Yesterday’s New Official Plan: STANKOVIC

The last five years have seen major upheavals and change. However, they are not reflected in Ottawa’s new Official Plan.

Ottawa’s current Official Plan was approved by City Council in November 2021. The one thing that jumps out from the 253-page plan is that there is hardly any reference to the hugely disruptive impacts that the global COVID-pandemic had on Ottawa – economically, socially and physically.

The Official Plan does, however, link the concept of 15-minute neighbourhoods to the pandemic in terms of promoting healthy communities and the wellness of residents associated with walking and bicycling. Even then it wasn’t the city planners but instead Ottawa Public Health who advanced the notion of 15-minute neighbourhoods to be incorporated into the plan, according to staff.

Planners further downplayed the importance of the pandemic stating the transmission of the COVID-19 virus was related to crowding and not built-form and density – a view that is highly debatable among city experts. Subsequently, one finds nothing in the Official Plan that refers to remote work which has had significant impacts on Ottawa’s economy especially in the downtown area and, on the housing and real estate markets. The Official Plan also says nothing about converting vacant office buildings in the downtown into residential or other uses.

The reality is that the actual work leading up to the Official Plan started well before its approval and even before its official public launch date in March 2019. In 2017, the City hired of two Toronto-based consulting firms to assist in undertaking a study called Ottawa Next: Beyond 2036. The study along with the accompanying discussion papers led to the publication of the Five Big Moves report in 2019 outlining the key strategic policy proposals for the new Official Plan.

It is unlikely that the policies and supporting rationale in the new Official Plan would have been much different even if the pandemic did not happen. The focus on residential intensification, downtown-centric transit network (LRT) and denser development around transit stations, and mixed-use, compact 14-minute communities would have been largely the same.

To a large degree, the city’s new Official Plan was written for a reality that no longer exists. The last five years have shown that urban development is not linear – it doesn’t follow assumed population projections or fixed locations for office buildings.

Instead, the last five years has been a period of significant social and economic disruptions, uncertainty, and multiple crises. They included the pandemic with its social distancing measures, lockdowns and remote work, the federal government’s disposal of office space especially in the downtown core plus the threat of job and spending cutbacks and the growth of the far-right populism as manifested by the Freedom Convoy protest in early 2022. There has also been tariff wars and threats to Canadian sovereignty from the Trump administration, shifting geo-political forces and global crisis, and the emerging influence of artificial intelligence.

As the capital of Canada and a G7 nation, global geo-political forces influence how the federal government functions which in turn impact Ottawa’s urban environment more so than other Canadian cities. And the list does not include the more entrenched issues around climate change and sustainable development, affordable housing, homelessness, an aging population, and so on.

The city’s focus on a public transportation network designed primarily to bring commuters to the downtown is based on the outdated links between work and home.

The 9-to-5 office job, the commute and the separation of office and home are losing their relevance in the new economy. The future of work will consist more of remote/hybrid jobs, remote or distributed teams and AI-driven solutions which do not to be located in fixed physical assets or rigidly defined commercial zones. Flexible and creative workspaces are essential for innovation and important elements of compact, walkable communities found in both older neighbourhoods and the suburbs.

Dan Stankovic is an Ottawa consultant and former municipal public servant in economic development and housing.

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