Incorporating Headwater Management into municipal planning: Experiences of the City of

Jennifer Boyer, M.Sc., MCIP RPP City of Ottawa Land Use & Natural Systems Unit

November 16, 2015 Today’s Discussion • Where are Ottawa’s Subwatersheds • Official Plan direction • Incorporating HDFs into Ottawa’s planning framework • Challenges to Implementation Where are the City of Ottawa’s watersheds?

• City-owned land: 10%

• National Capital Commission: 6% in

• Federal (), provincial and other public: 6%

• Private: 78%

• 77% of all watercourses in Ottawa are located in rural areas

Ottawa Centres of Official Plan – Natural Heritage System

• NHS defined in Section 2.4.2 • NHS Overlay (Schedule L), parts of the system that can be mapped • Some areas protected through designation (Schedules A & B, S. 3.2) • Section 4.0 directs development review process Ottawa Official Plan Policy s. 2.4.2 Natural Features and Functions l. Surface water features, defined as water-related features on the earth’s surface, including headwaters, rivers, stream channels, drains, inland lakes, seepage areas, recharge/discharge areas, springs, and associated riparian lands that can be defined by their soil moisture, soil type, vegetation or topographic characteristics, including fish habitat. Official Plan Policy

Section 4.7.3 – Erosion Prevention and Protection of Surface Water

OP policy allows exceptions to watercourse setbacks/ surface water protection, allowing them to be reduced on two conditions: • Adjacent to a “minor tributary” that serves primarily a surface water function with intermittent flow. • That four topics were studied (unstable slopes, ecological function, geomorphology, and fish habitat)

OPA 76: Urban Boundary Expansion

East Urban Community Phase 2 Cardinal Creek Subwatershed Study

Initiated to address:

• Changing land uses and urbanization • Water quality in greater Cardinal Creek • Erosion & slope stability • Potential of Karst features

Surface Water Features Protection

•The Subwatershed Study recommends development setbacks for protection of watercourses.

•Recommended management actions based on valued and contributing streams

•These are based on the best available science

• Large-scale development areas moving towards better understanding of headwater protection with systematic evaluation HDF analysis

Cardinal Creek Community Plan

• Greenspaces • Watercourse protection and setbacks • Reduced stormwater discharge • Greater consideration for sensitive groundwater recharge areas

15 The Cardinal Creek Subwatershed Study is the last of its kind (and the first of its kind)

City-wide data collection and analysis reduce the need for background work

•Regular land cover mapping updates •Natural landscape linkage analysis •Natural heritage system definition and mapping – Schedule L •Characterization of Ottawa’s Watersheds •Surface water asset management approach

There is more emphasis on groundwater and surface water protection

•Source Water Protection •Low Impact Development •Evaluation, Classification and Management of Headwater Drainage Features •PPS 2014 and the requirement for a “water resource system”

Reduced requirement for surveys and inventories

•Improved Environmental Impact Statement and Tree Conservation Report Guidelines •Endangered Species Act 2007 Requirements

How do we Prioritize Areas for Study? • Do we have enough information • Development pressures on to make informed decisions? marginal lands • Where are we seeing land use • Land- use changes changes? • Impacts to natural features and • Where are the development functions pressures? • Fragmentation of the natural heritage system • How do we define the issues? • Environmental constraints – hazard lands • Disappearance of headwater drainage features over large areas • Existing environmental problems (water quality, flooding, etc.) Why Make Informed Decisions

 Development will proceed  Infrastructure is required  Existing environmental constraints need to be addressed prior to urban expansion  Can we be more effective in:  Land use management decisions  Stormwater management best practices  Protection of natural features and functions  Better surface water protection framework  Incorporating Asset Management  Consolidating best available data  Accelerating and prioritizing studies Challenges to Implementing Headwaters Policies

• Lack of new policy direction in Ottawa • Some local developers are on board • Using Case Studies – what has worked? • What are other municipalities doing? • Role of the local CAs: regulatory controls, technical review service, consistency • Conservation Authority “support” using HDFs as a decision making tool

Thank you! Photo: Carp Hills Forest Natural Area, City of Ottawa