Joint Planning and Housing Committee and the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee

Minutes

Meeting #:

01

Date:

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Time:

9:30 A.m. - 11:30 A.m.

Location:

Andrew S. Haydon Hall, 110 Laurier Avenue West, and by electronic participation

Present:

• Planning and Housing Committee Chair: Councillor Jeff Leiper, 
• Planning and Housing Committee Vice-chair: Councillor Glen Gower, 
• Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee Chair: Councillor George Darouze, 
• Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee Vice-Chair: Councillor Clarke Kelly, 
• Councillor Matt Luloff, 
• Councillor Laura Dudas, 
• Councillor Cathy Curry, 
• Councillor Theresa Kavanagh, 
• Councillor Laine Johnson, 
• Councillor Tim Tierney, 
• Councillor Ariel Troster, 
• Councillor Riley Brockington, 
• Councillor Catherine Kitts, 
• Councillor David Brown, 
• and Councillor Wilson Lo 

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1.

Notices and meeting information for meeting participants and the public

Notices and meeting information are attached to the agenda and minutes, including: availability of simultaneous interpretation and accessibility accommodations; in camera meeting procedures; information items not subject to discussion; personal information disclaimer for correspondents and public speakers; notices regarding minutes; and remote participation details.

Accessible formats and communication supports are available, upon request.

Except where otherwise indicated, reports requiring Council consideration will be presented to Council on Wednesday, June 14, 2023 in Joint Planning and Housing and Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee Report 1.

The deadline to register by phone to speak, or submit written comments or visual presentations is 4 pm on Monday, May 29, 2023, and the deadline to register to speak by email is 8:30 am on Tuesday, May 30, 2023.

This draft Minutes document contains a summary of the disposition of items and actions taken at the meeting. This document does not include all of the text that will be included in the final Minutes, such as the record of written and oral submissions. Recorded votes and dissents contained in this draft Minutes document are draft until the Minutes of the meeting are confirmed by the Committee. The final draft Minutes will be published with the agenda for the next regular Committee meeting and, once confirmed, will replace this document.

2.

Declarations of Interest

No Declarations of Interest were filed.

3.

Planning, Real Estate and Economic Development Department

3.1

Bill 109 Implementation Phase 2

ACS2023-PRE-GEN-0004 - City Wide

Direction to Staff

Councillor R. Brockington

That staff provide a verbal update to Planning Committee and Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee in January 2024 to advise on the functionality of the new process and how the timelines are being met for zoning bylaw amendment and site plan applications.

• Report recommendation(s)

  That Planning and Housing Committee and Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee recommend Council:

  1. Receive for information the update on the internal process changes undertaken since July 6, 2022 and proposed to be undertaken as part of Bill 109 Implementation Phase 2 contained in this report; 
  2. Approve the amendments to the Pre-Consultation By-law 2009-320, as per Document 1 attached to this report, to introduce a Multi-tiered Pre-Consultation Process;
  3. Approve the amendments to the Development Application Study Policy By law 2022-254, attached as Document 2 to this report;
  4. Approve the amendments to the Public Notification and Consultation Policy, attached as Document 3 to this report;
  5. Approve the amendments to the Planning Fees By-law 2023-139, attached as Document 4 to this report;
  6. Receive for information, an update on future amendments to the Site Plan Control By-law;
  7. Direct Staff to report back to Council via report with an Official Plan Amendment to explicitly define the types of applications that can be classified as minor zoning by-law amendments to set the stage for a future delegation of authority; 
  8. Approve the following amendments with respect to the Council and Committee governance processes, Terms of Reference, and the Procedure By-law, attached as Document 5, and as described in this report:
     1. Schedule Council and Planning and Housing Committee meetings bi weekly on alternating Wednesdays, and that additional meetings  scheduled during traditional legislative breaks in January, March break, July, August, and December, be convened as special meetings, if required, to consider any Zoning By-law amendments or any other time-sensitive items approved by the Chair;
     2. Enact Zoning By-law Amendments (ZBLA) and Official Plan Amendment (OPA) by-laws at the same day as the policy report is before Council;
     3. Publish Zoning By-law Amendment reports six (6) calendar days before Committee; and
     4. Enable all zoning matters in any area of the city to have the ability to be considered at Planning and Housing Committee, allowing a rural zoning file to go to Planning and Housing Committee instead of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee should there be a time pressure to meet the provincially imposed deadline.
  9. Approve that Bill 109 timeline data be reported to Council annually through the Planning, Real Estate and Economic Development’s Year-End Report.
  Carried as amended
• Amendment:
  Motion No. PHC-ARAC 2023-01-01
  Moved by L. Johnson

  WHEREAS the City of Ottawa is committed to public participation in the planning and development process; and

  WHEREAS the City initiated in 2014 a development application pre-application consultation program with community associations, with the objective to increase transparency to the City’s development review process, and to allow for early input by the community into the development proposal; and

  WHEREAS any public participant from the 6 participating Wards must attend training and sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement acknowledging their understanding of confidentiality requirement under the Planning Act; and

  WHEREAS the Province’s Bill 109 introduced tight timelines for development applications to be considered during Official Review; and

  WHEREAS Bill 109 Implementation Phase 2 report introduces a multi-phased pre-consultation process for development applications, which introduces three phases to allow the applicant to discuss their idea to obtain preliminary feedback, present their refined idea and any draft studies for comment, and finally, submit their final proposal for the study review to ensure the studies are complete, consistent with one another, and contain enough information to allow a proper application processing during the provincially timed review; and

  WHEREAS there is opportunity to build upon the existing pre-consultation engagement with community associations in the context of Bill 109’s multi-phased pre-consultation process;

  THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Staff be directed to undertake a fulsome review of the pre-application consultation program that involves community associations to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the current process, examine potential expansion of the Pre-application consultation program with Community Associations, and undertake an education, training and awareness initiative in relation to the program; and that the result of this review be reported back to Council within 18 months at the latest.

  Carried
• Amendment:
  Motion No. PHC-ARAC 2023-01-02
  Moved by L. Dudas

  WHEREAS report ACS2023-PRE-GEN-0004 recommends amendments to the Pre-Consultation By-law 2009-320 to introduce a Multi-tiered Pre-Consultation Process; and

  WHEREAS Pre-Consultation is a process that takes place between applicants and City staff, with other participants signing non-disclosure agreements given the commercial confidentiality of development projects in early stages; and

  WHEREAS members of Council may have an interest in participating in the Pre-Consultation Process early on for development application files; and

  WHEREAS Site Plan Control approval authority rests with staff by appointment, not delegation, which limits the role of elected officials; and

  WHEREAS approval authority on Zoning By-law Amendments remains with Council, which may permit involvement of elected officials in the pre-consultation process;

  THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT staff be directed to assess the feasibility of Councillor participation in Pre-Consultation for Zoning By-law Amendment applications and report back to Council in Q4 2023 with their findings.

  Carried
• Amendment:
  Motion No. PHC-ARAC 2023-01-03
  Moved by G. Gower

  WHEREAS the Bill 109 Implementation Phase 2 report introduces a multi-phased pre-consultation process for development applications, which introduces three phases to allow the applicant to discuss their idea to obtain preliminary feedback, present their refined idea and any draft studies for comment, and finally, submit their final proposal for the study review to ensure the studies are complete, consistent with one another, and contain enough information to allow a proper application processing during the provincially timed review; and

  WHEREAS a dispute resolution process for issues that may arise during the pre-consultation process was not identified in the report; and

  WHEREAS it is in the interest of applicants and the City to ensure that development application files move smoothly through the new pre-consultation process in a timely manner, with the shared objective to facilitate the building of homes to solve the housing crisis; 

  THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Planning Services Staff be directed to:

  1. Develop a dispute resolution procedure for the pre-consultation process and report back to Council via Memo by the end of  Q3 2023 on the process and implementation timeline; and
  2. Report on the use of the dispute resolution process be included as part of the monitoring report, as per Recommendation 9. 
  Carried
• Amendment:
  Motion No. PHC-ARAC 2023-01-04
  Moved by G. Darouze

  WHEREAS ARAC was created to ensure that matters pertaining to rural Ottawa, including planning matters, are considered from a rural perspective, with a full appreciation of rural issues and impact; and 

  WHEREAS Bill 109 will impose stricter timelines related to zoning by-law amendments and site plan control applications; and

  WHEREAS Bill 109 Implementation Phase 2 (ACS2023-PRE-GEN-0004) outlines staff requests for amendments to Council and committee governance processes, Terms of Reference, and the Procedure by-law in order to adhere to the provincial timelines; and

  WHEREAS item 3.1 recommendation 8a asks the joint Agriculture and Rural Affairs (ARAC) and Planning and Housing Committee (PHC) to schedule Council and PHC bi-weekly on alternating Wednesdays in order to meet provincial timelines; and

  WHEREAS Recommendation 8.d. asks the joint committee to enable all zoning matters in the City to have the ability to be considered at the PHC, allowing rural zoning files to be considered there if there are time pressures related to rural files that are unable to be considered at a regularly scheduled ARAC meeting; and

  WHEREAS it is integral that Council aims to refer the appropriate items to their respective committee whenever possible to ensure that they are considered in their appropriate jurisdiction; and

  WHEREAS ARAC is a proportionately smaller committee in comparison to other committees and there is a requirement of 3 members to have a quorum meaning it will ordinarily not be difficult to have a quorum during time sensitive circumstances; 

  THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that for items that are related to rural zoning matters, staff be directed to prioritize consideration at a Special Meeting of ARAC prior to considering routing to PHC; and

  BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Recommendation 8.d. be amended to read as follows:

  “Enable all zoning matters in any area of the city to have the ability to be considered at Planning and Housing Committee, allowing a rural zoning file to go to Planning and Housing Committee instead of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, should there be a time pressure to meet the provincially imposed deadline, provided that the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee is given the opportunity to hold a Special Meeting and is able to meet quorum to consider the matter.”

  BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the required Special meetings be regularly scheduled on the day Planning and Housing Committee is otherwise scheduled.

  Carried

3.2

Provincial Legislation Resource Impact Report

ACS2023-PRE-GEN-0005 - City Wide

Direction to Staff

Vice-chair G. Gower

That staff be directed to explore the feasibility of a Planning Services Reserve and report back to Council as part of the Disposition of 2023 Tax and Rate Supported Operating Surplus/Deficit.

Direction to Staff

Councillor A. Troster

That city staff will report back at both Planning and Housing Committee and the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee on what additional staff resources would be needed to ensure that a staff member could be present at community consultations, when requested by the ward councillor. The staff member(s) attending these meetings could be a city planner, but may not need to be. 

• Report Recommendation(s)

  That the joint Planning and Housing Committee and Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee recommend Council:

  1. Approve a Planning Services Fee Adjustment to fund 32 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions at an approximate cost of $1,112,500 for 2023, as per Document 1;
  2. Approve the addition of five new temporary full-time equivalent (FTE) positions at an approximate cost of $160,000 for 2023, from within existing resources; and
  3. Approve the conversion of two existing temporary positions into permanent full-time equivalent (FTE); and
  4. Direct staff to monitor the Zoning By-law Amendment and Site Plan Control application timelines and report back to Council in Q3 2024 or sooner with a status update.
  Carried as amended
• Amendment:
  Motion No. PHC-ARAC 2023-01-05
  Moved by G. Gower

  WHEREAS Legal Services completes a key step in the processing of development applications, including but not limited to reviewing decision report recommendations, reviewing zoning plans, reviewing site plan control conditions, writing the development agreements, and preparing for and attending Ontario Land Tribunal hearings; and

  WHEREAS ensuring that all parts of the development approval process are appropriately supported to enable the building of homes faster, as per the City’s Housing Pledge and in accordance with provincial timelines; 

  THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT Legal Services undertake a review of their staff complement required to deliver on their responsibilities regarding planning applications and, should additional resources be identified as required, that:

  1. the pressures be put forward during the 2024 Budget process; and
  2. the Legal portion of Planning Services fee be adjusted accordingly.
  Carried

3.3

Planning, Real Estate and Economic Development Department 2022 Delegated Authority Report

ACS2023-PRE-GEN-0002 - City Wide

• Report Recommendation(s)

  That Planning and Housing Committee and Agriculture and Rural Affairs, receive this report for information. 

  Received

4.

In Camera Items

There were no in camera items.

5.

Notices of Motions (For Consideration at Subsequent Meeting)

There were no Notices of Motion.

6.

Inquiries

There were no Inquiries.

7.

Other Business

There was no other business.

8.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 12:47 pm.