New Zoning By-law Comments
- Oct 2
- 6 min read
All Woodpark Community Association Members and Residents. We need your help!
Below is our letter to the City officials regarding the final draft of the New Zoning Bylaw. We have significant concerns and specific requests to address these concerns. Feedback on this topic must be submitted to the City by end of business tomorrow (Oct. 3). We believe that all our voices be heard. To that end we are asking you to download a copy of our letter, edit is to add your specific comments and send it to the email address NewZoning@ottawa.ca. After downloading the letter, please ensure you add your Woodpark street address at the top of the letter and your name/signature at the bottom. If you have questions please reach out to Woodpark@woodpark.ca and we will do our best to respond.
October 2, 2025
To Mayor Sutcliffe, Councillor Kavanagh, Chair of Planning and Housing Committee and NewZoning@ottawa.ca
Subject: Comments from the Woodpark Community Association on the final draft of the new Zoning By-law
Executive Summary
The Woodpark Community Association is asking the city to consider a few changes to the proposed zoning and that the bylaws be matched with initiatives that will help ensure that our community remains safe and liveable.
Parking and Street-Level Impacts: We are asking the CIty to commit to working with the community to ensure local and arterial roads (Woodroffe, Carling, Richmond) remain safe and functional for all users—pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists
Infrastructure Readiness: We are asking the City to make infrastructure assessments and phased development plans available to communities, and for Woodpark to be included in the Infrastructure Capacity Management Program, with clear and accessible reporting for residents.
Zoning Clarity and Transparency: We are asking the city to re-examine the N4 designation for the north end of Compton Avenue, the south side of Byron Avenue and the east end of Flower Avenue with the recommendation that all of these be zoned for N3 consistent with the rest of the community.
Preserving Community Identity and Greenspace: We are asking the City to prioritize the creation and restoration of greenspace in Woodpark and pursue the Planning and Housing Committee’s directive to work with the NCC to expand recreational access north of the future development area near Lincoln Fields Station.
We are writing on behalf of engaged residents in the Woodpark community to provide our comments on the final draft of the new zoning by-law. Woodpark is a small unplanned community situated west of Woodroffe Avenue, east of the Kichi Zibi Mikan, south of Richmond Road and north of Carling Avenue. Two LRT stations (New Orchard and Lincoln Fields) are currently being built adjacent to the community and parts of the community are included within the scopes of the Lincoln Fields and New Orchard-Cleary Secondary Plans. We have narrow roads, practically no sidewalks and very limited park space within our boundaries. The latter fact was acknowledged by the City Planners during the development of the Lincoln Fields Secondary Plan.
We would like to begin by expressing our appreciation to the City for the tremendous amount of work undertaken to modernize its planning and development framework. We support the intent to accommodate growth, promote appropriate intensification near transit and other neighbourhood amenities, and advance environmental sustainability.
However, even the most well-intentioned policies require thoughtful and effective implementation. Success will require that the new zoning by-laws be matched with initiatives to ensure that established neighbourhoods remain safe and liveable and can foster a sense of community as they welcome many more residents.
To that end, we wish to highlight a few key concerns:
Parking and Street Impacts
Amongst the immediate concerns of Woodpark residents is the potential for parking challenges in our neighbourhood, which are expected to be exacerbated by the completion of the Line 2 in addition to the planned intensification. Many areas in Woodpark already face challenges with on-street parking – particularly in the winter – given our narrow streets and lack of sidewalks. Increased density without proportional parking solutions will exacerbate congestion and reduce accessibility for residents, visitors, and emergency services - we have already seen some of this at Midway and Hartleigh Avenues, where a housing development has provided insufficient parking. We are concerned that the City has not fully considered how this change may affect traffic flow, pedestrian safety, and overall street-level livability. To date, the City has not given our community any assurances that they are proactively thinking about these issues, including how potential future problems will be resolved. We are looking for a commitment from the city that they will work with us to ensure that our community streets, as well as the surrounding arterial roads (Woodroffe, Carling and Richmond) remain safe and functional for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.
Intensification and Infrastructure Readiness
We acknowledge the need for intensification to meet housing demands. However, this must be matched with adequate infrastructure. Our community is concerned about whether existing water, drainage and sewer systems can support the proposed increase in density. Aging infrastructure, if not upgraded, could lead to service disruptions, environmental risks, and long-term costs for residents.
While the proposed by-laws rightly require developers to submit reports confirming the availability of stormwater, water, and wastewater infrastructure, there has been little advance information about our community’s overall readiness for increased development. This lack of documented infrastructure analysis leaves residents concerned that infrastructure planning is reactive and piecemeal, rather than guided by a proactive, comprehensive strategy.
We are looking for a commitment from the City to provide communities with transparent infrastructure assessments and phased development plans to ensure systems are appropriately scaled before significant zoning changes are approved. Specifically, we would like to have our neighbourhood evaluated in the forthcoming “Infrastructure Capacity Management Program”. Assessments should be accessible, clearly communicated, and easy for residents to understand.
Transparent Communication and Zoning Clarity
As noted above, Woodpark is a small community completely surrounded on all sides by higher-density main corridors (Woodroffe and Carling Avenues and Richmond Road). The use of transitional zoning along several streets adjacent to higher-density main corridors is of considerable concern among some residents living in or adjacent to these areas. Concerns remain on how deep into the community the intensification can take place along areas of Carling (proposed as N5 at Wentworth, Hartleigh, Richardson and Walsh Avenues). Despite their approval in the Lincoln Fields Secondary Plan, to date, the City has not been able to explain the higher intensity zoning of these areas and there are concerns that the higher buildings in the neighbourhood will feel out of scale with surrounding homes. Further, in three cases where N4 zoning is proposed – the areas along Compton, Byron and Flower Avenues – the reasons for decisions on what should constitute a transitional zone are perceived as arbitrary and leading to inconsistencies on neighbourhood streets.
We are asking the City to provide justification for the zoning decisions of the aforementioned areas along Carling.
We are further asking the City to re-examine the decision to designate the north end of Compton Avenue and the east end of Flower Avenue N4 rather than N3, which is inconsistent with the zoning for the majority of those streets (N3). We are also asking the City to re-examine the zoning along the south side of Byron Avenue, as these homes are fronting onto a linear park, not a main street, and therefore, in our view, transitional zoning is not required.
Preserving Community Identity
Woodpark is defined not only by its homes but by its character, its trees, its access to green spaces, and strong sense of community. We appreciate the City’s stated commitment to planning that protects mature trees and open spaces and respects architectural heritage.
Now that the LRT construction is nearing its end and the new zoning by-laws that will allow significant intensification are soon to be approved, the City must turn its attention to restoring previous greenspaces and should be working with the community to determine how to increase access to parklands with play equipment for young children as well as greenspace to support the anticipated significant increase in population. During the Planning and Housing Committee discussion on November 5, 2024 when it approved the Lincoln Fields Secondary Plan they directed staff to work with the National Capital Commission to “explore opportunities for active or passive recreation space on the NCC’s greenspace that is accessible to the Woodpark Community after completion of the western expansion of the O-train located approximately north of the future development area east of Lincoln Fields Station and west of Edgeworth Avenue”. We don’t believe these discussions have taken place yet and ask that they be pursued as soon as possible.
Conclusion
In closing, we support responsible growth and recognize the need for evolving urban planning. However, we add our voices to the concerns raised by other community groups, which advocate for “gentle” infill rather than aggressive upzoning and are seeking an approach that ensures community character is preserved. A one-size-fits-all approach is never good government policy.
We are seeking a commitment from City Council to support communities such as ours to manage the issues associated with intensification.
The Woodpark Community Association looks forward to a continuing partnership with City officials to ensure our neighbourhood continues to thrive through all the changes ahead.
Comments