “and what existing services will they cut to fund their quixotic effort to save the planet?”

The City of Ottawa has a history of passing zoning amendments that result in public concern. For example, a zoning amendment was passed without the knowledge of even the local councillor for a large warehouse and truck depot in Barrhaven. That move caused newspaper columnist Kelly Egan to remark, “You know who doesn’t get what they want at city hall anymore? Ordinary people.”

Ordinary people in Ottawa’s rural communities sent emails and made telephone calls to councillors when the wind turbine model in Energy Evolution became known, and STOP THE OTTAWA WIND TURBINES signs went up from Kinburn to Navan, and south to North Gower and Manotick.

City councillors maintained that the Energy Evolution statements were just a “model” but the motion of wind power is present in many City documents and wind turbines are prominent in City banners and graphics. A recent submission to the Ontario Energy Board dated January 17th contained the whole Energy Evolution document, including the wind turbine model, as supporting evidence for the City’s objection to replacement of a natural gas pipeline.

“Everyone wants what’s best for the environment,” says Ottawa Wind Concerns Chair Wilson, “but the fact is, we should be making choices about what is shown to be effective and successful. Ontario is an example of how intermittent weather-dependent wind power doesn’t do anything for the environment, but it does have a huge impact on electricity bills and on communities. Giving the Energy Evolution strategy importance over the Official Plan means decisions can be made on what looks good, not what really is good.”

The community group has asked the Ministry of Municipal Affairs to look at both the Energy Evolution document and the draft Official Plan together, to make sure provincial directives are being followed.

Ottawa Wind Concerns filed its comment with the Ministry and was advised Thursday that the comments were accepted and reviewed, and will be posted publicly.

More analysis on the Energy Evolution document, coming soon.


ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com


Ontario definition of an Official Plan

An official plan describes your upper, lower or single tier municipal council or planning board’s policies on how land in your community should be used. It is prepared with input from your community and helps to ensure that future planning and development will meet the specific needs of your community.

An official plan deals mainly with issues such as:

where new housing, industry, offices and shops will be located

what services like roads, watermains, sewers, parks and schools will be needed

when, and in what order, parts of your community will grow

community improvement initiatives

Source: Government of Ontario: Citizen’s guide to land use planning: Official plans | Ontario.ca


Advertisement

Ottawa planning docs show wind turbines for City

09 Thursday Dec 2021

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

environment, noise, Official Plan, Ottawa, renewable energy, wind farm, wind turbines

City Councillors say no, no, no, but illustrations on City publications say yes, yes, yes

That’s a turbine, right? [Ottawa Climate Action newsletter]

December 9, 2021

After emails and telephone calls to their offices during the development of the new Official Plan this fall, which allowed wind turbines on prime agricultural land, Ottawa City Councillors claimed that the City has “no plans” for wind turbines.

Ward 21 Councillor Scott Moffatt, also the Chair of the Environmental Protection Committee, wrote in his constituent column in the Manotick Messenger that:

“A big part of that [the city’s climate action plan] will be renewable energy One of our Modelling documents shows what that looks like and includes mention of 700 industrial wind turbines. This has led some to believe that the City is planning on developing that many wind turbines in rural Ottawa. That could not be farther from the truth.”

But then, there is this: an illustration from the City’s Climate Action newsletter, which clearly depicts a wind turbine.

And, the City’s Planning department has this illustration on slide 10 of a recent public presentation, designed to show its various functions. It includes wind turbines as an example of land use planning.

illustrationplanningprimer-ii-december-2021Download

Mr. Moffatt also said that the City was not “finding locations where wind development could occur.”

An email from staff, however, says this:

“Staff are currently undertaking a preliminary assessment of renewable energy generation potential within the rural areas identified in the new Official Plan to better understand how the potential compares to the Energy Evolution model requirements.  This study is expected to be complete this summer …”

It is also worth noting that an illustration of the site plan for the Tewin development also features a depiction of wind turbines. (Apologies for the size of the image.)

The debut of Official Plan discussions shocked more than a few people back in July when Manager of Planning Policy Alain Miguelez revealed in an online public meeting that wind turbines were coming to Ottawa’s rural area—being “directed” there, he said. Because, he said, Ottawa was estimating an increase in population and as power demand rose, “that energy has to come from somewhere.” In other words, the rural communities.

In subsequent presentations staff tried to assure residents that they would “get it right” by developing protective zoning bylaws for wind turbines.

But councillors still say that’s not happening, and anyone who says it is, is fear mongering. The City did revise the renewable energy part of the Official Plan so that it now says “large-scale” wind turbines will not be permitted on “agricultural resource areas,” but that does not prevent applications for Official Plan amendments.

Councillors also say that while Ottawa is not actively planning wind turbines (in spite of Planning staff public comments and various illustrations that indicate the City is open to wind power), if proposals were to come along, Ottawa cannot say “No.” This is not correct, but more on that later.

Why the concern? Wind turbines are a highly invasive form of power generation, using a significant amount of land , creating noise pollution, and posing a serious risk to wildlife including birds and bats. Ottawa’s Energy Evolution plan does not include any mention of developing new nuclear, despite the fact that the federal government has spent millions on new nuclear, and Canada is a global leader in clean, reliable, emissions-free nuclear energy.

So, which is it, Ottawa?

ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

Ottawa Official Plan amendment now protects prime farm land

01 Monday Nov 2021

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

farm, farmland, noise, Official Plan, Ottawa, Ottawa wind concerns, Ottawa wind turbines, wind energy

farmnotfarm

Earlier draft failed to include statement on protecting prime farmland from industrial uses like wind turbines

November 1,1021

Ottawa City Council approved the draft Official Plan last week, on October 27th, and included a new paragraph relevant to wind power development in the rural areas of the City.

Ward 21 Councillor Scott Moffatt acknowledged last week in his constituent newsletter that the change had been made. The new paragraph in Section 4.11 of the Official Plan reads:

“6)  Large-scale provincially regulated wind turbines are not permitted on lands designated Agricultural Resource Area.  This policy does not apply to small-scale wind generation associated with a permitted principal use.”

Ottawa Wind Concerns (OWC) noted previously that there appeared to be no express intent to protect prime agricultural land in the Plan, dealing with “renewable energy facilities” which would include large-scale wind power. The community group had consulted a municipal law specialist lawyer who confirmed the group’s concern.

OWC filed a 30-page submission to the Joint Planning and Agricultural Affairs Committee, of which Councillor Moffatt was Co-chair, in advance of the Official Plan being submitted to Council. A motion requested that protection of prime agricultural land be expressed in the Plan (as is directed by Ontario’s Provincial Policy Statement).

When Councillor Moffatt put forward the new paragraph at the Joint Committee meeting reviewing the Official Plan, other councillors said they had had many calls and emails about wind turbines, and welcomed the new addition.

“This is an important step forward,” says Jane Wilson, chair of Ottawa Wind Concerns. “The previous version of Ottawa’s Official Plan stated that large-scale wind turbines could go in Ottawa’s rural areas, including our best farm land. Power generation from wind is an industrial land use, and not appropriate for valuable food-producing land.”

But it’s not the end of the fight for Ottawa’s rural communities.

“Turbines or wind power generators are not an appropriate land use near homes, either,” Wilson said. “That will be addressed next.”

The community group has asked specifically that the Plan include a requirement that any form of renewable energy generation undergo a full cost-benefit and impact analysis. That was not included in the addition to the Official Plan but will be important in the development of zoning bylaws, Wilson said.

Councillor Moffatt claimed in his newsletter that

“… there are no planned industrial wind turbines within the boundaries of the City of Ottawa at this time.”

In the Ottawa climate action strategy focused on energy use, however, there is a list of 20 projects to be worked on before 2025—Table 7 in the document states that the City must install 20 megawatts of wind as well as new hydro, solar, and electricity storage.

Also in the document is a statement that the energy “model” should include 3,218 megawatts of wind power as part of “minimum results” to achieve Net Zero by 2050.

ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

 
 

Ottawa says industrial-scale wind turbines not “industrial”

30 Thursday Sep 2021

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

environemtn, noise, Official Plan, Ottawa, wind energy, wind turbines

Huge turbines would be 60-storeys high, and produce noise and vibration—but not industrial?

Ottawa’s rosy and completely unrealistic vision of wind turbines in the countryside [Shutterstock image]

September 30, 2021

Ottawa’s planning department had its one and only “legally mandated” Public Open House on the new Official Plan via Zoom last evening.

Manager of Planning Policy Alain Miguelez was the prime presenter, assuring participants that “We the planners care very much about our city.”

The team covered the “five big moves” featured in the new Official Plan or OP, specifically growth management, mobility, urban and community design, climate, energy and public health, and economic development.

The city is focusing on intensification to accommodate their forecast of growth of almost a half million people, while at the same time protecting “our cherished neighbourhoods.” The City is all in on the :”15-minute neighbourhood” concept which holds that everyone should be able to walk to essential services such as food shopping, pharmacy services, parks, etc.

The rural areas of Ottawa are “prized, sensitive areas,” Miguelez said.”We have a beautiful countryside in Ottawa.”

Any development would be in keeping with goal to “keep things away from homes such as noise and dust.”

REALITY: giant steel noisy industrial power generators [Wind Concerns Ontario photo by D. Larsen, Nation Rise, North Stormont]

The City wants to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources to meet energy needs locally, staff said. Large-scale projects such as solar would be employed.

When it came time for Question & Answer, our question on how Ottawa could justify allowing industrial-scale wind turbines in the rural areas when this contradicts provincial policy, planning staff responded that wind turbines “shouldn’t be in the category of industrial use.”

“We recognize there are concerns, and there will be opportunities for input,” said Melissa Jort-Conway. “We want to get it right.”

A question was asked about small-scale nuclear power, but no Ottawa staff was able to respond.

Another staff person commented on development in rural communities and said that development would be restricted to 300 square metres, maximum, within a boundary of 1 km.

The City’s statement about wind turbines being an “on-farm diversified use” contradicts the Provincial Policy Statement which says: “uses that are secondary to the principal agricultural use of the property and are limited in area. On-farm uses include but are not limited to, home occupations, home industries, agritourism uses and uses that produce value-added agricultural products. Ground-mounted solar facilities are permitted in prime agricultural areas…”

That is not grid-scale or industrial-scale wind turbines.

The City’s stance also appears to contradict policy from the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA).

While City staff appears to have worked hard on the Official Plan, their knowledge of rural communities

is scant and their perception of industrial-scale renewable energy facilities is completely uninformed.

Today’s turbines are 60-storey noise and vibration-producing behemoths that completely alter the character of a community and do produce adverse effects for some people. There also seems to be no provision whatsoever for any kind of cost-benefit analysis for wind power. Wind is high impact on the environment and communities for very little benefit. It is a major factor in increasing electricity prices which can result in energy poverty and negative impacts on business and agriculture.

We will continue to try to provide information to the City at every opportunity but we remain disappointed that Ottawa has not chosen to be a leader and use innovative technology for reliable and affordable local energy generation.

ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

Wind turbines and Ottawa’s draft Official Plan

14 Tuesday Sep 2021

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Official Plan, Ottawa, OttawaWind Concerns, renewables, wind turbines

It’s time to see what the City is proposing in terms of renewable energy projects and Ottawa’s rural communities

Resident photo of turbines two kilometres from the village of Crysler, south of Ottawa

The people of Ottawa need to turn their attention to the City’s new Official Plan, says Ottawa Wind Concerns in an article published in the current edition of West Carleton Online.

“Back in June when we talked about Ottawa’s plans to put large-scale wind power projects in the city’s rural areas, some councillors were quick to deny that the city had any such plans,” Ottawa Wind Concerns said.

However, at that time, the city’s Energy Evolution document clearly stated on page 17 that the “Electricity Resource Strategy” is “to develop local or regional renewable energy supplies”. The “Project Metric” is to “Install” 20 megawatts of wind power, along with solar, hydro and electricity storage.

The City is now completing a revision of the Official Plan. “This also signals the intent to install wind turbines. An earlier draft mentioned both large-scale and small-scale wind turbines but has since been revised,” Ottawa Wind Concerns said.

Next step in the process is finalizing the Official Plan, and presenting it at an open public meeting on September 29, said Ottawa Wind Concerns chairperson Jane Wilson.

After the Plan is approved, staff will work on protective zoning regulations pertaining to setbacks and noise limits. The public will have one chance and one chance only to review and comment. Currently the Ontario setback for wind turbines is 550 metres—that is unchanged from 2009, when turbines were smaller and less powerful. Other jurisdictions are choosing longer setbacks such as 2 kilometres and more, and lower noise limits than Ontario has right now.

‘It is understandable that the people of Ottawa have had other things to think about with the COVID pandemic, and a federal election,’ Wilson said, ‘but now is the time to engage in plans being made for the future of Ottawa, its rural communities, and your home.’

The current draft Official Plan can be read here and citizens can also register to attend the September 29th event. The section relevant to renewable energy facilities is 4.11.

Comments on the West Carleton Online story follow:

  • Where are the proposed areas of these wind turbines?
    Solar is by far more efficient and cost effective.
    Large turbines are expensive to maintain and have large carbon footprints due to maintenance. Another white elephant city council will be spending our tax base on. Where are the proposed areas exactly Eli?
  • Jane Wilson is bang on. Ottawa needs to rethink their energy strategy. Wind turbines are neither environmentally friendly, cost-effective, or in the best interests of the citizens of Ottawa, especially those living in rural Ottawa where the large industrial wind turbines will be placed. How many acres of farmland will be lost to these unreliable, intermittent monsters?

ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

Recent Posts

  • Prince Edward County rejects battery storage proposal
  • Ontario to launch request for new power projects next week
  • Pleas for protective bylaws for noisy wind turbines get nowhere with Ottawa councillor
  • Is the $57B Energy Evolution plan dead?
  • Ward 21 council candidates pledge review of Ottawa Energy Evolution plan

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Tags

Bob Chiarelli electricity bills Ontario Green Energy Act IESO Ontario Ottawa wind concerns wind farm wind farms wind power wind turbines

Contact us

PO Box 3 North Gower ON K0A 2T0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Ottawa Wind Concerns
    • Join 369 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Ottawa Wind Concerns
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...