Ottawa’s urban boundary to extend over 1,200 hectares for new neighbourhoods in east end

The city says Ottawa is set to extend its urban land boundary over 1,200 hectares for new neighbourhoods once council adopts a new official plan before the end of the year.

On Wednesday, council determined the new line that will divide suburban and rural Ottawa and approved where those lands would be located.

Councillors also decided on policy direction to help protect sensitive lands from future urban expansion.

Those lands for new neighbourhoods include over 445 hectares in a new satellite community called Tewin.

The Tewin lands are located east of Leitrim and west of Carlsbad Springs, some of which are owned by the Algonquins of Ontario.

The city says staff would work with the Algonquin of Ontario to identify specific lands and recommend them later this year when the joint planning committee and agriculture and rural affairs committee consider the draft new official plan.

“I think it’s a very thoughtful plan to help the Algonquins of Ontario,” Mayor Jim Watson said. “They believe it’s reconciliation and I’m not going to second guess their views on that. I think that it’s a very excited project to help both the Algonquin Ontario Nation as well as the east end of the city of Ottawa.”

Council says the city needs to add enough land for new neighbourhoods to comply with provincially mandated 15-year land supply requirements.

“There’s a great difference of opinion from some members of the Algonquin Nations, particularly on the Quebec side,” Watson explained. “When all this is said and done, it all boils down to a planning issue and a land development issue, it’s not a treaty issue. This is land the Algonquins have purchased at full value from the province of Ontario with the the intention of building their own community on the Ontario side of the border.”

Last May, council approved selection criteria for determining which lands should be added to the urban boundary.

At the same time, councillors approved higher intensification targets in existing communities that will lead to 60 per cent of new units being deliver through intensification between now and the end of 2046.

The new lands approved Wednesday by council will mean the city has “reasonable alternatives” for growth until the end of the century without needed further urban expansion.