NEW Urban Design Guidelines for Low-Rise Infill Housing

The City of Ottawa is developing new comprehensive Urban Design Guidelines for Low-rise Infill Housing. The guidelines will reflect the policies and directions in the new Official Plan adopted by Council in October 2021.

The City will be consulting with residents, community organizations, the development industry, and other stakeholders to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to provide input on the new Urban Design Guidelines for Low-rise Infill Housing.

This Engage Ottawa page will be your one-stop shop for project updates and information on future public engagement opportunities. You will also find FAQs and future drafts of the guidelines as they become available.

Purpose and objectives

The new guidelines aim to improve design outcomes for low-rise infill housing, ensuring well-designed development that reflect best practices and Ottawa’s goal of being North America’s most liveable mid-sized city.

The guidelines will:

• Provide clear design guidance for City staff, developers, community groups, and residents.
• Define low-rise infill housing and emphasize context-sensitive design.
• Provide design direction on site layout and functionality.
• Support the creation of well-designed, context-sensitive infill developments across Ottawa by addressing these priorities.

The objectives of the project are to:

• Identify and confirm issues related to low-rise infill housing design and review implementation of the guidelines in consultation with key internal and external stakeholders;
• Review best practices regarding low-rise multi-unit housing design, design guidelines and policies, including Ottawa’s own development projects, guidelines and policies completed in recent years;
• Provide an illustrated guide that identifies the key recurring factors contributing to urban design challenges and integration issues.
• Seek City Council approval of the guidelines.

Background

In November 2021, City Council approved a new Official Plan, introducing policies for low-rise buildings. Following adoption of the Official Plan, the process of updating the existing guidelines began in tandem with the City’s new Zoning By-law. This process includes two phases:

1. An interim Design Guideline to align the 2012 guidelines with language in the new Official Plan was completed and approved by Council in 2023.
2. A comprehensive new Design Guideline is planned to be completed in 2026.

While low-rise development policies apply citywide, they primarily target areas within the Official Plan neighbourhood designation. The existing Urban Design Guidelines for Greenfield Neighbourhoods already address low-rise housing in suburban contexts. Therefore, the new guidelines will focus on infill development at the low-rise scale in urban areas.