MINUTES - PUBLIC – LAND DEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING COMMISSION – 2nd meeting – October 17 – 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

5. Governmental land use planning orientations

The new governmental land use planning orientations (Orientations gouvernementales en aménagement du territoire - OGAT) are not included in the CDTH work plan, but their impacts are major on the regional planning of the territory. The following presentation aims to present these new OGATs and specify the impacts for the City.

The PowerPoint document "The governmental orientations regarding land use planning (OGAT)" is presented to the members. The presentation is broken down into the following sub-themes:

• Contextualization;
• OGAT housing;
• New OGATs.

During and after the presentation, questions, answers, and comments are formulated regarding, among other things:

• Targets regarding housing affordability will not be introduced into the Schéma d’aménagement et de développement (SAD) as part of the housing OGAT. However, the housing OGAT is only a small part of the entire corpus of new OGATs;
• Regarding housing, the definitions of the terms "quality, accessible and affordable" are defined in the SAD. It will be necessary to evaluate if it is possible to improve these definitions while respecting those of the provincial government;
• A request is made to follow up to ensure that the interactive platform that will allow tracking the evolution of indicators will be put online shortly;
• It is estimated that the CDTH should be consulted, and not the Comité consultatif d’urbanisme, between the draft bylaw and final related documents scheduled for December 2024, and the notice of motion and adoption of the draft bylaw by the council in February 2025;
• The addition of targets to the SAD in connection with the housing OGATs does not entail modifications by concordance to the urban planning bylaws. The update of the SAD in connection with the entire corpus of new OGATs will, however, have impacts, by concordance, on the latter;
• The concordance work for the Plan d’urbanisme, following the update of the SAD, will be spread over two years after the entry into force of the revised SAD;
• Targets and indicators are imposed on RCMs and municipalities for comparison purposes;
• A request is made to follow up to see if housing programs could benefit from funding to promote the achievement of certain targets, and to return to the CDTH regarding the mandatory targets and indicators for orientation 4;
• During the SAD update work, in connection with orientation 4, housing densities will have to be re-evaluated based on developments planned in Gatineau within a 2050 horizon;
• There is a desire to align the targets and priorities of the various departments, notably the SUDD and the Service des infrastructures et projets, to meet the capacity issues of municipal services in certain neighborhoods. If the data is not available during the SAD update, this alignment could be included in the SAD action and monitoring plan;
• The reflection on sectors that do not have overflow issues and that are conducive to development and densification will take place during the SAD update, and the adjustment accordingly of the zoning bylaw specification grids will be done after the adoption of the revised SAD during the concordance work;
• A question is asked about how public consultations and citizen awareness will be integrated, as there is a feeling of a need to do more. The response is that public consultations are not yet planned, as the SUDD is in the planning phase of the project, but they will certainly take place;
• It is suggested to be inspired by the City of Auckland in New Zealand, which allows the construction of triplexes in single-family residential zones. This has allowed for the creation of many housing units and has caused housing costs to stagnate compared to the rest of the country, in addition to diversifying the typology of housing offered, other than multi-unit dwellings;
• It is planned to include accessory dwelling units (UHA) in the City of Gatineau's Housing Strategy currently under development;
• It is not known if modifications to the Construction Code are planned. It is believed, however, if modifications were to be made, that they would introduce relief rather than new constraints.

6. Status report – Information on the consultation process for the downtown Special Planning Program (PPU) and the Old Aylmer PPU

The first co-creation workshop for the downtown PPU took place yesterday. More than 60 participants were present, including the consultant from Atelier urbain. The presentation will be accessible shortly on the City's website. A presentation to the downtown consultation table is scheduled for November 14. Everything will return to the commission on December 12, 2024, with the presence of the consultant. Subsequently, an online public consultation will be deployed in the winter to validate the City's proposals regarding densities, heights, uses, etc. The action plan and the monitoring plan will be refined after this consultation. The final documents should be adopted by the council in the fall of 2025.

As for the Old Aylmer PPU, the same principles are applied. The first public activity took place on September 18, 2024. A presentation to the CDTH for recommendation to the council is scheduled for November 14, 2024. Other public consultation activities are planned, namely a design charrette and a validation workshop. It is recalled that the most up-to-date information is available on the Old Aylmer PPU page.

Questions, answers, and comments are formulated regarding, among other things:

• It is highlighted that major developers were not present at the first public activity of the Old Aylmer PPU. An attempt will be made to solicit their participation more directly;
• A request is made to ensure that CDTH members are invited to all public consultation activities concerning the downtown and Old Aylmer PPUs.

7. Overview and timelines of items on the CDTH work plan

In addition to the downtown and Old Aylmer PPUs, five other items are included in the work plan in 2025, namely:

• The Affordable Housing Strategy;
• SAD monitoring;
• The vision for the future of golf courses on the territory of the City of Gatineau;
• The bylaw regarding architectural integration plans (PIIA);
• The Regional Plan for Wetlands and Watercourses (PRMHH).

The progress of each of these items is presented to the members. Questions, answers, and comments are formulated regarding, among other things:

• At the moment, several golf courses are in recreational designations in the SAD, which limits the possibilities for golf course redevelopment. Requests for change of designation for golf courses will not be treated piecemeal, but rather within a regional vision of the territory. Which does not mean that they will all have the same designation;
• It is considered important to preserve the ecological connectivity of golf courses, to define connectivity rules, and to connect everything with the OGATs;
• The item on the work plan concerning the vision for the future of golf courses on the territory of the City of Gatineau had been deemed a priority by the members of the CDTH;
• Regarding the Affordable Housing Strategy, it is proposed to allow flexibility in the zoning bylaw and higher targets for social and community housing;
• A request is made to include the Commission de l’environnement et de la lutte aux changements climatiques in the reflection concerning the PRMHH. This commission is also interested in the bylaw regarding PIIAs. The ecological connectivity of golf courses could also interest them;
• The ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs (MELCCFP) was no longer granting extensions to submit the PRMHH, so it was submitted on time in December 2023, for comments, mentioning that conservation commitments, the action plan, and the monitoring plan were missing. Work continues for adoption by the municipal council in 2025;
• It is estimated that there is an urgency to act to preserve the remaining natural environments.

8. Varia

a) National Capital Commission (NCC) project along the Ruisseau de la Brasserie

A member learned in a newspaper column that the NCC is planning a project of four eight-story buildings along the Ruisseau de la Brasserie, which would destroy a large part of the urban park and create heat islands. She asks if the City has recourse to prevent this project, and if the CDTH can take a position on this subject. Questions, answers, and comments are formulated regarding, among other things:

• It is considered that it is not the role of the CDTH to take a position. There were some subtleties missing in the column. The project proposes the inclusion of affordable housing. More than 65% of the public occupancy for park use, among others, would be preserved. There is a desire for consultation to revitalize the sector. It is believed that the current housing situation means that we must seize this opportunity;
• It is recalled that the NCC issued a call for projects for housing development work on the grounds of the former monastery of the Servantes de Jésus-Marie congregation on rue Laurier;
• The column in the newspaper presented an angle resistant to the project. However, the NCC's objective is to obtain the greatest social acceptability for the project;
• It is recalled that there have already been other projects in the same place, which ultimately never saw the light of day, including the musée Jean-Dallaire in 2007-2008 and more recently a library, among others, contrary to what was written in the column;

b) Member training

It had been proposed by a member to offer training to all members of the Commission. The chair believes that members have every interest in taking training, but the suggested training was offered by an entity located far from the City of Gatineau. It is recalled that the "ABC of Urban Planning" training, available online, uses local lexicon and acronyms.