Committee tweaks ward boundaries in response to resident concerns
The committee in charge of scrutinizing proposed ward boundary changes took a pencil to the map on Tuesday in an attempt to soothe concerns in rural east Ottawa, even as consultants warned against tinkering with their recommendations.
The finance and economic development committee approved a handful of amending motions, but the most impactful was related to suburban and rural east communities under a new 24-ward map. The city currently has 23 wards.
Proposed boundaries in the Cumberland- Orléans- Osgoode area have been the most controversial, since a previous version had much of rural Cumberland fused with Osgoode ward. Francophone residents feared seeing their interests diminished by being transferred to Osgoode ward.
Don Boudria, the former MP, told the committee about the threat of diluting the francophone community in east Ottawa by drawing new ward boundaries.
Linda Dunn, who was a councillor in the former Cumberland township, told councillors that the old township area should be tied to Orléans, not Osgoode. “We have no tie with Osgoode,” Dunn said.
The committee voted to split today's Cumberland ward across three wards. A northern section with Cumberland village would be pulled into Orléans ward, a middle section would include southOrléans neighbourhoods and rural villages of Navan and Sarsfield, while a southern portion including Carlsbad Springs and Vars would be pulled into Osgoode ward.
Councillors Catherine Kitts, Matthew Luloff and George Darouze — who represent Cumberland, Orléans and Osgoode wards, respectively, — received credit for working on an amendment to the rural-east boundaries in response to concerns in the francophone communities.
When it comes to the idea of combining rural Cumberland with Osgoode ward, there have been criticisms that the massive ward would be too difficult to cover for one councillor.
Coun. Eli El-Chantiry, who voiced cautious support for splitting Cumberland ward three ways, said it's “B.S.” that a big ward can't be effectively represented, since he has represented a geographically large West Carleton-March ward for years.
The consultants hired by the city to recommend new ward boundaries weren't supportive of the committee's redrawn eastern ward boundaries since they tried to protect rural interests by not pulling in suburban communities.
Gary Davidson, one of the consultants who recommended the new ward boundary map, voiced deep skepticism.
Changes to ward boundaries can be appealed to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT), which could be a problem for council if it doesn't have its own hired experts on side.
“We would stand by our report in front of the LPAT,” Davidson said.
The committee also made boundary changes around Eastway Gardens, around the future Ottawa Hospital Civic campus near Dow's Lake and in part of Vanier.
McKellar Park residents have voiced opposition to a proposal to transfer the community from Kitchissippi ward to neighbouring Bay ward, but their concerns fell on deaf ears at the committee, which unanimously rejected a motion to keep the community as part of Kitchissippi.
Councillors said their tweaks to the consultants' boundary recommendations shouldn't be considered gerrymandering since the changes address bona fide community concerns, like the threat of dividing the rural-east francophone community.
The new ward boundaries would take effect for the 2022 municipal election.
No one on the committee took issue with adding another ward, and thus, another councillor. With the mayor, a council elected in 2022 would have 25 members.
Council will be asked to ratify the committee's decision on Dec. 9.