Ottawa shelters could be allowed in all communities due to new zoning rules

Fast tracking: Ottawa’s zoning rules could be loosened to allow for emergency and transitional shelters to be built anywhere in Ottawa. 

During the city’s planning committee meeting on Feb. 5, Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper brought forward a motion that would permit the shelters in all urban zones. Such a decision was already supposed to be made in a few months, but Leiper said he was anxious to fast-track the process given Ottawa’s homelessness crisis and uncertainty over the amount of newcomers seeking refugee status here.

• “Our official plan calls for the removal of all restrictions for zoning in shelter use. We are currently in the process of updating our comprehensive zoning bylaw. At the end of December, that change would have been made,” Leiper told the Lookout.  “However I can anticipate over the course of the next 11 months there might be a need to put shelters in zones where they aren’t currently allowed. Speaking with city staff I felt it would be wise to accelerate that initiative.” 

So what will that do exactly? It will give the staff flexibility to locate shelters in the places which make the most sense to them without having to go to committee to seek rezoning.

There is one exception: The proposed Sprung structure for the Eagleson Park and Ride in Kanata on Hearst Way. Leiper said that’s because residents have been promised a zoning hearing for the site and the Kitchissippi representative wanted to be “sensitive to the commitment that had been made.”

The same rules will not apply to the Sprung structure proposed on the football field of the former Confederation Heights High School near the Nepean Sportsplex. The Woodroffe Avenue site already had its zoning permissions changed to allow for a shelter to be built there. 

The motion had strong support: Ten members voted to support the zoning changes for shelters with only one opposed. That lone wolf was Barrhaven East Coun. Wilson Lo who said he wasn’t comfortable fast-tracking a process that was already set out by council. 

• “The larger zoning bylaw item comes with a process council already agreed with which is a second round of public consultations when the second round comes out in the spring. The official plan speaks to this and makes it inevitable it’s going to happen anyway,” Lo told the Lookout. “Half of the controversy we faced last year with Sprung structures came from a lack of communication and transparency. Doing that again is going to hurt the city’s reputation more for something that's redundant and will happen in six months anyways.”

Lo wanted an amendment: The Barrhaven East councillor put forward a motion which would have required 1005/1045 Greenbank Rd. and 3311 Woodroffe Ave. to seek rezoning approval before shelters could go up there. Both were shortlisted sites for Sprung structures in the summer which drew backlash from the community. They were later removed from the list for a variety of reasons. 

Even so the Nepean Woods land on Woodroffe is still technically listed for if another location was required — sort of. The city has committed to only building the two Sprung structures in Kanata and Nepean. But when they were announced, the Barrhaven site scored third out of over 90 properties.

Old wounds were recently reopened in Barrhaven when concerns were raised over possible contamination at the Nepean site. While it’s unlikely the Sprung structure would change places because the city said it doesn’t pose a risk, Lo said he still has fears the topic could be discussed in the future. His motion was shot down with 10 nays. Only Lo was in support. 

Lo then brought forward a second motion to remove the rules from applying to suburban communities, suggesting it should only apply to downtown, inner urban, and outer urban areas. But that, too was axed by 10 votes against. 

The Barrhaven councillor now thinks it’s time the definition of a shelter changes.

• “The definition of shelter is very broad In the zoning bylaw and official plan. It  includes everything from small-scale stuff like a women’s shelter that buys a house in a neighborhood to the big shelters downtown. Being broad means anything can go in,” said Lo. “What are we trying to achieve? Why do we want to expand the shelter system when the city’s goal is housing? Suburban communities just like Barrhaven all have small-scale shelters and group homes that contribute positively into that goal of housing first. For me seeing an expansion of the shelter system goes against that. At the same time there are some shelters needed regardless like shelters for women fleeing domestic violence.”

Leiper disagrees: He said none of this rules out public consultation with the community. The city is in support of amending the bylaw now because it might mean it is better placed to take advantage of federal and provincial funding that could come down the pipe later this year to help the city’s housing and homelessness crisis. 

• “We need a lot more help from our federal and provincial partners in order to address the homelessness crisis. Shelter is not an optimal solution, it’s not housing, but we are going to be forced to build more and more shelter in the absence of dollars for things like supportive housing,” said Leiper. “So I have to imagine the crisis will get worse before it gets better without a significant additional infusion of cash from other levels of government."   

What happens next? At this point, it’s not a done deal, and it will go to council on Wednesday. While Lo said he plans to keep fighting the fast track, it’s expected that council will side with the planning committee.