Revisions Since Last Public Open House and Public Circulation of Secondary Plan Documents

The draft recommendations of the Pinecrest and Queensview Stations Secondary Plan were last presented to the public at the third and final virtual open house presentation in December 2023. Since that time, City staff have continued to work with community associations, landowners, consultants, and staff in multiple City departments to make refinements to the draft recommendations. The descriptions below summarize these revisions to ensure transparency and make it easier for residents and stakeholders to catch up on the latest changes to the secondary plan.

The latest draft secondary plan and related materials can be accessed at Ottawa.ca/DevApps, by clicking on Overview, development application search, and in the search bar typing D01-01-24-0010. For the zoning details, search for D02-02-24-0053. Note that the 28 day public circulation begins on October 19, 2024 and comments are due to the planning file lead (peter.giles1@ottawa.ca) by November 16, 2024.

Changes to Schedules

There is a new Schedule A – Secondary Plan Area and Land Use Designations, along with the corresponding Land Use Designations policies in Section 2 of the draft Secondary Plan document. These designations build on those in the Official Plan by adding specific polices to the Hub, Corridor, Neighbourhood, Mixed Industrial and Greenspace designations that apply to the Plan Area.

Schedule B is now Secondary Plan Sectors (previously Schedule A) and Schedule C is now Maximum Building Heights, Connectivity and Parks (previously Schedule B). There is a new Schedule D – Properties Subject to Site-Specific Policies, which is intended to improve usability by making it easier to find properties that are subject to Site-Specific Policies in Sections 4-6 of the draft Secondary Plan document.

Since the last open house event, the following revisions have been made to Schedule C - Maximum Building Heights, Connectivity and Parks:

1. Removal of a north-south dashed teal line indicating an active transportation connection at the west end of Queensview Drive between Queensview Drive and Moncton Avenue. This policy remains in the Site-Specific Policies in Section 4 of the draft Secondary Plan document. However, the line was removed from the Schedule because it indicated a specific location, whereas the policy is intended to allow for flexibility in the location of the future active transportation connection to be secured through a future development application.
2. Revisions to maximum building heights:
   1. 2179 Elmira Drive (currently Extendicare West End Villa): Previously, the entire property had a maximum building height of nine storeys. Following more detailed planning and design concepts by the landowner and analysis by City staff, maximum building heights were reduced to four storeys at the front of the property along Elmira Drive and increased up to 18 storeys for the remainder of this deep property that extends to Highway 417.
   2. 1263-1291 McWatters Road: These five deep properties that back onto Pinecrest Public School were previously identified with a maximum building heights of six storeys. They have now been reduced to “as per Official Plan”, which is low-rise in the Neighbourhood designation, with precise maximum heights to be determined by the new Zoning By-law.
3. There have been changes to the maximum building height policies for the Corridor designations on Pinecrest Road and Iris Street to align with the Official Plan and the draft provisions in the new Zoning By-law. Most importantly, the maximum four storey heights are only applied to Corridor properties that are under 30.5 metres in depth. Generally, Corridor properties with depths between 30.5 and 35 metres now have a “Conditional Height – 4-6 storeys” maximum building height category, which provides as-of-right permissions for four storeys but provides opportunities for buildings up to six storeys if Corridor Designation policies in Section 2.2 of the draft Secondary Plan document can be met. For instance, these Corridor Designation policies include new requirements for any buildings above four storeys, such as a minimum lot width that would require lot assembly, and requirements for landscaping, setbacks and building stepbacks to ensure building height transitions.
4. The proposed right-of-way (ROW) protection for Pinecrest Road has been removed because it will be part of a more detailed transportation study looking at appropriate ROW widths on arterial roads throughout the City.

Draft zoning provisions for the Pinecrest-Queensview Hub

The Pinecrest and Queensview Stations Secondary Plan includes an accompanying City-initiated Zoning By-law Amendment to update the zoning for the Hub designation only. This follows a commitment the City made to rezone lands surrounding rapid transit stations in order to secure federal funding through the Housing Accelerator Fund. In some cases, the zoning provides more detailed maximum building heights than in the draft Secondary Plan schedules and policies, and includes additional requirements such as non-residential land uses at grade level and locations for active frontages.

The zoning will help to expedite planning applications in the Hub designation because applications that conform to both the Secondary Plan and zoning will only require a Site Plan Control application.