Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee

WHEREAS in November 2024, the City of Ottawa held a Rural Summit that highlighted the need for further consultation with the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee with respect to rural matters; and WHEREAS the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee Terms of Reference provide that the committee is “responsible directly to Council for those items outside of the urban boundary emanating from … [a]ll departments, services and/ or branches responsible for issues arising from the rural areas, or with a distinct rural component or impact on rural residents”; and WHEREAS on December 11, 2024, Council considered the staff report titled, “Acquisition of Property at 5689 Ferry Road” (further to consideration at the Finance and Corporate Services Committee meeting of December 3, 2024), and approved Motion No. 2024-48-18 to refer this matter to the next meeting of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee for consideration, to be considered by City Council thereafter; and WHEREAS the Council-approved motion recognized that the proposed Ferry Road property acquisition under the City’s program/funding with respect to the purchase and stewardship of important natural lands in the rural area should have been considered by the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, given the committee’s Terms of Reference; and WHEREAS City staff have not demonstrated that the purchase of the Ferry Road property is critical to the achievement of Official Plan objectives, and the implementation of the Cit

WHEREAS the staff report for 6980 Mansfield Road (6985 Bleeks Road) is a based on a rezoning application to fulfill a condition imposed by the Committee of Adjustment decision for consent to sever a surplus farm dwelling; and WHEREAS condition #3 of the Committee of Adjustment decision requires that only the retained lands currently zoned Agricultural be rezoned to prohibit residential development; and WHEREAS the staff report recommends that Council approve a Zoning By-law Amendment to re-zone the entirety of retained lands, both Agricultural and Rural Countryside to prohibit development; BE IT RESOLVED that the staff recommendation #1 be replaced with the following: “That Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee recommend Council approve an amendment to Zoning By-law 2008-250 for 6980 Mansfield Road (6985 Bleeks Road), as shown in Document 1, to prohibit residential development on part of the portion of the retained lands currently zoned AG (Agricultural) as detailed in Document 2.” BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Document 1 and Document 2 in the staff report be replaced with the attached revised documents. AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that pursuant to subsection 34(17) of the Planning Act, no further notice be given.

WHEREAS Battery Electric Storage System (BESS) facilities are an important and growing aspect of clean and efficient energy grids; and WHEREAS ensuring regulatory clarity will help provide confidence to residents and proponents alike that these facilities are being fairly and properly reviewed; and WHEREAS according to a 2023 report from the Ontario Energy Board (OEB), a typical electricity customer in Ontario uses roughly 25 kWh of electricity per day; and WHEREAS based on the size to mega-watt hour (mWh) storage of other modern BESS facilities, a 1 hectare facility could provide 50mWh of storage which could provide power to roughly 2000 typical customers for one day; and WHEREAS based on the current staff report, there are circumstances in which such a capacity and footprint could be considered an Accessory Use despite the intent of an Accessory Use being that these facilities be intended to provide the power needs of a site and are limited by the supply of the building’s energy loads; and WHEREAS the proper notification about proposed large scale or principal use BESS facilities to local representatives is an important way to ensure that social license for these facilities can be secured. THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Document 2 Details of Recommended Zoning By-law Amendment to report ACS2025-PDB-PS-0016 regarding Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendments for Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) be revised by adding the underlined text below to the proposed new Section 9