Ottawa’s east end shortchanged on road construction, councillor argues

Article content

South Orléans has boomed over the past decade just as much as fast-growing Kanata and Stittsville, but the east end ward receives just a fraction of what the City of Ottawa has spent on road infrastructure, the area’s councillor says.

“I know I am a broken record on this issue,” Coun. Catherine Kitts said at Wednesday’s planning and housing committee meeting. “I’m continually talking about congestion and the lack of mobility options and the apparent disregard for the transportation network in this area.”

Article content

Last spring, Kitts asked staff for a report on what the city spent on roadways and how that spending jibed with its upcoming transportation master plan, which will be presented later in 2025. The response came Wednesday and Kitts wasn’t impressed.

“I’ll be honest. I feel a bit gas-lit by staff on this issue,” said Kitts, councillor for Ward 19, Orléans South-Navan. “When I raise these concerns, I hear, ‘There are growing pains in all communities. There is congestion all over the city. That reasonableness is applied to all transportation impact assessments.’

“I feel like I’m the only one banging the drum on what I see as a serious quality of life issue that is bad and getting worse.”

Kitts’ staff analyzed housing growth data and road expenditures and found that between 2013 and 2023 the city issued 7,200 building permits in Kanata and Stittsville and 7,100 in South Orléans. Over the same period, the city spent $131 million on arterial roads in the west end, $174 million in the south end (Barrhaven and South Nepean) and just $20 million in the east end.

“There’s a perception that the east gets less and this inquiry response confirms it,” she said. “There’s no reason to debate that. I have the receipts … The east did not get a single dollar of new road allocations from 2018 to 2022.”

Article content

Article content

Kitts wants the city to speed up road building in her ward, possibly building roads piecemeal as development progresses or even by borrowing against future expected revenue from development charges. Development charges are the steep fees the city imposes on new home construction to pay for the cost of infrastructure such as roads and sewers. The charges add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of new homes.

Currently, the city waits until all the DCs from a housing development are in hand before it spends the money, she said.

“For a large project, that’s years and years of waiting — 10 or 15 years. I think we need to change the way we approach things,” Kitts said after Wednesday’s meeting.

“People who’ve purchased a home in South Orléans have paid DCs as part of their mortgage and they have not received the infrastructure that they paid for.”

While the city talks about 15-minute neighbourhoods and “complete streets” with space for cyclists and pedestrians, it continues to approve car-centric developments in South Orléans. The area has poor public transit, big box stores along Innes Road and no significant employers, she said.

Article content

“Something has got to give. Either we catch up on the infrastructure or we have to slow down on development,” Kitts said. “The quality of life in South Olreans is suffering because congestion is out of control.”

Kitts brought forward a complex motion asking staff to find ways to speed road building and to potentially make the money collected through development charges available sooner. It was passed unanimously by the committee and will now go to full city council for approval.

“There’s always a chance that staff comes back and says, ‘Not feasible. We’re going to keep doing it the way we’ve always done it,’” Kitts said. “But I wanted to do it now in advance of the transportation master plan to see if there is a better way to do things so we’re not always chasing our tail.”

Article content