Matthieu Gagnon, Vice-President, CGOWCA Board

At our annual general meeting on September 24, we were lucky to have Robin van de Lande come to present on the Orléans Corridor Secondary Plan Study which is in the final stages of being adopted (pending Ontario Land Tribunal case OLT-23-000243). In May, a first development application was published which is an example of the type of developments that we can expect coming out of the plan. I thought it would be good to present the short-, medium- and long-term benefits that the community will see as these developments start to appear and a little bit on how I see the community association handling these developments.

Short Term

In the short term, these developments will start providing more housing options for people. I currently live on a street off Voyageurs. I walk and bike a lot which provides me a more detailed look at the community. I see two types of people that I think can benefit from these developments: the young and the old.

I see a lot of young adults living with their parents. One The telltale signs areis the number of cars in a driveway. A lot of young people can’t afford to leave the family homes because rents are getting quite ridiculous ($1960 median rent according to Zumper). Having more supply in Ottawa will reduce the price of rents across the city because of basic supply and demand.

I also see a lot of people who are aging out of being able to live in single family homes. Single family homes need a lot of maintenance and I see a lot of people having to hire contractors to do basic maintenance tasks such as mowing the lawn. Moving out of their homes though is hard. Financially, there is are often very little benefits due to the cost of rent or condos. Considering the additional uncertainty with a new home, there are also very limited options in our community for downsizing. These developments could provide older members of our community with options to stay in the community.

Another benefit is that workers for businesses in the community will have options that are more in line with the wages provided by a lot of small businesses such as restaurants and retail. Having those workers means less people commuting in and out of the community which is often done by car which means less congestion.

Medium Term

In the medium term, those developments which will come with development charges will help fund key infrastructure projects in our community and bring new places and services for our community.

The Transportation Master Plan and the secondary plan has a lot of wonderful things for people looking to reduce their dependence on cars. There are a number of improvements to the walking and cycling experience. Active transportation infrastructure is typically undervalued by the city with most capital spending going on bigger projects such as roads and transit across the city. With development charges, it is possible to work with our councillor to prioritize where the funds will be used in the community without having to compete for funding with from the rest of the city. These developments could help develop our active transportation network which will also help mitigate the impact of those developments by reducing car dependency.

The development pattern presented in the plan is focused on multi-use buildings meaning that buildings will be expected to have retail or public space on the ground floor along with housing. This will lead to more opportunities for businesses to emerge. Those businesses will also be supported by the new people that will be able to move into the community. 

Long Term

In the long term, these developments will lead to a more financially sustainable city and provide residents with a better and more affordable life.

For example, the current proposal is for seven apartment buildings from 7 to 18 stories at 1887 St-Joseph with retail space at the ground floor. These buildings would replace the current Jeanne D’Arc Medical Centre building. This would bring a lot of new homes for people in the area.

The current value assessment of the property is $6,638,000 for a lot size of 5.7 acres so a value of $1,164,561 per acre. The retirement home on Belcourt which is 4 stories (used because the data on condo buildings would require a lot more work to process) has a value of about $5 million per acre. Municipal taxes are calculated based on the value of property so we can expect this development to significantly increase the value of the property. A higher value property will take on a greater tax burden than lower value properties. This would allow for the cost associated with running the city to be shared with more people placing a lesser burden on the average citizen. Considering the city is facing a cash crunch, this tax uplift is definitely needed.

In the long term, this more sustainable financial model will allow the city to address its current maintenance deficits. There are a lot of potholes that could be filled and programs delivered using the better financial position.

For residents, access to more housing choices, more amenities and a better maintained city will be an obvious boost to quality of life. Life will also be more affordable. To get around in Orléans without a car is currently very difficult and, according to Ratehub,  the average cost of car ownership is $1387 a month and increasing. By allowing more people to walk or bike, the city will allow more households to only operate one vehicle as opposed to 2-3. Some families may also make due with no vehicle or just a car share service like Communauto for their occasional use. That could be a huge boon to household budgets that could be spent locally instead of diverted to car and oil and gas companies outside of the community.

Growing Pains

As a community association, I think it will be important that any developments be built in a way that helps the community achieve the benefits expected in the plan. We need to make sure that when development applications come in that they are in line with the plan. We also need to push for the infrastructure to be built alongside any development to ensure that newcomers to our community are not forced into car dependency from the start which could create a huge impact through additional congestion. We also need to ensure that the construction of those developments have a minimal impact on the surrounding community.

It is clear that with the coming of the LRT that those changes are inevitable since they will be needed to pay for  the infrastructure costs. Those changes can be beneficial to our community. I encourage everyone to provide comments on development applications with their concerns and share those comments with the community association so we can better advocate for you.

We will do our best to communicate development applications as they are posted through our Facebook Page, our newsletter and other communication means that we may develop in the future. However, you can look up development applications on the city’s development application website.