The City of Ottawa has received an application to amend its Official Plan in order to expand the city’s Urban Boundary. The proposed expansion (“Stittsville West Urban Expansion Area”) at 6435 Fernbank Road and 6437 Flewellyn Road is immediately west of existing homes in Stittsville (see map above). It could allow for the future development of approximately 2,391 new homes.
This post will be updated as more information becomes available.
Councillor Glen’s note: In 2024, the Provincial Government changed the rules for adding land to the urban boundary. Previously, it could only be done every 5 or 10 years through a comprehensive city-wide review, as part of an Official Plan process. Now, landowners can apply at any time to add land to the urban boundary.
This policy is bad for Ottawa. Any new suburban expansion requires extensive planning for water, sewer, and transportation infrastructure; planning for municipal services like emergency response, libraries, and recreation; and so on. By allowing urban boundary expansion applications at any time, there’s no way cities can plan efficiently and holistically with such a piecemeal approach. In Stittsville (and elsewhere in Ottawa) there is still a ton of land closer to existing infrastructure that is waiting to be developed. We need developers to finish building homes within the existing urban boundary, before we extend it any further.
On top of that, this land on Fernbank/Flewellyn is close to sensitive natural areas, including wetland. It was already evaluated as part of the 2022 Official Plan and council rejected the land for new development. I do not support this urban boundary expansion.