Ottawa City Council approved a new Official Plan on October 27th, 2021. It now comes to the Ministry for review and final approval. The People's Official Plan, an alliance of well-established civil society organizations in Ottawa (including CAFES), seek to summarize some of the concerns regarding this Official Plan raised city-wide by resident associations and community-based groups in this letter. The People's Official Plan alliance wants to ensure that the Minister's office hears these perspectives and solutions, and not only views the City and some segments of the development industry.
The strategic directions described in the Council-approved Official Plan have our strong support. They focus on intensification, sustainable transportation, 15-minute neighbourhoods, climate and health resiliency, and economic sustainability, and do an admirable job of defining the desired destination. There remains, however, a fundamental disconnect between the policy ends and the policy means included in the Official Plan. Read the full People's Official Plan letter to the Ministry here.
