Zoning frozen in time

It seems that there are only two routes to have zoning changed in Ottawa.

The first method is spot rezoning. In this case the property owner applies to the City to have the zoning for their property changed. Invariably, the change would result in the value of the property going up. In other words the City is asked to exercise its "Midas Touch" adding to the value of the property.

The second method is to have a Community Design Plan conducted which results in amendment of the zoning by-law. Developing a CDP takes significant resources both from City Planning staff and from the community. Because of the resource demands, only a  limited numer of CDP's  can be undertaken at any time.

What we need is some procedure that is greater than spot rezoning, but less than a full-blown CDP. How we develop such an approach should be a topic of discussion at the "Planning Summit" which is supposed to be held in the next few months.

I could imagine this new procedure developing initially by Council engaging in a meaningful consideration of the implications of spot rezoning applications. If the application is for 123 Elm Street, the staff report should explain why current zoning should not be re-examined for 121 and 125 Elm Street, or for other adjacent properties.

I am seized with this idea right now because there is an application to rezone a property at 174 Glebe Ave. from R3 to R4. (If you're not familiar with zoning, R3 allows singles, semis, duplexes, triplexes, & row houses whereas R4 allows low-rise apartment buildings.) The Glebe case is interesting because next to 174 (at 172, I believe) is one lot sandwiched between the property at 174 and a church (institutional zoning). If spot rezoning is approved for 174, this would leave a single lot, 172, remaining under the constraints of R3 zoning. But as far as I know, the property owner at 172 has not applied for rezoning. Nor would 172 be rezoned other than through a further spot rezoning application.

In this case I am not arguing that any of the properties in question should be rezoned. Actually I think we should be severely limiting the spot rezoning going on in Ottawa. But if we are going to rezone at all, we should not be just thinking of the single property in the application. I would submit that we should be looking at the neighbouring properties as well. Maybe they also should be rezoned. And if the adjacent properties should not be rezoned, does this argue that the application for rezoning should be refused?

So somehow we need to develop a middle procedure for rezoning -- more than spot, but less than CDP.

Reviving discussion

This blog has been dormant for some time but it seems appropriate to relaunch it. The concept behind this blog is to encourage discussion by folk interested in civic issues in the City of Ottawa. Our first target is to encourage exchanges among people (or among community groups) associated with the FCA - the umbrella group for community associations in Ottawa. But beyond the formal community associations there are others who share a deep interest in civic matters, either as a general interest or with respect to a very specific city action or policy that affect them.
So to get some sort of discussion going, I propose to post some personal views. Note that these views are personal -- they are not the established position of the FCA nor of the Glebe Community Association. The hope is that some of the opinions will result in others posting comments to support or to refute my statements.