Peter Hume thinks the City's planning process should be clearer. What do you think?

Peter Hume, Alta Vista councillor and chair of the City's planning committee, has suggestions for making the City¹s planning and development process clearer. Highlights follow. We would be interested in knowing what you think.

A CALL TO ACTION ­ THE OTTAWA IMPERATIVE

Building a better city with planning foresight

Taking the sting out of intensification ­ Creating certainty for the
community

Peter Hume has led the charge to resist urban boundary expansion that would add to urban sprawl. The city has created policy documents that guide Ottawa¹srequired intensification. This city has opted to grow in and not out. Unfortunately, council did not take the next step to clarify what Ottawa¹s intensification needs are. The development industry has embraced intensification as a valuable part of the Ottawa marketplace, but the city has not provided guidance on how or
when or where. As a result, to meet the demands of the marketplace, developer driven re-zonings are the norm. These re-zonings undermine community confidence in the city and create uncertainty for the neighbourhoods. The planning process seems mysterious to most taxpayers and causes many trips to the Ontario Municipal Board to sort out local issues.

To create certainty and focus intensification to achieve our planning goals Peter Hume proposes that city council should:

- Amend the City of Ottawa Official Plan to establish a five-storey maximum height limit on traditional main streets and ten-storeys on arterial main streets,unless the heights are otherwise defined by a Community Design Plan. These height limits would have urban design standards to guide a proposed building¹s transition and setbacks from abutting low density neighbourhoods.
These guidelines would be appropriate where a Community Design Plan is not available.
- Examine the zoning, in Development Priority Areas, to ensure it conforms with the minimum intensification targets and match these changes to solid urban design plans and standards for re-urbanization projects. The goal is to gain important new parts of our city while minimizing the need for re-zoning. Let¹s map out where intensification is planned and where it will not be
required.
- Examine and eliminate the barriers to intensification for small-scale infill ­including fee structure and payment schedule, Hydro issues, and use of city property.
- Expand the use of Canada¹s best urban planners, designers, and architects to advise and support city planning staff in reviewing complex applications. Peter Hume believes solid community design and architecture is essential to build a vibrant and fiscally responsible city.
- Intensification should not just mean more people and taller buildings -- it should also introduce more trees, new parks and improve existing parks. Intensification has to include measures that improve urban living in every respect.

On the rails to success ­ planning for LRT

The light rail transit project will transform Ottawa ­ with the route now chosen, we must develop the stations and corridor to exploit it. Typically, the city¹s planning process is reactionary and lags years behind significant events. We must create vibrant stations and provide opportunities to drive ridership and economic opportunity. Over the next four years, we should pre-plan our transit route as a complete entity to develop commercial opportunities at the stations and
along the corridor.

To create the environment for success, Peter will propose that city council
should:

- Examine the zoning of all properties along the corridor to ensure it will provide for density to support transit-oriented development throughout the network. Important sites should be pre-zoned with appropriate urban design plans as guidance. Create 'Made in Ottawa' unique design standards to integrate new development with stations.
- Use the power of redevelopment along transit lines to add to the 'public realm' quality of streets and parks in the city.
- Identify underdeveloped properties that could be targeted for redevelopment.
- Conduct a 'mobility overlay' to examine the sidewalk, cycling, and traffic network in the downtown to look at how it can be reconfigured to support the LRT system and reclaim areas previously devoted to bus service.

Hume's document also contains sections called Fostering economic prosperity - a
federal engagement strategy, Going Green for a Sustainable and healthy city
and Harnessing the power of technology to improve transparency and
efficiency.