Ottawa city council takes a mulligan on a new policy for developer donations

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A controversial $300,000 donation from a developer in Coun. Shawn Menard’s Capital Ward continues to cause conniptions at Ottawa city council.

A proposal that would have stopped councillors from negotiating such deals on their own that was meant to calm the water seemed only to make things worse, with one councillor, College Ward’s Laine Johnson, likening it to “the nuclear option.” And a related proposal to have the city clerk investigate and resolved disputes was labelled a “perversion of democracy” by Kitchissippi Ward Coun. Jeff Leiper.

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The issue, fiercely debated at council last week and ultimately turned over to a working group of four councillors for  further study, stems from a draft agreement Menard negotiated in February with the developer Katasa Group, now known as KTS Properties. KTS is building a 22-storey highrise at the corner of Bronson and Carling avenues and Menard worked with the company and city staff on a deal under which the company would donate $300,000 toward affordable housing and traffic-calming measures in the ward.

That didn’t sit well with other councillors who wanted the KTS donation shared across the city. Orléans Coun. Matt Luloff likened it to a private “slush fund.”

KTS quickly bailed out of the agreement, later saying the money would be split equally among three yet-to-be-named charities. Mayor Mark Sutcliffe first said he wanted clearer rules, then later said similar donations should go to charity, not for work the city should be doing itself.

That was the gist of a motion brought to council this past week by Stittsville Coun. Glen Gower and seconded by Sutcliffe. The motion said “members of council shall not solicit and/or facilitate donations to the city for community benefit” and should “direct the potential donor to city staff to address any donation.”

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Councillors cried foul, saying the motion would keep them from doing their job, which is to advocate for constituents.

“We’ve chosen a nuclear option,” Johnson said, “one that can tie our hands and prevent us from working on behalf of our communities.”

River Ward Coun. Riley Brockington made a similar argument.

“I see it as my job to advocate for my ward’s needs, to be their champion and their spokesperson,” Brockington said. “I will be severely restricted in the types of discussions I can have.”

Brockington then posed a list of hypothetical situations to City Clerk Caitlin Salter MacDonald. Could he negotiate with a developer to put a new play structure in a park? No, Salter MacDonald answered. Could he ask for a sidewalk to provide better access to a bus stop? No, she replied. Could he ask a developer to make accommodations for affordable housing in a new building? No.

“What’s the problem we’re trying to solve here?” Brockington said.

“If people are concerned that we have a colleague who does his job and is able to hammer out an agreement with a developer and achieve community benefits that far outweigh what some of us have been able to accomplish, that’s a different concern and issue.”

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The motion, if adopted, would be “a net loss for our communities,” Brockington said.

A second motion by Gower called for the city clerk to have sweeping powers to monitor the policy and assess and investigate complaints. But that, Leiper argued, would take council “down a dangerous path” of giving such responsibility to an unelected bureaucrat.

Nor is it necessary, Leiper argued, since the city already has an ethic commissioner. He called the proposal “a perversion of democracy.”

Gower later amended that motion to soften the clerk’s role, but in the end it didn’t matter.

After more than 90 minutes of debate that eventually descended into a series of side meetings, Kanata South Coun. Allan Hubley brought a motion to have the whole issue go back to a four-person working group with himself, Johnson, Orléans West-Innes Coun. Laura Dudas and the mayor or his designate. That motion was carried unanimously. The working group is to report back to council by Sept. 30.

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