Certainty: how sanity can return to planning in Ottawa

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WHAT CERTAINTY REALLY MEANS

At our recent Ottawa Planning Summit, my speech focused on a new commitment to certainty in the planning process for our city. But certainty has different connotations for the various parties involved in development; to most residents in a community, certainty means that the zoning and development patterns in their neighbourhood would never ever change. To the development industry, certainty has meant the stifling of design creativity and a truck load of government red tape. One member of the planning community has called certainty, ‘A job-killing drag on the economic vitality of Ottawa’. 

I know you won’t be surprised when I tell you that both the residents and the developers are incorrect about certainty.

CITIES CHANGE.

Murphy Gamble Dept store, Sparks St, circa 1954

Cities are organic; they grow and change all the time.  Neighbourhoods change, development changes, what we want and need changes—indeed, change may be the only constant. So how do we provide certainty in an ever-changing City? It’s simple: our Official Plan—if implemented correctly—provides certainty over the life of the plan. And during the review process, we look around us and plan the next evolutionary steps for our city.

CERTAINTY MANAGES CHANGE.

For the 10 years that the plan is in place, it is my belief that residents and developers alike should expect certainty. During that time, residents should be able to trust that the zoning will be consistent for the life of the plan. Similarly, the development community should be able to make sound business decisions that conform to the zoning and the official plan from which it flows, and the standards these outline in terms of city growth. The developer should be able to obtain a building permit and a site plan without hassle—no long and costly approvals process, because the zoning is clear and consistent.

For the lifespan of our Official Plan, everyone should be privy to the rules of the game, and both community groups and developers alike should expect to play by them. However, we all must realize that an Official Plan, despite all efforts, doesn’t cover every eventuality; there may be times when a property has to have the zoning changed. Under certainty planning, however, these exceptions shall not become the rule.

What certainty will mean is that community and business energy is focused, not on fighting each other and City Hall, but on defining the policies and directions that will comprise our Official Plan and the direction that development will take over its 10 year existence.