Baseline-Merivale Secondary Plan

Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study is to prepare a new secondary plan to guide private development and public infrastructure investments in an area that is anticipated to see significant growth in the coming decades. The secondary plan will consider how to best accommodate intensification in the study area while advancing the City’s objectives, including housing, mobility, health, climate, and economic development.

Study area

The study area includes lands generally in proximity to the intersections of Baseline Road at Clyde Road, and extends east and west along Baseline Road for approximately one kilometre in each direction, and south along Merivale Road to the Beachburg rail corridor, just south of Colonnade Road.

The study area is focused on properties in the Hub and Corridor designations in the Official Plan, but also includes some nearby properties in the Neighbourhood designation within the Evolving Neighbourhood Overlay. The plan area also includes a corridor owned by the National Capital Commission, just north of the Beachburg rail corridor, between Merivale Road and Woodroffe Avenue.

The map below identifies the study area boundaries.

To ensure consistency in the planning approach along Baseline Road, this study will also review and may amend a portion of the Carleton Heights Secondary Plan for properties in proximity to future Baseline Transitway stops at the east end of Baseline Road. View the location map.

What is a secondary plan?

A secondary plan is a long-range planning policy document that establishes the rules for growth, development, and infrastructure for an area anticipated to grow rapidly over the next approximately 25 years.

A secondary plan is an opportunity to take a comprehensive look at a specific area and the surrounding communities to refine and modify direction from the City’s Official Plan to better fit the local context. A secondary plan may propose changes to allowable building heights, permit or prohibit land uses, identify new connections for pedestrians and cyclists, specify urban design criteria for new buildings, and identify the location of new parks and public spaces. All private development applications and municipal projects within the study area must comply with the policies contained in a secondary plan.

The creation of a secondary plan is collaborative in nature and requires extensive engagement from multiple service areas within the City, public agencies, elected officials, community groups, individual residents, landowners, developers, and industry consultants.

Ideas and policy direction brought forward by a secondary plan are expected to be built out over approximately a 25-year period either by private development or, when funding is available, by the City. Secondary plans are implemented as Official Plan Amendments to Volume 2A of the Official Plan and may require amendments to Volume 1 of the Official Plan, the Zoning By-law, or other municipal master plans to further implement their objectives and direction.

Concurrent City-wide projects

The City has other major concurrent City-wide projects that could influence the Baseline-Merivale Secondary Plan, such as the New Zoning By-law and update to the Transportation Master Plan.

Objectives of the study

The main objectives of the study and the resulting secondary plan are to:

• Advance the City’s housing, transit, mobility, health, climate, and economic development objectives.
• Establish a vision that implements the Official Plan’s policies for this area, by planning for:
  • a broad diversity of functions and mix of land uses
  • transit-supportive densities and variety of built form typologies
  • the future reconstruction of Merivale Road
  • improved connectivity for all modes of transportation
  • new parks and a variety high-quality public spaces
  • an infrastructure plan to ensure adequate services to support future development
• Establish a planning and design framework that enables the timely and orderly implementation of the vision, including clarity for the community, property owners, developers, and City staff when considering future development proposals in the study area.

Limitations of a secondary plan

The following outlines general limitations of secondary plans to frame expectations of potential outcomes.

Specificity versus certainty

• Secondary plans establish a vision and provide a more specific planning policy framework to support growth compared to existing Official Plan policy. They add clarity and specificity but not certainty.
• The Planning Act allows for Official Plan Amendment applications that can make modifications to approved secondary plans.
• Secondary plans are subject to potential appeals to the Ontario Land Tribunal.
• The locations of new streets, paths, parks, and building height categories on the same property are approximate and can be adjusted during the development process without amending the secondary plan.

Capital funds

• Secondary plans do not have their own source of capital funding, nor do they guarantee that any required funding will be collected.
• They may recommend projects to other City teams or departments to implement at a later date but requires the support and funding from those City teams or departments and the City budget for implementation. For example, some transportation or infrastructure improvements identified in a secondary plan may need to be added to a future master plan (e.g. Transportation Master Plan or Infrastructure Master Plan) update, pending the priorities of other projects.

Directing municipal operations

• Policies in secondary plans generally cannot direct City operations, such as By-law enforcement, waste management, and winter maintenance.

Federal or Provincial laws and regulations

• Secondary plans must be consistent with the Provincial Planning Statement and cannot overrule federal or provincial laws or regulations (e.g. Airport Zoning Regulations).