Why would city hall reject these 360 new homes? | Opinion

Ottawa city council meeting Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia

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Do Ottawa city councillors want more houses built or not? Their recent rejection of a plan to build 360 homes south of Stittsville is indefensibly stupid, unless you happen to be a city planning bureaucrat.

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Ottawa developer Caivan wants to tweak the urban boundary by adding 16 hectares of land adjacent to its planned Magnolia suburb at the junction of Shea and Flewellyn roads.

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While it is difficult to identify any actual harm that would come from such a small proposal, city planning staff are dead set against it. The city already has as much future development land as it is obligated to provide, and then some, they argue. Why, there’s enough approved land to last us 25 years.

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The problem with that line of thinking is that it considers only the grand total of land approved, not who owns it or the likelihood that they will build on it anytime soon. Every developer’s situation is unique. Some are sitting on considerable land banks; others can’t get enough land. The only way to maintain competition in the industry is to open new parcels to those keen to build now.

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It’s not like Caivan’s modest proposal came out of left field. This little plot of land has quite a history, one that illustrates just how silly the government-run planning regime is.

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The city has already evaluated the Caivan land and found that it met the score required for approval. It didn’t add the land in its last Official Plan review in 2022 because of an unresolved dispute with a previous owner over cutting down trees without permission. The city staff report cites that as the only reason the approval was rejected. The tree issue was resolved three years ago.

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There was a brief reprieve. In 2022, the provincial government was in its build-faster mode and directly designated many parcels for development, including some in the Greenbelt around Toronto. The Caivan lands were among those added locally. When the Greenbelt plan proved controversial, the province changed its mind in 2023 and the Caivan lands were out again.

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We’re not done yet. Cities normally adjust their development land amounts every five years, but in 2024 the province allowed developers to pitch their plans whenever they wanted to. Presumably the intention was to create a more dynamic and fluid process.

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That wasn’t a hit in Ottawa, where the city has rejected several proposals on the grounds of already having enough land, a generic approach that eliminates the unpleasant necessity of thinking. It also goes directly against the intention of the provincial rules. Why invite developers to suggest changes if the answer is always no?

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The city’s refusal to approve an obvious opportunity to add housing means the Caivan proposal will go to the Ontario Land Tribunal, where it is likely to be approved, but not until after more time and public money are wasted defending the appeal.