Today, on Monday, June 30th, led by CAFES, the Peoples Official Plan Coalition (POP), submitted a rich set of recommendations to the City of Ottawa planning team on draft 2 of the New Comprehensive Zoning By-law. A major feat!

The focus of the POP submission is zoning that supports a dense, liveable, walkable, green, 15-minute caring city as an important alternative to sprawl, inequality and lack of connectivity. We want to see this demonstrated though provisions for affordable, equitable housing opportunities that fit the demographic need, enabling zoning for car sharing services, an emphasis on care facilities and amenity areas, emergency and temporary housing options, anti-renoviction and anti-demoviction measures, soil volume and permeable space requirements on residential lots for trees, neighbourhood zone setback minimums, better priority for shade trees in mainstreets, hub zones, minor corridors and mixed-used zones, soft landscaping in parking lots, adequate stormwater services with links to trees, no development in flood-prone areas, and the adoption of a clear food systems lens.

See the full submission at the end of this post. Our most active collaborators in the POP coalition have been CAWI (City for all Women), Ecology Ottawa, the Federation for Citizens Associations (FCA), Greenspace Alliance, Just Food, Strong Towns Ottawa , Walkable Ottawa and Wastewatch Ottawa. Yey team!

The draft 2 public consultation period has been open throughout the months of May and June, with several public open houses taking place in person and online from late May to early June. Some of the major topics discussed at the consultations included changes to Neighbourhood Zones, height transitions in Mainstreet Zones, communal parking lots in neighbourhoods, and changes to permitted uses in Industrial Zones.

You can still submit your written comments on draft 2 before July 1st to NewZoning@ottawa.ca.

Draft 3 is expected to be released on September 8th, 2025 and will go to Joint Committee and Council on December 17th, 2025 and January 28th, 2026, respectively. The final version of the by-law is expected to be enacted in Q1 2026. Visit the Engage Ottawa Zoning page to view draft 2 of the by-law and accompanying documents and to stay updated.

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CAFES has been engaged in the New Comprehensive Zoning By-law since January 2024 when a group of experienced volunteers formed a working group and co-wrote a recommendations paper on how zoning can regulate trees. We have since taken an active role within POP to lead submissions on draft 1 and draft 2 of the by-law, while continuing to update our own position paper. If you have questions or comments about trees and zoning, please contact Erica at eshardlow@cafesottawa.ca

It's time to have your say on Draft 2 of the new Comprehensive Zoning By-law! From now until June 30th, the public consultation period is open for you to submit your comments, concerns and ideas to the city's planning team.

The city is holding three public consultation open houses - the first one was just last night on Thursday May 29th. The open houses will include presentations from city planning staff on the major changes from Draft 1 to Draft 2, which includes changes to Neighbourhood Zones, height transitions in Mainstreet Zones, communal parking lots in neighbourhoods, and changes to permitted uses in Industrial Zones. At the end there will be a question and answer period. Public attendance will likely be high and it will be best to come prepared with your questions. See details below for the next two open houses:

• In-person open house - Monday June 2nd at Ben Franklin Place, 101 Centrepointe Drive, 6:30-8pm. No need to register.

• Virtual open house - Tuesday June 3rd via Zoom, 6-8pm. Register for the Zoom link HERE.

You can also submit your comments in writing to NewZoning@ottawa.ca. Again the deadline is June 30th. At some point in June, there will be focused surveys coming to Engage Ottawa as well - stayed tuned for those and watch for more updates on the Engage Ottawa Zoning page. Draft 3 is expected to be released on September 8th, 2025 and will go to Joint Committee and Council on December 17th 2025 and January 28th 2026, respectively. The final version of the by-law is expected to be enacted in Q1 2026.

Continue reading below for a background on CAFES' involvement with Draft 2 with respect to trees, and the new Zoning By-law as a whole.

On Monday, March 31st, 2025 the Joint Planning and Housing and Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee met to receive Draft 2 of the New Comprehensive Zoning By-law. Erica Shardlow, speaking for the CAFES network, provided a public delegation in support of zoning metrics that protect and regulate the space for canopy trees through required soil volumes, soft landscaping minimums and setbacks on residential lots. The March 31st committee meeting can be viewed on Youtube here.

CAFES' comments and recommendations on Draft 2 are summarized in the following points, and you can see our full presentation below.

• The by-law is an important opportunity to lay the foundation for achieving the Official Plan's 40% canopy cover target. We want to see a compact, green and livable city and recognize equity and 15-minute neighbourhoods as essential considerations.
• CAFES has been advocating for trees planted in proper soil volumes to ensure trees are being given adequate space to thrive to maturity. Currently, Draft 2 requires 30 cubic meters soil volume to be provided above underground structures. We are pushing for it to be required in all residential rear lots, front yards, surface parking lots, and above stormwater infrastructure.
• We support Draft 2 provisions for no car parking minimums, single lane shared driveways at 3m width, driveways with permeable wheel strips, EV chargers, the prohibition of reverse-slope driveways in flood plains, and soft landscaping minimums in surface lots.
• We suggest 6m front yard setbacks city-wide. Where this is not possible, small 3m setbacks should be paired with large Right of Way space to allow for contiguous soil and space for trees.

CAFES has been engaged in the New Comprehensive Zoning By-law since January of 2024 when a group of experienced volunteers formed a working group and co-wrote a recommendations paper on how zoning can regulate trees. We have been continuing to update our paper throughout the development of the new by-law and submitted version 3.0 to the city in October 2024. Also in October, we submitted a detailed recommendations document on Draft 1 as part of the Peoples Official Plan Coalition (POP).

If you have questions or comments please contact Erica at eshardlow@cafesottawa.ca