Letters to the Editor – May 2025
Cars in the Glebe
Editor, Glebe Report
I currently avoid the Glebe because of traffic.
According to the City of Ottawa planning documents, expect a 50-per-cent increase in population in 25 years. If that City prediction is accurate, I can’t imagine the Glebe with 50 per cent more cars. We’ll have the density of, say, Amsterdam today, but with space filled with parked cars, not people.
In my lifetime, I have seen lots of traffic growth and have seen places reclaimed for people. We are social, we need places to interact. Cars don’t provide that. People do.
You reap what you sow; do you want a people-centric, vibrant, go-to place, or not?
John A. Stewart
Carlingwood area resident
—
Reckless building permits harm neighbouring properties
Editor, Glebe Report
The City process for approving bylaw variances for building permits disregards negative impacts on neighbours.
The Committee of Adjustment is responsible for deciding, with experts and the public, whether a change to a bylaw is acceptable yet has no enforcement capacity. Building Code Services can override committee decisions and issue bylaw variance permits that significantly limit the scarce privacy and natural environment of neighbours.
I speak from experience as a neighbour of property owners who acquired a bylaw variance permit for a two-storey addition after the committee had approved only one storey. Shocked at the construction, I learned that applicants can update designs after committee decisions and receive permits from Building Code Services without consulting neighbours on changes. Building Code Services can also apply committee approval of one-storey variances to multiple storeys. This makes the committee effectively meaningless, as its purpose is to assess negative impacts of structures through a consultation process. To make things worse, there is no appeal for property owners negatively affected by building permits.
This lack of transparency and procedural unfairness undermines bylaws and the mandate of the Committee of Adjustment to protect neighbours. I have reported these issues to the Auditor General of Ottawa and hope for change.
The City must be held to account and do better for all property owners, not only builders. I encourage those affected by negligent building permits to speak up and hope this letter warns others.
Klara Steele
—
Kudos to OC Transpo
Editor, Glebe Report
Kudos to OC Transpo for the well-thought-out new routes – #5 and #56 – the first making easy connection to the Ottawa General and the second to the Ottawa Civic. This is a great boon to Glebe seniors in need of regular medical attention who are carless by choice or necessity. Plus, the signs were on all bus stops almost immediately. Well done OC Transpo!
Randal Marlin