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GOHBA reno council members cheer on Ottawa Redblacks ahead of Grey Cup victory Staff writer Impact! GOHBA renovator council members got about as close to Ottawa’s Grey Cup winning Redblacks as anyone in the city, with field level seats at the Nov. 4 renovators’ evening event. While the team lost that game – having clinched the East Division final and their playoff position, team management wisely rested the leading players and allowed back-up players to face the Winnipeg Blue Bombers – you could feel the energy that would lead to the ultimate CFL victory on Nov. 27. There were also plenty of opportunities for socializing, and abundant food in the enclosed area near the seats. Members truly enjoyed the gathering. Deslaurier Custom Cabinets Inc. sponsored the evening. CELEBRATING OVER 45 YEARS IN BUSINESS Voted Best Kitchen Manufacturer 20 consecutive years by Ottawa consumers Consumer's Choice Gold Award Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 2415 Carp Road Stittsville, Ontario K2S 1B3 Tel: (613) 836-5353 Fax: (613) 836-7511 www.laurysenkitchens.com 2 - GOHBA Impact • December 2016
Industry relationships improve at City Hall as Ottawa prepares to select new planning, infrastructure and economic development leader Staff writer Impact! There has been a refreshing change in attitude and relationships between the development community and City of Ottawa planning staff in the past two years, say several GOHBA members working with the city on their own projects and as industry volunteers helping to influence municipal policies. The increasingly co-operative and responsive relationship doesn’t mean that everything is perfect, but senior managers has been encouraging staff to make decisions, rather than pass the buck, as development applications wend their way through the approvals process. As well, the development industry – as well as other community groups representing different perspectives – are now properly consulted before new policies are introduced. “I see the changes on many different levels,” says David Renfroe of Domicile Developments, chair of the GOHBA’s Urban Infill Council. “Without doubt, in the last two years the GOHBA and senior city staff have really started to work together on policy initiatives and we’re all working to have a better city and have more reasonable and appropriate policy options.” Renfroe, along with GOHBA first vicepresident Josh Kardish (from the Regional Group) and past-president Pierre Dufresne (Tartan Homes vice-president) said much of the change in attitude relates to the way planning committee chair Jan Harder handles her portfolio. Senior officials Lee Ann Snedden, director, planning services, and economic development director John Smit have also been forthcoming in their leadership – infusing the entire planning department with a much more positive and communicative spirit, they said. Harder, the city council member representing Barrhaven, along with Smit and Snedden, have been influencing the new attitudes even before Steve Kanellakos became the new city manager earlier in the year. He later announced a reorganization where – as a part of a flattening of the city’s bureaucracy - the planning, infrastructure and economic development departments have been amalgamated into a single organization. Former planning department director John Moser is currently the new, larger department’s acting head, but he is slated to leave the city once his successor is hired. “We’re going to be doing a national search for that,” Kanellakos said of the empty planning role in a July interview published by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “I think that Ottawa, as the fourth largest city in Canada, should get the best person we can find to lead the planning and infrastructure department.” Officially, the city isn’t saying much about the recruitment process to replace Moser. “The recruitment for the general manager, planning, infrastructure and economic development is currently in process,” Marianne Phillips, the city’s director of human resource services, said in a statement. “A formal announcement will be made once the hiring process is completed.” However, there have been indications that both Smit – whose experience has been on the economic development side – and Snedden – an administrator without a planning degree – are on the short list to replace Moser. There may be other candidates, possibly from Toronto, on the short list as well. From the GOHBA, Dufresne, Kardish and Renfroe all say that both Snedden and Smit would be great choices for the leadership role after Moser leaves. The improving climate started about two years ago, says Kardish. “Some of the senior staff members and some of the more experienced planners and engineers have been given the authority by design or default to make decisions and to get stuff approved in a timely manner,” he said. “Not everything is perfect. We have some projects that have been bungled but there are also some other files where senior staff members and people with experience are taking a far more proactive approach to problem solving.” “They have the capacity to make the decisions,” he said. “It has resulted in a far better experience and an improved level of service.” This means that individual projects aren’t bogged in bureaucracy, or stalled by managers either afraid to make a decision or seeking to impose their activist position on a file. There is a change as well at the broader policy making level, the GOHBA representatives say. Now, in part because of Harder’s leadership at the political end, development industry leaders are brought into the discussion and policy setting process early on, before things are set in stone. “There’s a difference in that there’s a realization that we are partners in the approval process and partners in the formulation of policy in the official plan,” said Dufresne, who sees a culture shift back to the level of co-operation that the industry enjoyed with municipal governments before the city amalgamated with its suburbs several years ago. As an example of the changed approach, the original Infill 1 policies were dropped on the industry without meaningful consultation, and developers were fearful about what would happen at the next stage, Infill 2. However, that process was much more successful. “We had more than 10 meetings with the City of Ottawa planning staff before it went to the planning committee,” he said. “Compare this to Infill 1, where there was no consultation with the industry or community about all the issues that meant the bylaw didn’t work. The GOHBA had to appeal Infill 1 to the Ontario Municipal Board.” “With Infill 2 there was a completely different approach,” Renfroe said. “There was an attitude: ‘Let’s talk about the issues, let’s discuss the disagreements, let’s talk about it before it gets to the municipal courtroom. There was a huge shift in the philosophy of how policy should be done.” The Infill 2 story has been replicated with other policy initiatives – Renfroe counts 10 so far – including topics such as the site plan review process, R4 zoning changes, urban forest management plan and inclusionary zoning issues. “Now there is a definitely an open, respectful relationship, where we can discuss topics and come to a resolution before they come to the planning committee,” Renfroe said. Community associations are also included in the process. “Relationships take several parties and you need people working together,” he said.” I have to commend all the volunteers at the GOHBA as well as senior management at the City of Ottawa. It is definitely a ‘win-win’ environment right now.” www.ottawawindowworks.ca 613-728-0888 854 Boyd Avenue, Ottawa Hours: Monday-Friday 8:30 - 5:00 info@ottawawindowworks.ca December 2016 • GOHBA Impact - 3
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