Committee knocks down ask from Mattamy Homes to expand urban boundary

Councillors and staff refused a plan from a massive developer that would have seen rural land changed to a neighbourhood near Barrhaven.

According to a report to the Planning and Housing Committee on Nov. 5, Mattamy Homes wanted the committee to change land by O’Keefe Court and Highway 416 from a designation of rural countryside to neighbourhood, allowing the development of the greenfield space. The application included plans for about 1,493 units and heights up to six storeys.

However, city councillors and staff agreed the application should not be supported because they don’t believe the land is needed.

“The applicant has not established a credible land need,” staff write in the report.

Land need is based on several criteria when building new communities. One of the reasons it was rejected is because staff said the calculations for growth projections were done using a 15-year land supply instead of the updated one the city is using.

The application also asks for the city to create water and wastewater lines to the homes, something that the municipality says can be accomplished in other parts of the nation’s capital. The site being within 300 metres of a gravel resource was another factor.

Ottawa is also focused on creating “complete communities,” which forces developers to build neighbourhoods near transportation and promote green infrastructure and “low impact development.”

Building this project would have created barriers between already existing communities. Staff said that it “leapfrogs” over a lot that has estate homes on it, forcing the urban boundary to expand, and would create an “urban island.”

These reasons and more environmental and asset management risks meant that the committee voted against the project.