OttawaOne Ottawa city councillor says proposed rules to allow taller residential buildings throughout the city shouldn’t be used to replace bungalows with towering mansions.Coun. Jeff Leiper is pondering adding conditions to higher height limits to ensure they add housingListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.A construction worker works on a new housing development in Ottawa in October 2022. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)One Ottawa city councillor says proposed rules to allow taller residential buildings throughout the city shouldn’t be used to replace bungalows with towering mansions. Planning and housing committee chair Jeff Leiper made those comments after city staff released their final report on the new, comprehensive zoning bylaw. It’s set to come to his committee this month before heading to council in January for approval. Previous drafts have included sweeping changes to parking rules and height limits. They remain largely unchanged in the latest report. The proposed bylaw would still axe rules that force developers to provide parking for new housing projects in urban and suburban areas. City staff hope that allowing more flexibility will drive down housing costs.It would also make it easier to build tall towers near transit stations, while allowing 11-metre residential buildings in all urban and suburban neighbourhoods. That’s equivalent to about three storeys.The new limit is meant to increase density, cramming more housing onto a single lot. But critics have pointed out that it could simply allow builders to put up larger single-family homes, creating no added housing.Leiper is looking at introducing a motion to ensure that doesn’t happen. “I have been asked, and I have significant sympathy, to ensure that if that change is made to allow that extra storey that it is at least in the service of intensification, and not in the service of building really big mansions,” he said. “So I will probably bring a motion that would hinge the extra height permission on adding more units.”Leiper has said the proposed three-storey limit will have the greatest impact on older suburbs inside the greenbelt, an area dominated by single-family homes he has referred to as the “bungalow belt.”New move to boost modular housingThe final staff report, which was released this week, did make a few tweaks to the latest draft. One would allow three-storey buildings to rise above 11 metres if they use certain modular construction techniques.”Modular houses are basically blocks that get stacked on top of each other. They’re premanufactured, so they have a certain amount of space at the top and a certain amount of space at the bottom,” Leiper explained.”When you start stacking them, that space adds up and you need some extra room in order to get your three storeys.”According to the report, the new bylaw will allow an extra 0.5 metres per storey for modular homes up to three storeys, on top of the 11 metres allowed in other cases, if they use the “double-floor” technique Leiper described.That responds to the housing acceleration plan council passed this fall. It recommended tearing down zoning barriers to modular housing.In general, Leiper isn’t expecting councillors to make major changes to what he called the big “flashpoints” in the proposed zoning bylaw when it comes up for a vote.”We know that the elimination of parking minimums has created a lot of discussion,” he said. “I have not seen that there will be any motions from my colleagues to push back on that.”ABOUT THE AUTHORArthur White-Crummey is a reporter at CBC Ottawa. He has previously worked as a reporter in Saskatchewan covering the courts, city hall and the provincial legislature. You can reach him at arthur.white-crummey@cbc.ca.
Ottawa’s zoning overhaul should drive density, not 3-storey ‘mansions,’ councillor says
