New Zoning Bylaw applied to our Neighbourhood

Neighbours,

This document is long but very important for all homeowners to read. It is the first in a series that will take us through the new Bylaw Provisions and their likely impacts.

As you know the city of Ottawa has released the first Draft – third (final) draft proposed for Q4 2025 – of a proposed comprehensive new zoning bylaw that will greatly increase the density in our community. Developers are being encouraged to build a lot of new housing, especially in communities close to the LRT.

The By-laws proposed for Champlain Park will allow developers to build multiple units on our lots. Our standard lot sizes will be reduced. Front and rear yard setbacks will be reduced. This will have a significant impact, particularly on our streets or parts of streets that already have shallow front yards. Greenspace and many trees will be lost. There will be little room left to plant new trees to replace them.

Heather Pearl, Champlain Park Community Association’s Planning and Zoning Chair has been our point person on zoning issues. She has pored through the proposed zoning changes to understand them and explain what they mean for our community. While the City website is better organised than it was just a couple of weeks ago, the information still could be opaque to people who are paying attention to zoning for the first time. City documents on the proposed new zoning bylaw can be found at: https://engage.ottawa.ca/zoning

See below to look up your address to determine what designation it has been given. Once you know if your lot is N2 or N3 there is a calculator at the bottom which gives you an estimate of the maximum number of units that a developer would be allowed to build on your current lot. (This does not take into consideration that lots can be severed, to allow even more units.)

The map below shows the boundaries between N2 and N3 in Champlain Park. Most of CP is designated N3. The text below the map gives you the addresses that fall on either side of a boundary. The last letter (B or C) designation signifies heights and setbacks.

[Map of Champlain Park with proposed 2025 zoning]

Heather has broken down the properties and her comments on the inconsistencies are marked with ***

N2C:

  • Keyworth north of 235 & 236
  • Daniel north of 255 & 256
  • Patricia east side and west side addresses, north of Amanda, excl. 241 and 273 (corner lot at Amanda)
    ****+ 241 Patricia is mid-block with houses to N, S & E in N2C. Why is it singled out as N3B?
  • IPD east side north of 239

N3C:

  • Carleton (incl. 223) & Cowley north side of Sunnymede plus 56 Sunnymede
    *****+ Based on Inner Urban Transect and Overlay map, all of Carleton and Cowley north of Sunnymede should be N2C. Why is this former R2D part of Champlain Park carved out?
  • Why is 56 Sunnymede in N3C and not N3B?

N3B:

  • All of Northwestern Avenue
  • Carleton & Cowley & south side of Sunnymede (excl. 56 Sunnymede on south side, as above, Why?)
  • Sunnymede 60 & 64
  • Keyworth south of 231 & 234
  • Daniel south of 251 & 252
  • Amanda, 59 & 79
  • Patricia east side in CP:
    ****241 Patricia (located mid-block; as above, why single this out?) and 273 Patricia at corner with Amanda.
  • IPD (Patricia access) west side south of Sunnymede excl. 227 & 237

What’s Allowed in Each Zone

Champlain Park (proposed new ZBL) N2C N3B N3C
Target Density (Units Per Hectare) 150 UPH 250 UPH 250 UPH
Max Building Height (m) 8.5 11 11
Min Lot Width (m) 10 7.5 10
Min Lot Width per vertically attached unit (m) 6 5.6 6
Min Front Yard Setback (m) 4.5 3 4.5
Min Total Interior Side Yard Setback (m) 2.4 2.4 2.4
Min Exterior Side Yard Setback (m) 3 3 3
Max Building Width (m) (subzones E&F) n/a n/a n/a
Min Rear Yard Setback (m) 28% of lot depth 25% of lot depth 28% of lot depth

To help you determine the maximum number of units that could be built on your lot (being proposed under the new bylaw) Councillor Jeff Leiper has created a handy density calculator. Click on the link below (with JavaScript enabled) after you determined what code you are.

https://kitchissippiward.ca/2024/06/24/simple-density-calculator/

Enter your lot width and depth, and click on whichever zone your property falls under: N2 or N3.

By way of example using the density calculator Heather Pearl’s lot 50 X 134 ft lot is suitable for a 16 unit low-rise apt building. Laurie Fagan, another Champlain Park board member – her lot is 50 X 100 ft. It could be suitable for a 12 unit low-rise apt building.

At this point these are proposed zoning bylaws but with the city’s push towards further intensification in response to new provincial legislation demanding more housing – we can hardly deny that big changes are coming.

7 thoughts on “New Zoning Bylaw applied to our Neighbourhood”

  1. So 16 units per lot for my area, likely no parking spaces, all the trees destroyed, little or no green space, the already narrow street clogged with cars parked 24/7 (and please don’t tell me we should all be using the LRT so we don’t really need cars!), no snowplows getting by in winter….how is this supposed to improve the quality of life?

    Who are the idiots who come up with these stupid concepts?

  2. Is the city expecting everyone to live in one-bedroom apartments? Because it’s unlikely you could fit anything bigger in a three -storey 12-unit building on our lot on Northwestern.

  3. How is a 12 or 16 unit apartment block even feasible when there is no parking allowed on the streets?

  6. Since many younger people don’t use email, it might be helpful to put all this information in a special Champlain Speaker so that everyone in the neighbourhood understands what the city is proposing and how it will affect them.

    1. Good point about a paper notification. But it’s probably best to do that in September when people are back from summer vacations. Also Heather may be writing some more posts.

Comments are closed.