Weekly newsletter: May 27, 2025

Hi everyone and welcome to the last week of May!

Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending the arrival of the King and Queen at Lansdowne. They look exactly the same as on television, except the King is shorter than I expected (seems to be a common problem in the age of virtual meetings).

Pretty cool experience!

Thank you to the residents who stopped by my booth at the farmers market this past Sunday. I enjoyed meeting and chatting with you all! I’ll be there again the coming Sunday from 10:00 am to 1:30 pm.

The coming Sunday is also the annual spring market↗ in partnership with the Ottawa Farmers’ Market, Barrhaven BIA, and Locally Crafted Markets. Come out to the Nepean Woods Park and Ride from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm and see the best of local produce, artisan products, and businesses! This is a free event with no tickets

Leikin Drive closure

Leikin Drive will be closed between Beckstead and Merivale until Friday, June 20 to facilitate sewer relocation and connection works.

Traffic is detoured to/from Merivale Road via Beckstead with a police officer directing traffic at the Merivale/Beckstead intersection during weekday peak periods. A temporary traffic camera has also been installed to monitor the location.

OC Transpo route 73 trips that normally loop around the RCMP building will instead turn at Bill Leathem/Longfields, skipping the loop altogether. Route 80 will use Beckstead instead of Leikin to/from Merivale.

The works are related to the future sortation facility at 20 Leikin/99 Bill Leathem (for which I’m still waiting to schedule an information night with staff and developer).

Updates will be shared through newsletter and social media should the road reopen early or if the closure is extended.

Water rate structure review

A detailed version of the below was sent out in a special newsletter on Friday.

Staff’s full review of water, sewer, and stormwater rates, including how they are structured and determined, was approved by Committee last week, and will be in front of Council tomorrow for final discussion, possible amendments, and a vote.

A special newsletter on the topic was dispatched last Friday to give residents more than a day to read about the changes and how they will affect water bills and water billing.

Overall, the impact for residential water bills will be a decrease averaging two per cent, while multi-residential water bills will remain unchanged. Non-residential water bills will increase by an average of five per cent.

Water rates will be restructured into two larger tiers; The larger tiers are intended to reflect actual use, while different tier boundaries for residential, multi-residential, and non-residential makes it fairer for residential water bills who currently pay higher rates per cubic metre.

The most notable change will be stormwater, where the City will shift to a model based on the impermeable area of a property, as that is what determines its impact on the stormwater system.

Residential properties will be grouped into four categories: detached, semi-detached, townhouse, and apartment unit. Each will pay a set annual stormwater amount based on the average property size in each category.

Stormwater charges for detached homes will decrease an average of 20 per cent, while semi-detached homes, townhouses, and apartment units will see stormwater charges decrease by an average of 45, 15, and 65 per cent, respectively.

Residential properties with more than 500 square metres of impermeable area, will be charged a stormwater rate based on an exact measurement ($0.67/square metre) of impermeable area on the property. This will affect 198 residential properties in Barrhaven East.

All non-residential properties will shift to a stormwater rate based on an exact measurement of impermeable area on the property at a rate of $0.67 per square metre.

Property owners under the exact measurement method will have the option to appeal the stated measurement on their water bills.

In addition to the rate changes, the percentage of fixed charges in a water bill will also be adjusted to make it more even across different property types. Currently, fixed charges make up 39 per cent of a residential water bill, while multi-residential and non-residential pay just four and five per cent in fixed charges.

The new water rate structure will even out fixed charges to 35 per cent across all property types to reflect the fact most costs in the water, sewage, and stormwater infrastructure don’t change regardless of usage.

Lastly, a small portion of collected stormwater charges will be separated into a new dedicated roadside ditch maintenance fund, which will support a new ditch maintenance programme.

If approved, the new rate structure will take effect spring 2027.

Traffic asset inventory

The City is finally keeping better track of signage, including outdated, excessive, and non-compliant signage.

Did you know the City has no central inventory of where its signs are installed? Individual departments have signage plans relevant to their work, but there’s no complete picture of where all our signs are located.

The lack of a central inventory means coordination can be difficult, which leads to annoyances like posts installed near another post unnecessarily. It’s a minor pet peeve of mine, and I’ve continuously pressed on staff to use existing posts where possible and legal when installing new signs in the ward.

(Note: the MTO prohibits some signs from being located together. For example, an advisory sign cannot share a post with another advisory sign.)

While signs are relatively inexpensive, they are still City assets you pay for that should not be wasted.

The City will begin a full scale inventory of street-level traffic services assets starting next week. Data collection will be completed using a City vehicle equipped with a mobile mapping device, which will be uploaded to the City’s digital twin, a virtual visual representation of Ottawa’s infrastructure.

The initiative will improve data availability and operational efficiency. Eventually, the data will help develop a traffic asset management plan, which will inform decisions on inspections, repairs, removals, and replacements (eg. faded stop signs, outdated signs, signs no longer compliant with the MTO Traffic Manual).

Mobile mapping will also include other traffic assets like traffic signals, streetlights, pavement markings, pedestrian crossovers, and more, but will yield the greatest benefit for signage.

A 360-degree camera and precision Lidar unit will be mounted to a City vehicle to capture visuals and millimetre-level accuracy data points.

Data collection is expected to be complete by September, while full integration with the digital twin should be complete in 2027.

Security at City Hall

New procedures to access the building.

Yesterday, metal detectors and x-ray bag scanners were deployed at the Laurier Avenue and Lisgar Street entrances at City Hall.

Anybody accessing the building, including those walking through, accessing the cafeteria, or the ServiceOttawa, ServiceOntario, and ServiceCanada posts are now subject to the screening.

Public access has also been limited to the Laurier and Lisgar entrances, with the exterior cafeteria access closed and the Elgin Street entrance restricted to employee access only.

Following an audit of corporate security in 2019, various security measures have been implemented over several years at the City’s facilities and assets to reflect evolving security risks and incidents.

Accommodations are available when requested.

City Hall remains open to the public 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, seven days a week. However, weekend access will be limited to the Laurier entrance.

There are no changes to parking garage access, as the new measures are for the building only. However, weekend access to the building from the garage will be limited to the elevators at the Laurier Avenue entrance.

See the City’s news release↗ for more information.

Lastly, please note 2025 final property tax payment is due Thursday, June 19. Mailed property tax bills were dispatched early on May 9 in anticipation of a potential Canada Post labour disruption and should already have arrived.

Residents paying online may consider doing so through their banking app instead of the City’s online processor as to avoid a service charge to Paymentus. More information is available at Ottawa.ca↗.

Have a great week ahead!

-Wilson