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This despite the fact that Ottawa’s condo market is already vastly overbuilt and there are years of inventory in stock in existing or approved buildings.

The one little wrinkle as we wait for buyers to equal the wisdom of city planners is that intensification is popular in theory, but not on one’s own street. Most development controversies in Ottawa have to do with the location and height of buildings in already-developed areas.

In the past, city councillors have had the option of blaming those tall buildings on the developer-friendly OMB, saying that their hands are tied. Councillors’ hands are tied, but they were the ones with the rope.

Elected people make all the planning rules in Ontario. The provincial government sets the broad planning policies for municipalities. City planners write official plans and secondary plans in accordance with those principles. Those plans are approved by city councillors.

The idea that the shortfalls in Ottawa’s development are largely due to the OMB forcing bad development ideas on the public is largely a myth. There is pretty much no chance of a development being approved if it doesn’t line up with city and provincial planning rules.

The real problem is a lack of public understanding of how those rules work. The city’s official plan is a document to guide growth, not restrict it. Ottawa is legally obligated to prepare a plausible plan to house an expanding population. Freezing the urban boundaries or rejecting intensification, while popular, is not feasible.