A New Official Plan

The City is rewriting its Official Plan- the strategic document that describes how the city will grow over time, where we will place major infrastructure, and what policies will be in place to support economic growth and guide the development and evolution of communities. The purpose of this review is to position Ottawa to be flexible, resilient, and, above all, a city were people want to live, work, and play.

Preliminary Policy Directions

The City is proposing to make a number of significant policy changes through the Official Plan to make Ottawa the most liveable mid sized city in North America. Known as the ‘Five Big Moves’, the following statements capture the most significant policy proposals for the new Official Plan:

1. Growth: Achieve, by the end of its planning period, more growth by intensification than by greenfield development. This growth will provide a variety of affordable housing options for residents.

2. Mobility: By 2046, the majority of trips in the City of Ottawa will be made by sustainable transportation.

3. Urban Design: Improve our sophistication in urban and community design, and put this knowledge to the service of good urbanism at all scales, from the largest to the very small.

4. Resiliency: Embed public health, environmental, climate and energy resiliency into the framework of our planning policies.

5. Economy: Embed economic development into the framework of our planning policies.

Read the full 5 Big Moves report here.

Why a new Official Plan?

Ottawa has changed dramatically since it was incorporated in 1855, when it was a small lumber town of 16,000 people. This year, the City of Ottawa will reach one million people and the Ottawa-Gatineau Metropolitan region will reach 1.5 million people.

What is an Official Plan?

An Official Plan provides the policy framework to guide the city's physical development including:

Can I see the Current Official Plan?

You can get a sense of what such a plan looks like by reviewing the current Official Plan.

What is the process for creating a New Official Plan?

The process to create the new Official Plan is guided by requirements in the Planning Act and Provincial Policy Statement, 2014.

The process will run in coordination with the reviews of the Infrastructure Master Plan, Transportation Master Plan, Greenspace Master Plan and the Development Charges By-law.

All aspects of the Official Plan will be reviewed and updated, including secondary plans for urban neighbourhoods and rural Villages.

The process will take place over the course of two years as follows:

March 2019 to August 2019

Discussion papers on key issues facing the city released on March 4, 2019

Ongoing public consultations on discussion papers

August 2019 to September 2019

In response to comments on the discussion papers and the findings of the Beyond 2036 planning study, a report will be presented at a joint meeting of Planning Committee and Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee on August 22, 2019 and Council on September 11, 2019. The report will contain:

1. High level preliminary policy directions;
2. Draft projections for total population, housing and jobs to 2046;
3. Draft growth strategies.

A link to the report in the Committee agendas and minutes will be available on August 12, 2019;

Public consultations on the high level policy directions will occur through September 2019.

September 2019 to December 2019

Detailed policy directions will be prepared for the new Official Plan and presented in a report at a public meeting held under Section 26 of the Planning Act in December 2019;

Council will give direction to table a draft Official Plan in June 2020, based on the policy directions in the December report;

The December report will include a description of:

• Detailed policy directions to be included in the Plan;
• Growth strategy for the city including growth projections and, if necessary, adoption of criteria for site evaluation for expansion areas, and;
• Direction on secondary plans, site- specific policies and community design plans.

January 2020 to June 2020

A draft Official Plan will be prepared during this time, based on policy directions approved by Council in December 2019.

June 2020 to February 2021

The draft Official Plan will be tabled in June 2020;

Following tabling of the draft Official Plan, a 90-day statutory circulation to the public, technical agencies and Ministry will occur from July 2020 through September 2020;

Public consultations will continue through February 2021 as follows:

1. Statutory Open Houses will be held in January 2021;
2. Statutory Public meetings will be held in February 2021.

March 2021

Council adopts new Official Plan.

Following adoption by Council, the Plan will be sent to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. The Ministry has up to six months to review and approve the Official Plan. Approval by the Ministry is expected by late-2021.

Welcome to the Official Plan Toolkit!

The toolkit has 4 sections: The New Official Plan, Plan, Connect, and Share. The various sections will provide information on the project, engagement and feedback tools, and how you can provide your feedback into the Official Plan. The image above illustrates how these sections work together.

Download the Toolkit..

Help us track the local workshops by emailing newop@ottawa.ca to let us about your outreach plan.

Note, as more information is developed for the new Official Plan, the Toolkit will be regularly updated with new Workshop Rubrics, etc.

Official Plan Update July 2019

The City of Ottawa launched the stakeholder engagement for the City of Ottawa’s new Official Plan on March 4, 2019. Since then there have been nine Discussion papers shared on Ottawa.ca. A survey was also provided as an opportunity for you to share feedback on these papers. This survey closed on June 30, 2019.

Since then, we have been busy launching a multifaceted stakeholder engagement strategy. The strategy outlines a new approach to consultation and engagement for the Official Plan. The approach focuses on meeting residents in their communities and ensuring traditionally underrepresented voices have a meaningful opportunity to participate in the new Official Plan.

We are developing tools and tactics to reach groups who have often been marginalized in the tradition consultations. Toolkits and an interactive website will support community groups across the city in running their own engagement activities, helping us expand the opportunities for providing feedback for everyone across the city.

One of the working groups organized to meet throughout the Official Plan process is made up of representatives from the City of Ottawa’s identified Equity and Inclusion groups. We will be launching a specific Indigenous engagement strategy this summer.

Our team has also started meeting with City Councillors, Advisory Committees and community groups.

Currently, we are focusing on a public education phase of the engagement plan and we have already shared information with over 15,000 residents.

As we move towards Fall we will shift to a more focused feedback gathering phase of the stakeholder engagement strategy. At that time, we will be sharing the Preliminary Policy Directions. These are some of the core concepts the Official Plan will be built on, so it’s important to participate to share your vision for the future of the city.

Let us know what you think of our engagement plan with this quick poll.

What are the big issues facing the city? Nine discussion papers outline some of the main themes of the Official Plan review and identify ideas for moving forward.

The Building Blocks for a Healthy Ottawa discussion paper

The Building Blocks for a Healthy Ottawa highlight sheet

Climate Adaptation and Resiliency discussion paper

Climate Adaptation and Resiliency highlight sheet

The Economy discussion paper

The Economy highlight sheet

Energy discussion paper

Energy highlight sheet

The Greater Ottawa-Gatineau Area discussion paper

The Greater Ottawa-Gatineau Area highlight sheet

Housing discussion paper

Housing highlight sheet

Infrastructure and Water Management discussion paper

Infrastructure and Water Management highlight sheet

Natural Ottawa discussion paper

Natural Ottawa highlight sheet

Rural Ottawa discussion paper

Rural Ottawa highlight sheet

In December 2016, Ottawa City Council directed staff to undertake a planning study to “…identify trends in housing, employment, and identify opportunities to create complete communities which, together with current Official Plan policies create an affordable and sustainable city beyond 2036…”

The goal of the Ottawa Next: Beyond 2036 study was to identify the forces that will shape Ottawa over the next century to help position the City to build both resiliency and adaptability into the next Official Plan. In order to carry out this goal and to address the high level of uncertainty of the city’s long-term future, Ottawa Next: Beyond 2036 was undertaken as a scenario based planning study to:

• identify trends and disruptors that will influence the city beyond the current 20-year planning horizon;
• identify possible future scenarios, which extend beyond the normal planning time-frame and arise from the identified drivers and disrupters; and
• identify planning considerations that will allow the City to create complete communities and be resilient and adaptable to future change.

The scenarios and planning considerations identified in this report will help to inform the setting of priorities within the next Official Plan, and may also frame the updates of the City’s other supporting Growth Management documents including the:

• Transportation Master Plan;
• Infrastructure Master Plan;
• Greenspace Master Plan; and the
• Development Charges By-law.

The Ottawa Next: Beyond 2036 study was presented to the Planning Committee on February 14, 2019.