City Can’t Get Basic Zoning Map Right

This is rather frightening though not unexpected.

Many people don’t like the new draft zoning bylaw … I among them. Don’t fix something that isn’t broken. If you own a home, you should be concerned about it. And while many people don’t like the new bylaw, most people don’t care.

That’s how the city gets away with questionable moves such as the bad implementation of light rail, a faulty Lansdowne project, huge central library overruns and the Tewin project which flies in the face of the city’s avowed principal of intensification. We could go on.

So now the city can’t get the zoning map right. Doesn’t inspire confidence does it.

Any big project the city has undertaken it has failed at and this draconian rezoning is enormous … maybe the biggest thing the city will do. And the first take is chock full of mistakes. This new bylaw has the potential to destroy our the social and economic foundation of this city.

I’m confident, given the outrageous mistakes this city has made, that the city will fail miserably with this new bylaw.

I don’t remember the public outcry that said we must change the fundamental structure of this community. The reason is not climate change as the city maintains. It’s pressure from the development industry. It’s also ideology from people who are funnelling their energy into saving the planet on a micro level (such as in Ottawa) when the only effective way of saving the planet is internationally. Our little bit in Ottawa doesn’t matter. It’s not a rounding error on a million rounding errors. It’s ideology by people who are blinded by ideology and, accordingly, causing problems for good people who just want to live out their lives in a happy peaceful manner.

A cautionary tale is Knoxdale-Merivale Councillor Sean Devine standing in front of an infill and misrepresenting the views of the people in the neighbourhood. Many people condemn what they consider questionable politics from the right but it comes from the left, too. Much of it comes from naivety and a little knowledge going far too far a way.

This draft bylaw will be a disaster … just like the failed projects mentioned above.

Need proof? City hall can’t even get a basic map that defines the changes right.

This whole initiative was generated by the city, not the residents. It is arrogant. We know better than you little residents.

The city doesn’t get it. It’s failing at what it does and rather than fix its mistakes, it is creating more and bigger mistakes.

This incompetent municipality needs to pull back from projects it can’t handle which an objective person would say is almost everything it does. Start with destroying the transit system, its inability to handle the basic service of garbage, its failure to maintain the road network, to operate a functioning ambulance service and a police service that’s out of control. We could go on.

Fix the monsters you’ve created. Don’t create more monsters.

The last thing we need is this clown show of a city taking on the fundamental structure of this community. The incompetent city cannot handle this task.

English writer John Heywood understood this in 1546 when he famously said: “”There are none so blind as those who will not see.”

That’s the City of Ottawa.

More to come … sadly … from the city.

Ken Gray

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This is a release from the City of Ottawa:

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This memo is to advise the Mayor and Members of Council to corrections to the draft Zoning Map  are being made. The corrections are based on technical errors that have been identified to-date  during the on-going consultation of the first draft of the new Zoning By-law. A Change Log is  being developed to capture these and potential future edits to maintain a transparent process.  

Background 

The first draft of the new Zoning By-law was released on May 31, 2024.  

Since then, staff and the public have identified errors in the zone codes on the draft Zoning Map.  These errors will be corrected and posted prior to the release of the second draft of the Zoning By law in March 2025. 

The process for correcting these errors are as follows: 

• Staff will identify updates to the Zoning Map on a monthly basis, starting at the end of July 2024.  
• The changes will focus on errors and correcting zone codes that are not in conformity with  the Official Plan.  
• A Change Log will be published each time an updated version of the Zoning Map is published and will be available on the Draft 1 Zoning Map webpage. 
• The Change Log will itemize each change made so residents can conveniently check to see  what has changed on the draft Zoning Map. 
• Each version of the draft Zoning Map will include a date and be archived for future reference.  • Residents who have subscribed for updates about the new Zoning By-law will receive  notification that the draft Zoning Map has been updated, with a link to the Change Log. 

Next Steps 

Staff are aiming to publish an updated version of the draft Zoning Map at the end of July 2024.  Sincerely, 

Derrick Moodie 

Director, Planning Services 

Planning, Development and Building Services Department 

Cc: Senior Leadership Team 

Planning, Development and Building Services Departmental Leadership Team Andrea Lanthier-Seymour, Director, Public Information and Media Relations

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