While some cities like to vaunt their giant skyscraper concrete cubes, Canada’s national capital, Ottawa, wants to limit building heights.
City council is now going to court to fight for the right to regulate building heights in the city.
The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) is an appointed provincial body with the authority to overrule planning decisions by elected local councils.
In April in response to a challenge brought by some Ottawa property owners, the OMB ruled that Ottawa could not alter its official plan to limit building heights in the city centre.
Ottawa says it wants predictable growth
Ottawa had spent years in discussion with residents and developers to create a “community design plan” which generally allows for buildings of up to 9 storeys in the city core.
The OMB claims building heights belong in zoning codes and not official community plans.
For developers who want to build much higher buildings, it’s easier to get rezoning approvals than through amendments to official plans. A rezoning approval is acheieved either through the city’s own zoning channels or through OMB appeals.
In making it’s decision, one OMB member said the city is making it too difficult for developers to apply for variations to the height limits.
But that is exactly what the city wants to do.
Ottawa Councillor Jan Harder, who’s also the chair of the planning committee, is quoted in the Ottawa citizen newspaper saying, “The people in the community have the right to have the knowledge as to what to expect in their communities,” said Harder. “The argument that it (the height) is better left with zoning is one that we don’t agree with. That’s why we are taking this quite rare move. (to go to court)”
Ontario is the only province where planning disputes are settled by such a Board, and this case highlights a growing displeasure with the OMB ability to overrule elected councils.
The province has promised to review the OMB’s role within the broader land-use planning system with consultations expected in 2016
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