The City of Ottawa last week presented its draft economic development rural plan to the Agriculture and Rural Affairs committee, which will be finalized and presented once more to the committee on May 7.
The plan intends to bring about greater opportunities to rural areas of Ottawa, and proposes a wide range of initiatives, including establishing a rural business liaison position and promoting rural Ottawa as a filming destination.
Through these initiatives, the plan aims to “reduce barriers, build on rural strengths, support emerging opportunities, and lay a strong foundation for future rural economic development programs and services.”
Coun. Isabelle Skalski (Osgoode) noted that the plan in its current form doesn’t yet address some key concerns for rural residents.
“The plan in my view still feels heavy on support and promotion and light on barrier removal,” she said. “The consistent message that I get from rural businesses is the need to remove barriers that stop investment from happening in the first place. Those barriers are very specific; there’s zoning constraints, approval timelines, fees, servicing limitations, inconsistent interpretation, gaps in the experience with well and septic innovations.”
Coun. Clarke Kelly (West Carleton-March) highlighted the need for transportation in rural areas, and specifically in the Carp Road Corridor, asking city staff if the plan would address this issue.
“We absolutely heard through the consultations that transportation is a challenge,” responded a staff member. “It’s a challenge for employees getting to places of work in our rural communities; it’s also a challenge for residents and visitors who want to frequent businesses and attractions that are in those rural communities.”
However, they noted that transportation is not exactly their area of jurisdiction. “Transportation, of course, is not our wheelhouse,” said the staff member, but added: “We’re very available and we’ll look to speak to or connect with our colleagues in transportation services to explore opportunities to address some of these challenges.”
The draft rural economic development plan is now available on the Engage Ottawa website, and is open for review until April 4.
The draft plan will then be presented once more to the committee on May 7.
