Housing development planned for Findlay Creek following previous urban boundary expansion

For those who visit or live in Findlay Creek, every day seems to bring new changes. From housing and road improvements to new restaurants and shopping plazas, the area has been quickly growing for years as residents and businesses seek out the up-and-coming neighbourhood. 

Now, nearly 500 new residents could soon be calling the neighbourhood home due to a city council decision from five years ago that added new land to the urban boundary, clearing the way for a new housing development that is set to come before city council in the coming weeks.

Located right on Bank Street and serving as a bridge between the city’s south-end and its more rural communities, Findlay Creek is a main artery that sees thousands of commuters each day and continues to welcome residents looking for homes on the outskirts of the urban core.

Based on selection criteria outlined in the Growth Management Strategy that Council adopted in May 2020, staff identified and recommended lands to accommodate new neighbourhoods to meet provincial housing targets.

This required expanding the urban boundary, including for some lands at 4850 Bank St. in the south end of Findlay Creek, where a developer is preparing to break ground on approximately 15 hectares of land to build up to 300 units.

The decision to include the land in the urban boundary predates Riverside South–Findlay Creek Coun. Steve Desroches’ time on council—he was elected the following year. But since 2022, he has been overseeing the progress of the land and development.

“Once it's brought into the urban boundary and it's consistent with the official plan, the wheels start turning on development, and the message and the legislative changes that the province has made for municipalities when it comes to planning are to build more homes,” he told the Lookout. “That has been the focus of the province: to put pressure on municipalities to build more homes to address the housing crisis. So these lands are very much part of that strategy overall.”

As part of pledges to make housing more affordable, the Ford government has been pressuring municipalities to increase housing supply, sometimes by expanding the boundary to lands not previously approved by council.

In May 2020, Ottawa city council voted to expand the city's suburbs by 1,281 hectares, a decision that followed weeks of debate and consultation.

In 2022, Ontario's minister of municipal affairs and housing used his powers to expand the City of Ottawa's urban boundary by another 654 hectares. That decision was made just after the 2022 municipal election, and then-mayor Jim Watson told reporters it is “going to create more urban sprawl. It's going to be expensive for taxpayers.”

Much of that land was forest or farmland, and Desroches said that over the years, he has heard concerns from the community about losing green space and rural land. Many feel “boxed in” with developments now, he said, and are grieving the changes of a growing suburban community.

“I think people overall understand that we need to build more homes. Many of the people who moved in over the last four or five years benefited from decisions similar to this one.... I think part of the challenge is we're not always fully informed of what type of development is going to go in there until you go through the process right now, and that's hard for some people,” he said. 

“That's kind of how Riverside South—Findlay Creek has grown. What were once empty fields, what were once kind of wooded areas, are now homes,” he continued. “And those are the difficult choices that we have to make… There's not an ability to have idle lands.”