2021/10/14
Motion 1- Community food security
WHEREAS the City of Ottawa’s Official Plan is intended to provide a vision for the future growth of the city and a policy framework to guide the city’s physical development;
WHEREAS this Official Plan provides direction to other City plans that do not implicitly affect land use matters, such as the Transportation Master Plan, the Infrastructure Master Plan, the Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan and the Urban Forest and Greenspace Master Plan, and others, and that the non-land use matters of the Official Plan are often implemented through these related complementary plans;
WHEREAS food security is a cross-cutting, critical issue fundamental to 2.2.4 – Healthy and Inclusive Communities and in particular 3) Promote Health through Sustainability;
WHEREAS food security in Ottawa requires a food systems approach, including an increase in access to produce and gather food by residents;
WHEREAS Ottawa has a thriving urban agriculture movement with thousands of residents on waiting lists for community garden spaces, pointing to ongoing need to increase access to land for urban agriculture;
WHEREAS Ottawa already has hundreds of homes with backyard poultry, thousands of households interested, with interest only growing as part of increasing home food food security;
WHEREAS the Official Plan implicitly excludes residential poultry accessory use in the residential zoning, noting only crop production as allowable as a generally permitted use for food production;
WHEREAS the City’s current goal is to plant 125,000 new trees per year with attendant programs, budgets and mandate, with no target for edible trees, contributing to resident food security;
WHEREAS Ottawa has a community organization successfully organizing training and equipment for residents to harvest edible perennial plants for food security;
BE IT RESOLVED that minimum targets be added to Section 1.1 of the Draft Official Plan alongside Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Targets to demonstrate the City’s commitment to food security (SDG2) and local food production/consumption, by setting targets for:
- availability of community gardening spaces (including orchards) on city-owned lands (including parkland) per 1000 residents, with a target to be set by Feb 2022.
- minimum of 25% of the tree canopy on City land to be planted as edible perennials each year, including sap trees (sugar maple, birch), nut trees (black walnut, butternut, hazelnut), fruit trees (apple, pear, plum, cherries), tall berries (elderberry, mulberry), etc.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all related City plans be directed to support implementation of the above community food security objectives and targets, nor explicitly forbid the allowance of new community orchards, bake ovens and other community food assets on City-owned lands (all of which already exist on City-owned lands).
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Official Plan will not explicitly forbid favourable future policies strengthening community food security, including residential poultry set to be determined within the next Term of Council.
MOTION 2 – PRESERVATION OF FARMLAND, PROMOTION OF LOCAL FOOD
WHEREAS the City of Ottawa’s Official Plan is intended to provide a vision for the future growth of the city and a policy framework to guide the city’s physical development;
WHEREAS the City of Ottawa’s Official Plan is also intended to support diversification of farming operations to increase local supply of goods and services in the regional economy;
WHEREAS farmland accounts for approximately 40 per cent of Ottawa’s Rural area and is required by the Provincial Policy Statement to be protected for long-term use for agricultural production;
WHEREAS there are no targets specified to guarantee the protection of prime farmland, or to increase local supply of regional food;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT minimum targets be added to Section 1.1 of the Draft Official Plan alongside Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Targets to demonstrate the City’s commitment to economic development, supporting local food and farming businesses and commitment to food security (SDG2) and local food production/consumption, by setting targets for:
- protection of all prime farmland (Class 1-3), in all zones with no further losses, meaning any further required intensification be accomplished inside the urban boundary expansion decided upon in this Official Plan
- protection of livestock/cropland (Class 4-5), in any zone, with maximum loss totalling 25 ha per year across zones, meaning any further required intensification be accomplished inside the urban boundary expansion decided upon in this Official Plan
- local supply of regional food increased to 10% by 2045, in part measured by # of farms, # of farm stands, # of farmers’ markets, # of CSA farms, volume of food produced for sale into local markets as determined by annual survey of local farmers, all to be reported to ARAC on an annual basis.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Draft Official Plan be amended as follows:
9.1.1 Protect farmland for regional food security
- Lands designated as Agricultural Resource Area are shown on Schedules B4 and B9.
ADD
City staff must monitor and report on all land removed from the Agricultural Resource Area. (Target= 0 ha).
Progress toward achieving these targets must be reported on an annual basis to ARAC.
9.2.1 Protect and enhance rural character
- Lands designated as Rural Countryside are shown on Schedule B9.
ADD
City staff must monitor and report on all agricultural land (including prime Class 1-3, and livestock/croplands Class 4-5) removed from agricultural production within Rural Countryside zone. (Targets: Prime = 0 ha; Class 4-5 less than 25 ha / year). Progress toward achieving these targets must be reported on an annual basis to ARAC.
MOTION 3 – MINIMUM SEVERANCE
WHEREAS the City of Ottawa’s Official Plan is intended to provide a vision for the future growth of the city and a policy framework to guide the city’s physical development;
WHEREAS the City of Ottawa’s Official Plan is also intended to support diversification of farming operations to increase local supply of goods and services in the regional economy;
WHEREAS farmland accounts for approximately 40 per cent of Ottawa’s Rural area and is required by the Provincial Policy Statement to be protected for long-term use for agricultural production;
WHEREAS the lot fabric in rural Ottawa is highly fragmented compared to many other large rural municipalities;
WHEREAS in Ottawa the average parcel size is 23ha (56 acres), of parcels that have at least 50% of their area in agricultural use;
WHEREAS smaller parcels have the advantage of being more affordable to farmers wishing to expand their business, or start a new farm;
WHEREAS new Canadians and young farmers looking to market diverse commodities directly to Ottawa residents have little access to appropriately-scaled farm holdings or lots;
WHEREAS the Rural Discussion Paper – Vision for Agriculture in Ottawa (2008), based on extensive community input, recommended the protection of lots greater than 4.5ha (10 acres) and prohibitions against conversion of agricultural land to other uses;
WHEREAS establishing a large minimum size of severance serves to guarantee continued consolidation of farm holdings, while discouraging diversification of farming operations;
WHEREAS the size of severance of a lot creating a new farm holding does not ensure that the land will be used exclusively as an agricultural operation;
WHEREAS a farmland easement in the title of a property creating a new farm holding would ensure that the land will be used exclusively as an agricultural operation;
WHEREAS the Official Plan already includes preconditions on the severance of farm properties (i.e. 9.1.3.4);
BE IT RESOLVED that the Draft Official Plan be amended as follows:
9.1.3
7) The City shall permit the severance of a lot creating a new farm holding that will be used exclusively as an agricultural operation, provided that both the retained and severed parcels of land are no less than 8 cultivatable hectares each, to maintain flexibility for future changes in the type and size of agricultural uses, and that the title to both parcels contains a farmland easement agreement.