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Mark your calendars: the November FCA-FAC General Meeting will be on Wednesday November 17 at 7 pm, via Google Meet. An agenda and meeting link will be sent out prior to the meeting.
 
2022 draft City of Ottawa budget
 2. The City's 2022 draft budget was tabled on November 3 and will be finalized by City Council on December 8. Until then, opportunities for public input are through Councillor consultations and presentations at City standing committees. While the draft budget anticipates a 3% increase in property taxes (about $119 on the average home), increases are proposed in user fees, including water, wastewater, stormwater, and transit. More information is found at https://engage.ottawa.ca/city-budget-2022
 
3. One budget issue receiving attention is the appropriate level of funding for the Ottawa Police. The 2022 Ottawa Police budget comes to $345 million (includes a proposed $14 million increase). Critics have been calling for re-deployment of some funds to better address certain issues police deal with now. The Coalition of Community Health and Resource Centres – publicly-funded agencies that partner with the City to deliver social and health services – has been asked to present to the November 17 FCA General Meeting the high-lights of their brief "Rethinking Community Safety in Ottawa" presented to the Community & Protective Services Committee as it dealt with the City's Community Safety & Well-Being Plan. Full document is at  http://fca-fac.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2110CHRC.pdf

4. At the FEDCO budget meeting on December 7,  FCA-FAC will  raise City-provided insurance for community associations. The City has two approaches: (1) a "grandfathered" program covering community rinks and the like, capped at 180 community groups and (2) no insurance support whatever for other groups. For the “grandfathered” groups, the deductible has been increased from $500 to $2,500, causing angst among communities with such coverage. Other groups, outside the "grandfathered" program, face significant insurance costs to operate .

5. To determine the scope of community association activities requiring insurance, FCA-FAC will conduct a survey of community groups to better inform ourselves and the City on this matter. Please ensure that your community association responds to this survey when it arrives in the next few days.
 
New Official Plan Finalized
6. On October 27 City Council wrapped-up its three-year process by adopting a new Official Plan - the plan to guide the city's growth for the next 25 years. It is not a perfect plan. It accommodates the expected increase in population through a combination of intensification and urban sprawl. Policies will be shaped by a subsequent zoning bylaw review. However the OP contains some improvements, largely through the results of wide-spread public engagement and community association input. There is stronger language recognizing climate change, a new gender, equity & inclusion lens, and a tree canopy target with policies to protect trees we have. Many details will have to be worked out in subsequent master plans and the zoning bylaw review over the next 4 years.

7.  FCA-FAC and its member associations succeeded in having Council endorse the development of metrics to assess the impact of intensification, targets for protecting tree canopy and access to greenspace as a result of OP policies. We had pushed for these to be developed on a neighbourhood level but had to settle for sub-transect areas (yet to be defined, but better than city-wide targets). We expect to be involved in the definition of these areas by City staff.
 
8. The final stage of this Official Plan odyssey, expected in January, will be approval by the Minister of Municipal Affairs & Housing, based on compliance with Provincial Policy Statements under the Planning Act.  Probably the Minister will  receive submissions from parties (landowners and developers) who assert the City's Official Plan does not provide sufficient land to accommodate growth. At the November 17 General Meeting the FCA will consider whether to provide its own submission to the Minister on the City's new OP.
 
FCA Committees:
 
9. The FCA's Planning & Zoning Committee met November 3 and discussed the City's workplan for the up-coming zoning bylaw review. It also adopted a motion regarding the appropriate posting of material to the CofA website regarding applications at the Committee of Adjustment – this will be considered at the Nov.17 General Meeting. The next meeting of P&Z Committee will be Wednesday December 1.

10. The FCA's Transportation Committee met November 4 to discuss the Transit Commission budget and Transportation budget, as well as the upcoming NCC Long Term Integrated Interprovincial Crossing Plan (expected this month). The Committee adopted a motion calling for a refund for students who have paid into the U-Pass program but will not benefit from the City’s plan to waive transit fares in December. This will be discussed at the Nov. 17 General Meeting. The next meeting of Transportation Committee will be Thursday December 2.
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