The City of Ottawa announced Tuesday it will appeal a recent Ontario Municipal Board ruling that it says “could create uncertainty” about both the city’s official plan and neighbourhood plans.
The April 29 ruling concerned Official Plan Amendment 117, which implements the Centretown Community Design Plan.
“We have spent the last several years drafting and approving plans for Ottawa that give residents and builders certainty about what can and cannot be built,” Mayor Jim Watson said in a statement. “We need to defend those plans.”
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The ruling suggests there should be flexibility in city plans, but the city will appeal that in Divisional Court.
“There’s no point in spending lots of public money and taking up the valuable time of residents and developers in drafting these neighbourhood plans and updating the Official Plan if the plans can’t say where buildings are to be located and how tall they will be,” planning committee chair Jan Harder said in a statement.