Leiper Repeats Failed Sprung Shelter Process

Ottawa City Council looks as though it is using the same failed sprung structure process on shelter locations around the city.

This is an excerpt from Barrhaven East Councillor Wilson Lo’s ward newsletter:

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Item expected at Planning and Housing Committee next Wednesday.

Sprung structures may be behind us, but we’re not done with questionable policy direction just yet.

Back in February, Kitchissippi Councillor Jeff Leiper moved a motion tasking staff with creating an amendment to the existing zoning bylaw to permit shelter zoning by default in all zones inside of the urban boundary. At that time, I was the lone vote against the item at committee, while councillors Steve Desroches and David Hill joined me in dissent at the following council meeting.

City staff is expected to present their report and recommendations on such an amendment at the April 9 planning and housing committee.

As background, staff have been working on a new zoning bylaw since last year. The process, approved by council in 2023, includes multiple drafts and public consultations.

Yesterday, committee approved the second draft of the new zoning bylaw. Staff will begin another round of public consultation starting in a few weeks before a third draft is presented to Committee in the autumn. That will be followed by more public consultation before the final draft in December or January.

The length of time and level of care put into that process reflects the policy’s impact.

The new zoning bylaw is expected to include permissions for shelters in all zone types inside of the urban boundary to reflect the Official Plan (which, in turn, reflects provincial policies), but it is subject to the remainder of the process.

Leiper’s motion aims to accelerate the shelter permissions by about nine months by amending the current zoning bylaw. But by doing so, it bypasses the remainder of the new zoning bylaw process, including two rounds of public consultation.

Despite concerns from communities including ours about poor process related to sprung structure before that was scrapped, we are here again considering a policy direction that bypasses public consultation. What’s worse is it bypasses steps this very council agreed to when the new zoning bylaw process began in 2023.

The motion also contains some contradictions.

One of the reasons for moving to accelerate the change is to lighten some of staff’s workload, yet this report is redundant work. Remember, this amendment to the current zoning bylaw was created while staff continued to work on the new zoning bylaw.

Then there seems to be a belief by some that a presumption of what the public feedback will be gives licence to bypass public feedback. Yet, an exception was originally created for the Kanata sprung structure site before the project was cancelled to ensure that community’s voice was heard.

This was also framed as an “honest” conversation about shelters, but there’s no honesty in undermining a public process we approved. Essentially, the motion tries to pull the rug from under residents who are engaged with the process.

During earlier conversations about the new zoning bylaw, Hill asked staff if there were sections that could be addressed immediately as “low-hanging fruit.” City staff stated the new zoning bylaw was better passed as a whole document, considering its comprehensiveness, a view that’s now changed for no good reason.

Bypassing public consultation as part of this motion aims to do, achieves nothing but further erodes public trust. Our community is still sensitive to last year’s sprung structure experience, so it’s insulting we’re even considering the motion.

Emergency shelter, from small-scale options embedded in communities up to large-scale shelters downtown, will always be controversial.

Shelter in general is an important topic worth discussing, but we are once again muddling it by introducing bad process to the equation. It’s exactly how sprung structures played out and it seems we’re destined for a repeat.

This newsletter excerpt is courtesy of the city-wide community group Your Applewood Acres (And Beyond) Neighbours.

For You:

City Hall’s Sweetheart Deals: SARAVANAMUTOO

Bill The City For Pothole Damage: THE VOTER

What Caused City Council’s Rushed Special Meeting?

You Caused The Sprung Structure Fiasco: GRAY

City Of Ottawa Is A Bad Partner: PATTON

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