We have become aware that City Council will be considering by-law amendment requirements for creation of secondary dwelling units at its meeting of July 7. While the original proposal setting a limit of 2
bedrooms was acceptable, we are concerned there may be a walk-on motion to remove the cap, or set a limit of 3 or 4 bedrooms, which would facilitate creation of more student bunkhouses, already an issue in our community. If your community association and or its members share this concern, it is not too late to so advise City Council.
By way of greater detail, on July 7 2021, City Council will be considering proposed amendments to Zoning By-law 2008-250 including requirements on secondary dwelling units (SDU’s). The changes would limit new SDU’s to having a maximum of 2 bedrooms, but landlords want a four bedroom limit and there will likely be a proposal for such a change at Council, which would facilitate creation of student bunkhouses.
The intent of the amendments was to improve general readability as part of an effort to streamline zoning language to improve ease of use. With regard to SDU's, the amendment proposes to rewrite the section for greater clarity and ease of use, and for consistency with the recently-adopted provisions for coach houses.
SDU’s are proposed to be limited to a maximum of two bedrooms, similar to coach houses, to ensure the limits are consistent between SDU’s and coach houses, and to ensure that SDU’s remain secondary in nature.
When the Planning Committee considered the matter on June 24 2021, objections were raised by the Ottawa Small Landlords Association (OSLA) and some individuals who buy houses for the purpose of creating SDU’s and renting the house as well as the SDU. Indeed, one of the public interveners at the Committee meeting said she already owns 31 houses which have been renovated to contain a multi-bedroom SDU. The intervenors maintained that it would be uneconomic to establish SDU’s
if limited to two bedrooms, wanting a limit of 3 or better 4 bedrooms, and not coming into force until January 2022. Objections were also raised when the proposal was considered by the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee on June 28.
The Planning Committee approved the proposed by-law amendments for consideration by Council but directed city staff to undertake more public consultation (ie with small landlords) before the July 7
Council meeting. There could be an additional consultation report tabled at that time, or a proposal to modify the changes could be walked on to the agenda by a Councilor.
We, the Bel Air Community Association, are very concerned that creating 3 and 4 bedroom SDU’s will effectively enable the creation of student bunkhouses, which has been an issue in the community for
several years. Indeed, the SDU creators listed students as an example of a group for which SDU’s were targeted.
If you share our concerns, we urge you to make your concerns known to City staff and the Mayor and City Councillors.
City staff working on the file are
Robert Sandercott 613 580-2424 ext. 14270) Robert.sandercott@ottawa.ca
and
Tim Moerman (613 580-2424 ext. 13944) tim.moerman@ottaw.ca
You can bring objections to any increase in the number of allowed bedrooms directly to Council through Caitlin Salter MacDonald (613 580-2424 x28136)
Email: Caitlin.Salter-MacDonald@ottaw
Should you wish to be able to speak to the matter at Council she should be advised beforehand.
By way of background information, you can find the bylaw proposal at
https://app05.ottawa.ca/sirepu
Section 133 concerns SDU’s
As well, the recorded discussion at Planning Committee can be seen at
https://www.youtube.com/chann
Consideration of SDU’s commences at 3 hours 7 minutes into the meeting
The discussion at the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee can be seen at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Consideration of SDU’s commences at 1hour 32 minutes into the meeting
Saturday 3 July 2021
From the Bel-Air Community Association: Student Bunkhouse bylaw before City Council July 7
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