Our office will be holding a public meeting on the development at 15-17 Oblats Avenue on December 5th from 7-9pm. The format will include a brief presentation on the application, with a discussion and question and answer period to follow. The application with associated plans is available on the Dev Apps website.
Past events
Please join our office for a presentation and community consultation on the development at 15 Oblats Avenue. The project has not yet been submitted to the City, so there are no formal documents in circulation. At this meeting the developer will present the draft design and a framework of how it has evolved through community input. There will be an opportunity for questions and discussion. Once there there is an official application on file, residents can also submit feedback through a more formalized process to the City Planner on the file. 
Hosted by:
Councillor Shawn Menard in concert with the Heron Park Community Association, and the Ottawa Community Benefits Network
Featured Panelists:
Rawlson King, Councillor for Rideau-Rockcliffe
Kumsa Baker, Campaigns Manager for the Toronto Community Benefits Network
Join us to find out:
- What is a Community Benefits Agreement?
- What benefits can be achieved from a Community Benefits Agreement?
- A Community Benefits Agreement for Confederation Heights: The Case and a Vision
- A Coalition to Advocate for and Build a Community Benefits Agreement
- What you can do
Please join us on Saturday June 11th (rain date June 12th) for a Capital Ward Bike Ride + BBQ to reconnect with neighbors and celebrate making it through the last two years! For those who want to join, We’ll be meeting at 11am at Sylvia Holden Park, and biking to Windsor Park for a picnic at 11:30am. The ride will be family friendly, but note that you are welcome to join us for the BBQ portion of the event. We’ll supply hot dogs/veggie dogs & buns & soft drinks, feel free to bring your own sides and utensils, and a blanket to sit on if you desire. Please RSVP to the event so we know how many to expect - the bike route is mapped out below. Looking forward to seeing many of you there!
Please join us for Capital Ward’s inaugural Older Adult Forum, hosted by Councillor Menard in concert with Senior’s Watch Old Ottawa South. The topic for this forum will be addressing the lack of primary care and support services available to the older adult population.
Featured panelists include Dr. Laura Muldoon, a family doctor at Somerset West Community Health Centre, and Ann Good, a retired public servant who has advocated over the past 20 years for the care of senior family members and friends, while they navigated various health conditions and levels of care. The forum will take place on May 19th at 7:00 PM and will be hosted online.
Join us to discuss the re-design of Bronson Avenue. Bronson will need to be re-constructed in a few years, so we want to make sure the street is designed to best suit the needs of residents.
The consultation will be held online using Zoom. Please register for the event to receive your link to event.
City staff and OSEG have issued a report on re-vitalizing Lansdowne Park [PDF], centred on re-building the north side stands and arena. The report is tentatively scheduled to go to the Finance and Economic Development Committee (FEDCO) on Friday May 6.
Join us for a public discussion on this new proposal and what you’d like to see out of an improved Lansdowne Park.
Join us for a discussion on putting in a southbound contraflow bicycle lane on Clover Street, from Aldea Avenue to Heron Road. A contraflow bicycle lane has been requested by many residents of Heron Park, and is being considered as part of the City of Ottawa's next Transportation Master Plan. Come out and tell us what you think.
The consultation will be held online using Zoom. Please register for the event to receive your link to event.
We will be holding an online consultation to discuss ongoing issues on Harvard Avenue.
The consultation will be held on Wednesday, April 6, from 7:00 to 8:00 pm.
Please visit www.ShawnMenard.ca/HarvardAvenue for details.
We will be discussing the following issues:
Pumping Station Construction: The Harvard Sanitary Pumping Station is located at 29 Harvard Avenue, at the intersection of Harvard Avenue and Raleigh Street. The facility was constructed in 1935 and underwent a complete reconstruction in 1995. The pumping station is located between two residential houses, with very little buffer between the properties.
Due to the proximity of the Harvard Pumping Station to the Rideau River, when the water table is high in spring, portable pumps must be brought in to handle the flows, which require 24-hour coverage and lead to significant operating costs. It is in need of a capacity upgrade to handle high inflow and exfiltration, as well as other upgrades to bring it inline with city standards.
The project has experienced delays, and the ongoing work has caused significant difficulties for the residents of Harvard. We will be discussing what work remains and the city’s timeline.
Winter Parking Regulations: There has been a request made to consider a winter parking ban on Harvard Avenue, due to concerns about the ability of snowplows and emergency vehicles being able to access the street.
Our office distributed flyers and spoke with some residents seeking feedback. The results were mixed, and we do not feel we had enough input from residents of Harvard Avenue to make to determine the wishes of residents.
The questions we will be seeking to answer are, should Harvard Avenue have a winter parking ban, and, if so, on which side of the street should parking be banned?
Applicant’s Proposal
The City of Ottawa has received an Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment application to permit site specific performance standards to accommodate the construction of a 16-storey mixed-use building containing residential units and commercial, retail and office uses.
Proposal Details
The subject site is located at the northwest corner of the Bank Street / Bélanger Avenue intersection. The irregular shaped lot has an area of approximately 1,460 square metres with approximately 47 metres frontage on Bank Street and approximately 31 metres frontage along Bélanger Avenue. The site is currently occupied by a one-storey commercial/retial building with 465 square metre GFA and associated surface parking.
Within the site vicinity, the surrounding area generally consists of a variety of retail commercial and office uses as well as residential uses. To the immediate north of the subject site, across Belanger Avenue, is a five-storey, mixed-use building and further north is a residential area comprised of mid-rise and high-rise residential buildings. To the south is an automotive service business and a multi-unit commercial/retail building and further south is a law office and Blue Heron Mall. To the east, across Bank Street, is a one-storey commercial/office building and a three-storey mixed-use building with low-rise residential buildings futher east. To the west is a four-storey multi-unit retirement residence with low-rise residential buildings located further west.
The purpose of this Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment application is to accommodate redevelopment of the site to construct a 16-storey high-rise building consisting of 160 residential units and a two-storey mixed-use podium containing retail and commercial uses at grade fronting Bank Street and mix of office and residential uses proposed on the second level of the podium.
The applicant is proposing a three-storey underground parking garage with 66 parking spaces and one at grade loading space, both accessed from Bélanger. A combined total of 186 bicycle parking spaces are provided at grade and within the parking garage. A subsequent Site Plan Control application will be submitted to facilitate the development.
The applicant is seeking a site specific Official Plan Amendment to facilitate the proposed development as the building and site design elements relating to building height and floor space index do not conform with policies of the Bank Street Secondary Plan. Details of the Official Plan Amendment include:
- Redesignate the Subject Property as a “Node” to establish permission for development of highrise buildings of up to 50 metres in building height at the intersection of Bank Street and Belanger Avenue.
- Require no maximum Floor Space Index, whereas the site currently has a maximum Floor Space Index 3.5.
The applicant also seeks to rezone the subject site from Arterial Mainstreet, Subzone 1, Urban Exception 1913 (AM1 [1913]) to introduce a new site-specific Urban Exception and height Schedule to permit the following requested relief:
- To add “apartment dwelling, high-rise” to the list of permitted uses on the Subject Property.
- To permit a minimum rear yard setback for a rear lot line abutting a residential zone of three metres, whereas 7.5 metres is required.
- To permit a building height of 50 metres or 16-storeys, whereas a maximum building height of 25 metres is required.
- To permit no maximum Floor Space Index (FSI), whereas an FSI of 3.5 is required.
- To permit a combined minimum number of parking spaces of 66, whereas a total of 94 spaces is required (74 residential, 15 visitor, 5 office).
Full application and other information can be found here.