Transcript: Water Safety and Trees Debated - Comité de l’environnement et du changement climatique - Le mardi 21 avril 2026 | Summary 113

Water Safety and Trees Debated - Comité de l’environnement et du changement climatique - Le mardi 21 avril 2026

Sound check. Okay. So, we're just going to do a quick Oh, this is even working. Test, test, test. We're going to do a quick photo in the middle here with uh all counselors uh that are in present today for bird friendly Ottawa. We're getting started a little bit uh later today just because we had a a nice photo with bird friendly Ottawa and the city of Ottawa's declaration and uh really appreciate all the work of of uh those volunteers and councelor King in particular for uh for advancing that initiative at the city of Ottawa. Um this is Tuesday, April 21st and we are at the environment and climate change uh committee. We begin our meeting today on behalf of the Ottawa city council. I wish to acknowledge that Ottawa is built on unseated, unsurdered Inishnabi Aangquin territory. The city of Ottawa honors the peoples and land of the Inishnavi Aangquin nation and honors all first nations, Inuit and Matei people and their valuable past and present contributions to this land. Uh before we proceed, I'll just ask the committee coordinator to do a roll call of all members. Councelor Lulov. Good morning, Chair. Councelor Hill, present. Councelor Curry, here. Councelor Kavanagh, present. Councelor Johnson, here. Councelor Divine here. Canceler Tierney present. Canceler King here. Cancer Brown here. Chancellor Low. Vice Chair Carr present. Chairman here. Your corn chair. Thank you very much for that. Are there any declarations of interest? Okay. Uh seeing none, can we confirm the minutes from Tuesday 17th of February 2026? The meeting minutes confirmed. Thank you very much. So, we have a few um things to take care of today. The there's a couple of IPDs that I've had members request that we lift onto the agenda, um they would be considered after the um the item 5.1. So, with the will of committee, if we're able to lift items 7.1 and 7.2 onto the agenda, uh that would be that would be helpful because some committee members have questions or there are motions about uh some of these items. So with the will of committee, can you lift those on? Okay. Thank you very very much. I'll try to take care of some business. We have the response to inquiries a yellow bag program. We also have the municipal responsibility 5.1 agreement for 1491 Manitic Station Road. Uh I'm not sure if anyone has any questions or comments on these or if committee feels comfortable carrying this at this time. 5.1. Can we carry that? Okay, carried. Fantastic. And um the two IPDs we've we we have lifted and we have a notice of notion motus notice of motion which has been previously given by councelor low which we'll deal with at the end of the meeting as as well. Uh councelor Tney on the yellow bag program. Yeah. I just want to say um thank you for staff for responding to that. Clearly I think uh we found a good balance. Um it uh it you can see people are using it when needed uh and prevents dumping that would have been far greater if we didn't actually come together collectively as a council and come up with a solution. I know originally I think if it was two bags only we would have had a much greater challenge but we've had a good balance at three items 99 pounds and you can see there's still a lot of use and education required for the public to be able to reduce that number and I'm sure over time with the chair of committee we'll see those numbers greatly reduce as we educate more of the public how simple it is to recycle versus using any kind of garbage containment system. So thank you chair. Yeah, fully agreed on that and thanks thanks for those comments and for staff for producing um that that data. Obviously there's good usage of that of that program. Uh and to councelor car Carr who uh originally had pushed for that as well. Um so 7.1 is the item that we're coming back to. That is the municipal drinking water system. Uh councelor Hill had asked me to to hold this item. So over to you councelor Hill. Uh yes. Uh thank you uh Mr. Chair. I just wanted to ask staff if they could speak to um the city's interface with our uh school boards as it pertains to safe drinking water. I know that uh there was a report from the Canadian Environmental Law Association that came out uh a few days ago indicating concerns regarding drinking water samples from some of the schools. And I just wanted to get comment from city staff on that issue. uh through the chair Paul Montgomery City B acting director drinking water facilities and services. Uh thank you for the question. Happy to uh provide a brief answer in that regard. Uh so the city's interface with schools is is limited. Uh city staff do not perform water quality sampling in schools. We do water quality sampling throughout the distribution system but not in the schools themselves. Um but I can say rest assured our drinking water that is supplied is lead free. Um but what can happen is plumbing inside those schools can affect the quality of that water which includes uh the uh solution of lead in in drinking water under certain circumstances. So schools have obligations to do flushing and to do sampling and I believe that's the report that you that was referenced refers to that. Okay. Thank you very much. And from a city perspective then all that we can do to ensure that the drinking water quality in our schools is safe. We are doing all that we can do from that perspective to the chair. Yes, that's correct. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much, councelor Councelor King. Uh thank you so much, chair, and I really want to thank councelor Hill for asking that question. very important question in terms of what is the city doing uh for schools. In the same line, I'm just curious uh I know that the city estimates approximately 30,000 homes built before 1955 have lead service pipes. I'm just wondering what is the current rate of lead service pipe replacement and at that rate how many years will it take to eliminate lead service connections? Uh Mr. chair, we don't have that information right at our fingertips. So, if it's okay for the counselor, it is something that we uh can come back with. Um the lead service program is also around uh replacing lead services on private properties. And so through our normal uh integrated programs where we replace aging water manes, uh we also prioritize those water manes that have lead services that are connected to them. And so we take the opportunity uh to change out those lead services uh when we replace the water man. So we do that up to the service post. So the city portion of the lead service and at that time the homeowner has an opportunity if they want to to also replace the lead service line up to their property. I appreciate that answer. I appreciate the work that's being undertaken in that program and would look forward to uh that specific question being answered and I obviously can take that offline and provide you with a specific question. Thank you, Chair. Thanks very much, Councelor King. Councelor Lulaf. Thanks so much, Mr. Chair. Uh how how much uh how much of the ser how many of the service lines now that we have in the city of Ottawa um have lead in them? I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, just the last portion. I missed it. How uh how many how much of our service infrastructure has lead in it currently? So we don't have a full inventory. What we do have is an estimate based on the age of uh the water man and the properties. Uh this is mostly uh very small uh service lines. So uh so it is affecting a small portion um of the city and obviously in older neighborhoods. Uh so that is that is what we have and so at this point in time there are also regulations around uh treatment plant and making sure that our our drinking water and our pH uh do not contribute significantly to to lead being able to leech from uh from from that private plumbing. And so that that is part of the the safeguards that we also do have is that we have a a higher pH water that really minimizes that. For those who have leveled services, they have the opportunity to uh to to get uh filters, home filters that could filter out that. Uh but a very simple strategy to to flush the the water uh a few maybe up to a minute depending on how long your your property uh service line is to uh to basically flush out that initial stagnant that that might be there on the first uh take. Okay, understood. Uh so when we uh you were mentioning that when we do service line upgrades that we give private property owners an opportunity uh to to change out uh their portion of the line that uh that may um have lead fittings. Um do we do this do we offer the same um do we offer the same to to schools and other institutions um along that route while we're doing those upgrades? Mr. chair, the program is really towards uh residential uh properties uh that have those small service lines. I I will double check our criteria, but I don't believe at this time that it includes uh schools. Okay. Um I I am aware that in the province of Ontario, elected officials uh are personally liable uh for drinking water quality. I don't know if we have a member of legal staff here that might be able to answer this question, but does that extend uh to um to the quality of the water coming out of the tap in an elementary school? Mr. Chair, I can confirm that it does not as it's on the private side. Okay. Um has the city of Ottawa engaged in any advocacy work following this report in in seeing that uh that there's uh this this issue in our schools? have we um reached out to provincial counterparts um to express our concern with regard to the high level of lead that we're finding in drinking water where our children are learning every day. Mr. Chair, uh there are regulations in place. So, uh for the schools uh for to they are required to flush their uh their drinking water lines uh but they do take lead sampling um requirements right right before the first flush. So there are very active mitigation strategies that uh the schools can take and and they have to take per their regulations. Uh there are also uh Canadian drinking water guidelines and Ontario provincial standards and so there are ongoing conversations regarding uh aligning the Ontario drinking water standards to the proposed Canadian guidelines. So those are active conversations, Mr. Chair. Okay. Thanks. I see uh two uh former school board trustees after me here. So, I'll uh turn it over because I think uh I might uh learned something today. I think Okay, thanks very much. Uh former school trustee Kathy Curry. I don't have any school questions. Um so and I just want to say thanks for lifting this IPD because I think anytime an IPD on drinking water uh comes to an agenda it should be lifted really. Uh okay especially because what's in this report this summary report indicates that there were uh some data lapses because of um power server power failures and server failures. So I'm wondering if staff have a further comment on that because certainly uh we see this in the tech park but water data if there's a glitch and we don't get our full data I think that's concerning but maybe staff have a longer comment on what's being done to uh prevent this from happening. Yeah thank you chair. So um the data the missing data results from sometimes equipment failures. So that could be uh an age PLC for example. So we regularly replace those out. So those are unexpected failures. We'll do that. Um we have uh in place in some systems a uh a capacity to uh keep a second copy on the PLC as well so we can retrieve the data but occasionally systems do fail and we we we missed portions of data. That's not to say that uh we didn't do manual intervention to take samples as well. we did in each case to ensure that we had the data. But from a regulatory perspective, there's a prescribed frequency that the sampling needs to be done and if it's every 5 minutes and you've only got it every 10, you're non-compliant. So, um the the data gaps are fairly limited and u the the assessment that was done represents through other other analyzers or other equipment and the manual sampling that I mentioned indicates that the water quality was still safe. But yes indeed we we did lose data for some equipment failures. Okay. I just want to make sure we highlighted that. The but the other point I was saying is in terms of redundant power if when it's a power failure, it's a server failure is maybe a slightly different thing. But in terms of having seamless redundant power, that's something we've I'm always asked for in the tech park. Are we looking at that? Well, rest assured that all of the facilities do have standby power. So they do have redundant means. uh at the larger plants we also have power that is provided by a uh online full-time UPS. So there's condition power provided to those systems. But uh the gaps in this particular case it's referring to as physical failure of the data collection device. Okay. The next question I have is about the uh $38 million plant intake replacement at Lemieux Island. Um just in terms of that project, is it on budget, on time? How's it going? So that project uh chair is um I would say it's on budget but it's not on time. Uh we've put forward a uh an application to um extend an intake into Quebec waters and that's been the challenge. uh we need to uh we're working with the MELCC which is the the uh province of Quebec's equivalent to the MECP and uh we were not able to obtain approval with the MELCC. Um so we have um and that that process has gone on for a couple of years back and forth sharing information providing technical details. uh we have a completed design for that intake, but until we could actually get the approval on the MELCC's perspective or side, uh the project has been stalled. So, um staff's intent is is not to actually pursue that. It's to be perfectly frank, it's it's proving to be more challenging than we'd hope to get approval from the MLCC. Um so, our plan is to look on um Ottawa on the Ottawa side to see if there's ways we can improve the resiliency of the drinking water. intake at Lemieux Island um in defense of things like frazzil ice and slush ice coming down the river. So no, it is behind for sure. Okay. Wow, that's fascinating. Yes. Well, our MECP can be challenging as well. Um so the last question I have is, you know, as we all know, I have this situation on in Canada where potentially toxic chemicals are leaking out of some of these ponds into our waterways. And I do have residents in Canada on wells. Uh residents asked, you know, what does a city do to keep make sure my wellwater is safe? And I asked Ottawa Public Health and they indicated the resident can pay for testing. Um is it the city that would ever test for mercury, lead, cadmium, uh arsenic in drinking water? Thank you, chair. So, drinking water services does not sample from private wells unless specifically during an emergency or whatnot. We may do that under certain circumstances, but typically we do not sample from private wells. That's the responsibility of the homeowner. Okay. Thank you for that information. Thank you very much, councelor. Councelor Brockington. Thank you, Chair. Uh, thanks for the staff report on this matter. Um in the staff report it says this is with respect to lead and drinking water and and the homes that have been constructed prior to 1955. The staff report says each year city staff conduct testing in the winter and summer in a subset of older homes to verify lead concentrations in household tap water. What findings do you receive from those random testing? Are you finding lead in the water? And would that then contribute to more proactive outreach with households pre1955? Thank you chair for the the question. If the um as I understand it, do we find lead in drinking water? So we do find lead in customer side samples. uh typically it's coming from um either lead bearing fixtures or as previously mentioned lead surfaces. So when in drinking water when it spends enough time in contact with with uh lead bearing surfaces some of the lead does dissolve. So we do find those levels. U in Ottawa with our corrosion control strategy established as mentioned by Ms. Rose earlier with respect to elevating pH. Um the lead levels meet the Ontario provincial drinking water standards. So we're less than the 10 part per billion lead that's mentioned there. Um the second part of the question I'll need a repeat of that. I'm sorry. Um it's about proactive outreach. So the city roughly has an idea of how many households were built pre1955. Are people getting notices in their water bill about they can get free water testing, encouraging people to replace pipes that's on their property? How are we reminding people that testing is available? And what information are we providing the public encouraging them to replace aged pipes on their property? Uh thank you, chair. I think in short with respect to the outreach that's done um that can be a continuum of of of exercises. We're continually reviewing that and we'll be open to uh re-examining that program. But we do uh communicate that information on the city of Ottawa website. So there's information there uh if people have a lead service and uh the pro the provision of I would say customer requested lead sampling can certainly be requested at any time. I appreciate that. The other thing I'll ask is just for staff to take under consideration. Given the magnitude of the Moricet reservoir project that's happening right now in Riverward that provides water for 25% of the entire city, would staff just include a paragraph of this project in next year's annual report? Mr. Chair, we can take that direction. Fantastic. Okay. Thank you, councelor. Uh councelor Kavanagh. Yeah, thank you. I just wanted to give uh a shout out to our to our water quality uh staff because uh it is uh something we're proud of. Um I've got Britannia filtration plant in my ward and um it's it's doing a great job. Back on April 1st, I I actually posted about how we're going to sell our water to other municipalities in in plastic bottles and the only complaint I got was why were we using plastic bottles? Um, so obviously people thought that was a great idea, but regardless um we'll keep it to ourselves and um obviously we have uh great water quality. So just uh thank you to the team. Thank you very much counselor. All right, so we're moving on to the next item which is the by town 200 celebrations u the tree planting feasibility. So, I'll ask Vice Chair Card to read in a motion on behalf of Councelor Brockington. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So just to confirm, I'm only reading this in because councelor Brockington resigned from the committee at midterm and so he's asked me to read this in since he resigned from the committee previously. So I will do so. Whereas 2026 will mark the 200th anniversary of the founding of Btown and whereas the city of Ottawa is celebrating the occasion across the region through festivals and community initiatives. And whereas in 2025, forestry services was directed to explore the feasibility of planting trees across all wards as a means to leave a legacy commemorating the occasion. And whereas the feasibility study confirmed that the city of Ottawa has existing locations in parks available as part of the tree dedication program in all wards. And whereas forestry services existing budget could be used to fund the purchase and planting of the commemorative trees, installation of plaques, and associated maintenance costs. And therefore, be it resolved that environment and climate change committee recommend that council approve that the city of Ottawa commemorate the 200th anniversary of the founding of Btown by planting one tree per ward during the 2026 fall planting season as part of the Ottawa 200 celebrations. And be it further resolved that forestry services use planting locations already approved through the tree dedication program for the celebratory trees. and be it further resolved that all costs related to the commemorative plantings be funded using the existing forestry services budget. Thank you very much, Vice Chair. Councelor Divine also has a motion on this item which I'll ask now. Uh thank you chair and uh just uh so everyone knows um I submitted this motion not necessarily I hadn't been aware of the Brockington motion so they they may seem uh in competition with each other but there may be um a way to have a conversation in the ensuing debate where we can find a a happy middle ground. Um, so whereas the city of Ottawa is marking the 200th anniversary of Btown through a range of commemorative initiatives and whereas council directed staff to assess the feasibility of planting 200 trees per ward to create a lasting environmental legacy as part of these celebrations. And whereas staff have advised that planting 200 trees per ward could cost approximately $750,000 and could not be implemented until 2028 due to planning, procurement, and resource constraints. And whereas this would have resulted in approximate costs of $156 per tree planted. And whereas staff have proposed an alternative of planting one tree per ward, i.e. 24 in total in 2026 along with 24 commemorative plaques through the existing tree dedication program at an estimated cost of 50,000. And whereas this would result in approximate costs of 2,83 per site due to the costs of the commemorative plaque. And whereas council has identified increasing the urban tree canopy as a key environmental policy. Therefore, be it resolved that staff be directed to allocate the $50,000 towards the planting of 200 trees outside of the existing tree planting budget in one or more areas to be determined by staff based on canopy needs and in such a manner that maximizes the number of trees and minimizes the number of plaques and that this planting be seen as a properly balanced uh commemorative initiative. Okay. Thank you very much. So, both those motions are on the floor now. I'll go to councelor Curry. Thank you. So, Mr. Chair, just quick summary here. Staff had recommended or someone had recommended 200 trees in 24 wards, $750,000. Can be done, but expensive and not till 2028. Second thing they said was, well, instead, how about you do one per ward? We can do that. 50,000 bucks. That would be one tree in like our city is enormous. You know this. I'm not saying this is a terrible idea. I'm just saying our city is enormous. One tree per wart with one plaque per tree. 50,000 bucks. So what councelor Divine is saying is let's take 200 trees, put them in pretty much one spot for 50,000 bucks and have maybe one plaque maybe, unless people want to debate things. But in terms of bang for buck, councelor divine's motion makes more sense, I think. But in terms of what we want to try to do for 200th anniversary and everybody wants to have a little tree and whatever, uh, that's nice. I think it's all nice, but basically the second council divine motion, you're getting 200 trees. Here we're getting 24 trees and it's still 50,000 bucks. Yeah. And that's the that's was absolutely my next thing. So, I'd like to hear a comment from staff, but in my this my perspective right here, that's the better deal. This is not the prices, right? But that's the better deal. So, we'll go to staff here. I and and I think it's important to make sure the public is aware. We we plant hundreds and hundreds thou th I don't know the exact number of trees every year, but but it's it's I believe it's in the thousands. Uh and this is not a debate about the planting of trees in all our wards that happens every single spring and summer. We all get lists of the the parks that that are but there's there's more than that, of course. Um but it has to do with I think this finite amount of money above and beyond what you already do uh with the by town celebrations. So um just to the clarity on on that point but councelor Curry has asked some good questions about feasibility and and the bang for your buck and options. If you have a comment it would be helpful to hear. Yeah through you chair. Thank you. So the the it comes down to um a bit about the planning around this project. So to plant 200 trees in every ward, um there's a really big planning component there. Um which would take probably a couple of years to get through. Um the proposal to do it through an approved program that already exists, the tree dedication program, the planning for those locations for caliper trees, so bigger trees, was already done. So it was a very um simple implementation that could happen in 2026 in the year of the 200. In order for us to um to do um something an alternative to find an another other locations there's a planning piece that has to happen. So we would have to um you know take staff that are implementing our approved planting programs and shift them to finding locations, getting approvals, buying trees, circulations, all that kind of stuff. Um so implementing through the two dedication program, they're larger trees, that's the cost is more. 200 trees would be um you'd be looking at a lot smaller trees. So it's not it's not it's something that we could do. It probably likely wouldn't be able to happen in 2026. Okay. So, but a comment of the 200 trees in one spot, that is possible that if they were smaller trees, we would need we would need to do the leg work to find a location to put that to put those trees in. It's possible, but it may not happen this year. Okay. Um, I will say that, you know, one of the things in terms of trying to even plant a million trees or whatever our goals are, we have we ever looked at having every student in every school in Ottawa plant a small tree. Some are in big groups. Like to me, that's like how many students we have in this city? Seems to me like that would just be a fast easy way to plant a lot of trees. Yeah. So through your chair, we we do work with many volunteer groups, including a lot of school groups every year to do big community plantings where several hundred trees are planted. Again, we're they're working with staff ahead of time, months and months ahead of time on the location for those plantings, approvals, ordering trees, utility locates. So there's a planning piece that has to happen with anything that goes into the ground. But planting trees with schools is something that we do a lot. Okay. Well, I'll leave you that with that, but I'll listen to the rest of the debate. Thanks. Yeah. Thanks. Good questions. Councelor Brockton, if I could just frame this, I'll say this is about a commemorative program. A commemorative program. This is about commemorating the Ottawa 200 anniversary. And if we just want to have an argument where that you can plant more trees and forget about commemorating Ottawa 200, forget about the plaques or one per ward, then I understand that argument. But I just want to remind everyone to frame this discussion. It's it was about how can we do something fairly inexpensive. We're not all going to get a shiny new community center or library branch like Centennial, Canadian Centennial where you saw projects across the country. Uh my original pitch was 200. Staff have said that takes about two years of leadup. The Canada 150 program where every ward got trees took about two years to implement. So, in speaking to staff after my direction went through, it was what's feasible for 2026. And what staff have said is one per ward is feasible. The tree will actually be taller than the other trees. If we plant 200 trees in one location, they're likely going to be shorter, smaller trees. And so, this is what staff can do this year planted with a plaque. And then there'll be at least a fairly inexpensive commemoration per ward. And what better thing to do than plant a tree? So that's where my thinking was. Obviously, you can get more with with a divine motion, but for me, this is an inexpensive way to commemorate the 200th anniversary. So that's why I moved it. Thank you for that, councelor Councelor Tierney. Yeah. Um I commend councelor Brochington on that. I think uh this is the year if we want to celebrate and engage people on environmental issues, this is the cheapest ticket to do it. I mean, we're not looking to spend a lot of money on trying to rescue a golf course from building. What we're trying to do is actually Yes, we've we found other ways that we've spent money on other things. I think this would be a great example of where we could actually go into our own wards and help promote like if we're talking fiscal responsibility suddenly I think there's other things that we do around the table and if we want to engage on environmental stewardship and promoting trees this will be a good opportunity for every single ward to actually be able to have people come out and learn that we actually have this program and I'm our environmental chair will go out of his way to ensure that that is promoted. I will be I'll invite everyone out to come see the beautiful tree and how they can get one on their lawn and how they can put one in their community and how we can build more tree canopies, but I I mean, let's not get rich on fiscal conservatism right now. I think there's only a couple people that could say this around the table. Thanks, Mr. Chair. Okay. Thanks very much, uh, Councelor Devine, and then I'll have some comments after. Um, thank you, chair. Um, hey everybody. Um, I think we can see, you know what? Here's here's uh here's what I think happened. I think Brockington's original plan of 200 trees per ward as a commemorative thing was a fantastic plan to begin with. We just don't have the resources to do it. And staff went away and with an alternative. And with respect, the alternative could have been something that achieved the same goals, commemoration plus tree planting in a way that maximizes the better benefit. No one in the city of Ottawa is saying more plaques, more plaques. Everybody's saying more trees. What we have here, yes, it is commemorative, but there is no need for commemoration to be on a per ward basis. There is no inherent increase in value by it being on a perward basis. Councelor Tierney is correct. A tree can be planted in his ward. He can invite people to come see it or the tree can be planted in councelor King's ward and councelor Tierney can invite people to go to councelor king's ward. What we have here it is commemorative. Absolutely. It is also tokenism. It is one tree. It is symbolic. It is performative. Yes, it is commemoration and there's value in that. the same commemoration could be achieved. 200 trees planted here, one plaque, everybody go visit, take the bus. Um, both goals are laudable. Um, I just think understandably you hit a wall of can't implement that. Let's come up with another plan. And I think the plan serves 24 individual interests, perhaps our political interests for sure, but that doesn't improve the overall outcome. And forgive me, but I as I understand it, because of compounding interest, a 200 trees planted together will have a greater correlative effect and impact downstream than 100 trees planted individually. That said, you can argue back. Well, no, because now kids in every work can go see it. I just think in a nutshell, I I'll I'll end up I'll I'll stop. Yes, we have an alternative plan. I don't think it's necessarily the best alternative plan that we could have come up with. Thank you, chair. Okay. Thank you, councelor. Uh Vice Chair Carr, uh just a quick question for staff. When we plant 200 trees altogether in one spot, what is the survival rate of the trees? Generally speaking through you chair when we plant um larger sort of naturalization projects we typically expect expect about um a 30% loss so 70% survival rate they're planted closer together. Um some of them you'll get regeneration happening so it's not a it's never 100%. Okay thank you. And so if you were to plant 200 trees together how long is watering by the city? That takes place every year. So generally with naturalization projects, we're not watering those projects um because they're more of a natural condition. Um in in years of sort of extreme drought, we may give them some supplemental watering. Trees caliper trees w in parks are watered weekly for three years. So these under the commemoration program, these would be larger caliber trees that are watered weekly. Yes. as opposed to the other option naturalization not watered a loss of at least 30%. Correct? Yes. Okay. Thank you. I I'll just add that the watering cost for the caliper tree is included in in the cost of this project. Okay. Thank you. Thanks very much uh vice chair. So I just just a few things. the the this committee has done a lot to improve tree planting, rightway tree planting, tree equity in the city, more plantings, more park plantings, and increase the budget for for tree planting. We need to do more, but a lot has been done by by this committee. We have done a lot and we need to continue that that progress. This situation is is is one where I think there's a need to commemorate the the 200th anniversary of of bytown city of Ottawa while also having a a stretch goal to push where we can uh with some more plantings within staff with with within what is feasible and to make sure we're working with staff. The issue that I'm having right now is that we had one motion that was on the table came forward. It was an alternative because councelor Bronington wanted some commemoration of this laudable event. Uh which makes sense to me and we we should we should of course pass that piece. The the piece councelor Divine's motion came late today and I think there needs to be some more work with staff. I think that's that can happen. We have a lot of plantings that go on in our parks where we should be having stretch goals of where are we actually planting? Can we get some more trees here? Those lists come to counselors. So my my view is is let's not like both of these things are good. they they don't need to be competing and and I I I wish it didn't come out that that way that they were competing. I think they are they're both important. So, I've had conversations with both of both of the movers. My view is staff can implement councelor Brockington's motion this year right away. Councelor Divine and and I and others should be working with staff to get more plantings along the lines of what we're saying. We want a 200 award. We we let's see what we can get to this this year uh and perhaps early next year as a commemoration in all in our in all of our parks. and let's not throw out the the other commemorative piece that that councelor Brockton had worked on with staff in advance of this. So I think if I mean if you're both willing to kind of take that direction of yes, let's get let's get this motion passed. Let's make sure we're taking yours as a piece for direction with staff, come back and work with us and and uh cuz I don't I think if we pass yours today, it's up in the air might be 2028. We don't know where we're going with it. Uh though the goal makes sense to me is is let's focus on the trees which what people want. Let's let's do both of those things. So that's that's just my view is is let's get let's get this one passed here. The council bro let's let's councelor Divine if you're willing to to work with uh myself and staff on this of where we can go in the next plantings which are coming up soon. You've got locates I know coming in spring and fall planning is coming. We're all going to get those lists that we love seeing and those Excel sheets that we get from you. Um and I think we can stretch goal that this this this year and into next year uh to get to the the goal that councelor Debine has has talked about. So, if everyone's okay with that, maybe that that solves this and we can we can go. Are you okay with that as an approach? Does that mean I have to withdraw and change the direction? I I think it would be a a a direction to staff to work on to work Yeah. to work on the motion that you've that you've put forward in concert with the with the chair. Um if if if staff will take that direction, it's Yeah, it's a we're just we're just late in the day a bit on this one. So, if uh if you're comfortable with that, we can we can move that direction. Um, so I'll I'll just move to councelor Brockington and councelor Devine just to to wrap up and see if if there's any other comments. Okay. Okay. So, councelor Vine, you're happy to to withdraw and say we'll we'll work on a directional in the line of the the spirit of the motion that you had. Um, okay. Okay. I'm seeing consensus there. Everyone else? Okay. Other comments? Yeah. Just to confirm then, Mr. Chair. So, Councelor Divine is going to take this offline and deal with staff offline or is there actually a formal direction coming to this committee? Yeah, I think that I I'm I'm putting forward a the direction was was something that I was putting forward, but I think councelor Divine uh is okay with it. Are you okay put that that direction forward, councelor Divine, to work on the motion that you've tabled here um without to achieve the same outcome but yet not necessarily through the commemorative program as set for next year? here Mike if if what you are saying is a direction to work on not necessarily the motion that I drafted but the intention behind the motion so to work on something whereby it might not be in reflection of the 200th commemoration but it might be towards increasing capacity scope budget for future tree planning sure achieves the same goal yes okay so so Mr. Chair, I'm just I'm not clear. Are you issuing direction to staff to do something or are you saying you're going to take this offline and deal with the issue and come back with a formal direction or motion at committee or council? Out of respect for process, I think I would prefer I mean what I would ultimately prefer is something altogether different, but out of respect for process, I believe what I would like to do is what councelor Hill just said, which is to work offline with staff after this meeting on a separate conversation that may ultimately result in a more formal direction at a different meeting. I think staff is likely more supportive of that and I respect that entirely. Um, so yes, chair and yes, thank you, councel. Okay. So, we'll consider that motion withdrawn for now with with this understanding from staff, myself, we'll work on this together because I think there is there's something here. Obviously, there's a will from counselors here. People want to see uh this happen around the table um without losing this other piece that uh you've worked on collaborating with council Brockington as well. So, that one we'll consider withdrawn on councelor Brock's motion. Is that carried? Fantastic. Thank you. And we'll work uh we'll work together on on that piece. Okay. Um, any notices of of motion? Oh, sorry. I'm going to go to councelor Lo. I have councelor Loe's inquiry, but first his motion. So, we've got councelor Lowe's motion which has changed. Councelor Low had two motions last uh meeting and now there's just one motion which uh he's worked on and and has changed and I'm pretty I'm certain delegates are aware of the the change. Uh councelor Low, did you want to introduce uh the motion prior to us going to delegations? Uh yeah, I'll uh I'll read them in uh sorry, I'll read it in. Um, be it resolved that the Environment and Climate Change Committee recommend that council direct staff from the city's public works and strategic initiatives department work with staff from planning, development, and building services department within existing resources to complete a geotechnical review or analyses in order to determine the extent to which sensitive marine clay is present in the area of concern. Be it further resolved that the environment climate change committee recommend that council direct the general manager of public works to remove at the city's expense any tree on municipal property in the area of concern where sensitive marine clay is the predominant soil type and that the tree is determined through city review to be a significant contributing factor to serious damage to private property without requiring a new or additional geotechnical report at the owner's expense consistent with a neighborhoodwide approach applied in the Greenboro precedent. Be it further resolved that the environment climate change committee recommend that council approve the delegation of authority to the general manager of public works to approve applications for tree permits under the tree protection bylaw 2020340 for privately owned distinctive trees in the affected areas excuse me affected parts of the area of concern as determined by city analysis where the tree is causing or likely to cause significant structural damage as described in section 66 uh2 of the tree bylaw due to the presence of sensitive marine clay soils. I will note that uh the neighborhood noted in the operative clause is mentioned in the whereazes which have been uh which I didn't read but uh the neighborhood is uh it's basically a small neighborhood. It's bounded by Clarage, Beatatric and Barrian in my wards about a it's about a kilometer kilometer and a half square kilometer rather. Um it's a neighborhood where several houses have reached out to me and noted that uh you know they've had structural issues including one severe case where the garage had separated from the house. Um a preliminary investigation had shown that uh it is it is the tree and combined with the fact that it is in sensitive marine lita clay soil there um that's causing this. There was a next step. All all the homeowners that have reached out to me have uh you know started the process. they went on to the next step, but they got an estimate for something like $20,000 just to continue through the detailed geotechnical investigation that the city requires. So, um given that there are given, you know, there are that number of homes uh that have uh reached out about this, I I I thought it'd be um I thought it'd be a good idea to combine it into one geotechnical investigation. and considering there is precedent elsewhere in the city. Um uh we can uh we can help uh help some homeowners out with uh with the ongoing issues. Happy to answer any questions and I'll have more comments at wrap-up. Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much, Councelor Low. We have three delegations on this. Um and there'll be a direction uh as well from from vice chair car. I think we'll we'll we'll go through u the uh the delegations and do the and then you can do the directions um do the directions. So, first up, yeah, Jennifer Humphre, uh, from the GCA Environment Committee. Welcome, Jennifer. You've got, uh, five minutes to to address the committee. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, councilors. I'm here today as a private citizen with a keen interest in our urban forest. I'm also the lead of the CAFES community associations for environmental sustainability trees and green space caucus which has regular meetings attended by about 40 plus advocates for trees from across the city's city. Let me say first that I'm not a tree expert nor are most of the members of the caucus though we have many specific areas of expertise. We're knowledgeable supporters, however, of the city's tree protection bylaw, as well as tree planting strategy and tree tree equity program, and we congratulate this committee and the excellent forestry staff for vigorously pursuing our city's 40% urban canopy target. Slide two. Urban trees are valuable. I come today with a simple message. Urban trees are valuable and deserve to be protected. The tree protection bylaw aims to do just that and therefore its integrity must be preserved. This is why when the tree caucus members learned of the notice of motion from your February meeting, we were deeply concerned. And this is also why last week we were pleased to see councelor Lowe's revised motion that is being considered here today. The earlier motion sought exemptions from tree protection requirements that would apply across the city in effect undermining the bylaw's core objectives. However, while the current motion is limited in scope, it builds on a precedent in Greenbrow and so raises the possibility that other special exemption requests could come forward from homeowners who are quick to identify trees as the culprit. Therefore, while not objecting to the motion before us, I would like to register the concern that all possible efforts be made to retain trees, including mitigation measures, and that future development in the city be guided by the 2017 guidelines for tree planting in sensitive marine clay soils. Slide three, tree myths and misconceptions. Slide three. There is a stubborn tendency to see trees as the primary cause of foundation or pipe issues when they merely take advantage of existing cracks or openings. Some residents are quick to push for removal rather than exploring mitigation options that would allow a tree to stay. Underlying this is a sense that trees are not terribly important either to an individual's property or to the city as a whole, but they are. We in the tree advocacy community work to educate residents to dispel the myths about trees and share information about how trees support us. And we believe that counselors can and often do convey these same messages to their ward residents. Slide four. Trees provide many ecosystem services. I'm not really telling you anything you don't already know probably, but it's important not to lose sight of these ecosystem benefits as we develop our city and add more homes. Slide five. Trees are cool. As this infographic illustrates, trees cool us and also clean our air. This is a huge benefit, all the more important as we confront global warming. Slide six. Trees keep you healthy both for physical and mental health. The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment urges doctors to prescribe spending time in nature such as visits to treed parks and forests. Slide seven. Trees are aesthetic assets. As the slide states, trees play a central role in making Ottawa a good place to live and a desirable place to vi visit. Slide eight. Big trees serve us best. While understanding that smaller trees are better for sensitive marine soil, large mature canopy trees are the big providers of carbon sequestration. As illustrated here, it takes many more young canopy trees to do the same work. Tree planting is vital, but it's also critical to preserve mature trees which store tons of carbon and afford far greater ecosystem benefits overall. Slide nine. The future of trees in Ottawa. Our city is doing really good things for the urban forest and we can't let up. In this era of extreme weather events propelled by climate change, we need to preserve, protect, and plant. And we need to keep our tree protection bylaw strong. Slide 10. Thank you for your time today and thank you for your attention to our trees. Thank you very much, Jennifer. Uh it's a great presentation. And I just I had one question for you just on the um on the next steps for this committee because you you've seen what's what's happened this term in terms of the the new policy in place around urban suburban, the rightway as as you've pointed out, uh automatic replantings, the tree equity analysis and uh the plantings that that will come there and of course um the additional plantings in our parks and and uh and other areas. What what is next do you think in your view uh for on on the tree side with obviously the protection of existing trees as you say in your presentation very important but is there policy-wise something on your in your view that the the committee needs to do further um this term next term council it is really difficult to establish an and maintain an urban forest there are lots of challenges um that being said I know our staff is working very hard to do that I'm actually really um gratified to hear efforts to commemorate our city's 200th anniversary through trees. Um I heard comments like they're a less expensive way to do things than perhaps building something brand new. But uh more than that, they are an opportunity for us to um stake a claim to a really good future for our children and grandchildren. I think that we need to continue very vigorously on the path to automatic tree replanting in the city. Looking at mature neighborhoods and saying, "You've lost that tree. We got to plant one." And continuously trying to striving to plant mature canopy trees where possible. um in the suburban areas and outer urban areas and rural areas. I do think we need to pay a lot of attention there. Um admittedly, I live in the urban core, so I don't know your areas. I I'm certain you know, you know far more and your constituents know far more, you who come from the outer urban areas and so on. But there have been some gaps and I, you know, confess that I'm not always in the loop on on what's been changed. But I know that we've been concerned that the 30 cm diameter at breast height um uh um sort of requirement uh in terms of tree permits and so on and for removal or for whatever um have not always been have not been extended as far outside the inner core um as we would like to see. Um, and apologies if I'm out of date, but I really think that we need to uh to look at those things. Um, I think every time we see something like a new development, and the Taywin development is one, uh, where we see a developer saying, um, you know, we got 10,000 20,000 trees here. We're just going to take them down because, uh, wait a minute. Yeah. Wait a minute. There's something about that. It It doesn't look good. It's not good. So, I don't want to belabor this, but I know you're on it. Um and I appreciate your continued um vigor and dedication and commitment and passion about these matters because it really does matter to our city. And you know, I kind of go back to the official plan. I've been involved in this area um for a while now, for a decade. And we really do want to be a livable city and your role as the environment and climate change committee is critical to making that happen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very very much. No, that that's appreciated and yes, certainly staff in recent years have uh extended that 30 uh diameter breast height um piece to to all suburban areas as well. Thank you so much as I understand it. So, thank you uh for being here and appreciate your delegation very much. Uh next up is Erikica Shardlo uh trees and green space coordinator with cafes who's online. Wonderful. Thank you so much. I do have a slideshow as well which I see. Uh so good morning. Thank you counselors. I'm I'm here speaking today on the implications of sensitive marine clay soil and tree preservation. If we could go to the next slide please. So I am here today on behalf of cafes. Next slide. Uh the next slide is just an overview of the presentation. So we will move on again to the next slide please. So I will start by saying that cafes as I'm sure many of you know uh supports a strong tree protection bylaw. Trees are of course essential for a healthy and resilient city and for the well-being of all residents. And this is why we were concerned to hear about the first motion that was brought forward in February seeking to amend and essentially weaken the tree protection bylaw. We felt that the fact that it did exist for some time showed an undervaluing of trees. We were pleased to see the motion change so significantly in April to now focus on taking that onus off of residents in the area of concern by not requiring the homeowners to pay for and submit a tree report. In these cases of property damage, we know it is a costly process, but we still wanted to take this opportunity to speak about this issue of sensitive marine clay and trees. Next slide, please. So, to give context, I'm sure many of you do know this Lita clay or sensitive marine clay. It's a highly sensitive at times unstable clay. And typically what happens is that salt holds this soil stable. But when fresh water leeches away this salt like in times of heavy rains for example the clay can quickly uh liquefy and collapse and then the soil can also shrink in times of drought. So what will happen is that the tree roots will absorb the water from the clay causing drying and shrinkage which leads to the possible cracking and damage of nearby structures. Next slide. So again, as you may know, the city adopted guidelines for tree planting around f foundations in these mar marine clay areas in 2005 and then they were updated in 2017. And the guidelines include different elements like setback requirements, soil volumes, the tree size and the tree species. The foundations need to be reinforced, the grading must direct water to the root zone. And then we also understand there's a four-phase assessment process when the city goes to examine complaints of city trees in this clay. Next slide. Um so one of the concerns we've identified is that this soil is really common across Ottawa. If you look at the map um on the right, the red shows uh where this clay has a higher presence. And then I know it's kind of small but the smaller map shows some little red dots which is some mapping of past and potential landslides which can happen with this clay. So if we go to the next slide, we felt that it was worth raising this concern that this motion could set a standard where new or similar policies of tree removal could get adopted in other areas of marine clay seeing as how common it is all throughout the city. that will eventually make it easier and easier to remove trees. Uh there are also concerns that once these complaints are submitted by homeowners that trees will get removed by the city before mitigating strategies are attempted first like pruning or watering. Uh and that eventually trees will start getting approved for removal based on homeowners fear or risk of damage alone rather than in cases where it's already causing property damage. So this is why we're coming back to this higher level issue that we feel that trees aren't always wanted and that they're undervalued on properties. Next slide. So this leads to our recommendations and things that we want to consider. So we are asking that the motion will not set a further precedent for expediting tree removal elsewhere in Ottawa where this clay exists um or preventing further tree planting. Uh we also want to ensure that the technical guidelines for trees in uh the Celita clay are being enforced to prevent unnecessary tree loss in the future. And we also want to ensure that the mitigating strategies are being considered first before going right to tree removal in this area of concern but also elsewhere uh where tree permits are being considered. So if we go to the next slide that is everything I have. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you very much for your presentation. Councelor Johnson has a question for you. Yeah, I just really wanted to thank you for your presentation. I think it really highlights uh exactly my concerns around the conversation today. Uh attributing causality to a tree when in fact the stability of the clay is likely part of some of the um experiences of a homeowner. I I'm anxious that we're going to be trying to solve a problem through a tree removal that actually needs to be looked at more broadly. So, I think there's further conversation at this committee on that particular subject, but I just wanted to uh echo my uh sort of offer my appreciation for your summary of the of the of the concerns and we'll be sure to to ask staff for the implications of the motion. Okay, wonderful. Thank you, counselor. Thank you very much for that. I I just have one quick question uh around the mitigation strategies you mentioned. You mentioned watering and and pruning. Can you just expand on that in terms of um you know trees in in lead clay and what options there are for mitigating? Yeah, of course. So I do know that one fairly simple mitigating strategy could be uh directing easedrops towards the tree and away from the foundation of the home. So, this helps ensure that the trees are staying watered and that the clay is not drying up because the tree roots are soaking up too much of that water. Um, also speaking to residents about other watering strategies, like maybe it's just a case where um the homeowner can go out and water the tree regularly on a schedule in especially in hot summer months um where we might see drought. Uh, another strategy could be pruning the tree um, just to lessen its needs for for water uptake. And then I also have read a little bit about adding compost or mulch to the soil to improve moisture retention. Um, again, just to make sure that the tree is getting enough moisture and it doesn't need to be soaking as much water up from the clay. And then also potentially just educating homeowners more about trees and clay, like when the city goes out to respond to these complaints where there might be property damage, making sure that the homeowners are very aware of the kind of soil that their house is built on, uh, the tree, and just the whole situation. Um, and then during this assessment phase, uh, cuz we don't really know exactly how it happens, but we do want to make sure that the homeowners are being given this period of time to try out these strategies and to see if they're really working. Uh, and then maybe if they're if they're really not working, like watering didn't do anything, pruning didn't do anything, then the city could go back. But we just want to make sure that like these strategies are being tried out and that it's not just going right to Okay, well, it's the trees fault. The tree needs to come down and that's that's that. So, thank you. Yeah, thank you for answering that. Appreciate that. Uh, our next delegation is Paul Johannis, the chair of the Green Space Alliance. I think Paul's online, too. Uh thank you, chair. Uh yes, I'm here today on behalf of the Greenspace Alliance uh to express a concern with uh the motion that's now being considered. Um the tree protection bylaw is really our our first and best defense against tree loss in Ottawa. Uh it's been worked on collaboratively with the city and the community for a long time and uh and it's proving I think that it's been a a good uh bylaw although there's still work to do to improve it. Uh but it it's really a bylaw that works because it's it provides deterrence to tree removal. Um and those deterrents are mostly monetary. U it cost the money it cost money to get to get a permit. Uh it it it cost money to fulfill the compensation requirements if you are having it uh removed. Uh it costs uh money if you're paying a fine because there's a breach of the bylaw. Uh and there's it costs money because there's professional fees associated with that whole thing. And so that that whole package is really what deters the the the removal of trees. Um and that's what we count on to to slow down. It never stops the removal of trees. The permits do get provided, but it slows it down. It provides this deterrence along along the way. Uh the tree protection bylaw, as it currently stands, it it currently covers the removal of trees uh that are causing now or likely to cause in the future serious damage to private properties. Uh that's already in the bylaw. uh the uh two uh GMs that are responsible are already empowered to uh require trees to be removed uh if these conditions are are are in place if it is causing damage or uh likely to cause damage in the future. So there there's nothing in this motion that adds to the bylaw. That power is already there. uh when we when we really look at it really what we find is that what the motion does more than anything is uh like the net effect of it is to transfer costs to the city uh uh that that that are incurred as part of the assessment and evaluation as part of those professional fees that are usually part of the deterrence. So in a way by transferring those costs to the city it reduces the deterrence of the bylaw. it it weakens it. Um and and that's our concern. Uh uh and in in any like what we need to do is to keep strengthening the bylaw, not do things that actually reduce its deterrent deterrent effect. Um by introducing the notion that oh well it's because of marine clays or lita clays uh that we have to invoke these special conditions. the bylaw covers that if any damage for any reason, Lita or otherwise, you can have a tree removed. You you apply for it and you get a permit. Um but in if we do introduce this idea that oh yeah, but Lita clay is a special thing. Well, you know, I don't know if it's half the city, we've seen the map, but there's Lita Clay all over the city. Uh and so rather than being something that might apply only in this particular case to a neighborhood in uh the uh Bar Haven East Ward. It's in fact something that in fact could then be seen as again a precedent that is applied throughout the city wherever there are issues with lead clay in the soil. So, we would ask that uh you not consider that you reject this motion uh and and rely on the provisions of the bylaw that is in place now that does deal with property damage that deals with trees that are likely to cause damage uh and and and they can be removed under there, but keep the deterrent effect of having that whole suite of cost associated with uh getting trees removed through the bylaw. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Janice for that uh presentation and um some of that detail. It it is appreciated. I know committee heard you. Uh we're going to move to uh Vice Chair Carr who has a a direction that uh puts some parameters around u around the motion. So, councelor Carr, did you want to read in that direction? Absolutely. The direction is as follows. that staff one ensure this motion will not set a precedent for expedited tree removal or preventing tree planting elsewhere in Ottawa where this clay exists. Two, ensure the technical guidelines for trees and foundations are being enforced to prevent unnecessary tree loss in the future. And three, ensure mitigating strategies are being looked at before going straight to tree removal in the area of concern and anywhere else with clay the tree permits are being considered. Thank you very much uh for that, Vice Chair. Councelor Curry. Yes, thank you. So, I'd looked at this and I honestly you read the whole story, you feel very badly for these residents that this would be not a good thing. And I can understand why a counselor would bring this forward. The challenge I had on this was when you you know how we're never supposed to interfere with parking tickets because then it's actually seen as benefiting a particular resident and then it could be seen as buying votes, right? And I don't think this is the same thing. I'm just saying it gets tricky. These things get very uh tricky, I think. Um, I guess I would like to hear that staff would recognize this on their own, that this is extremely expensive for a resident to deal with that this is a very difficult situation and that they would have on their own figured out that they needed to do something to help here. So, I guess I would like reassurance from staff because I do feel for these residents and this I think to councelor Carr's point is going to be an ongoing problem and it's not fair. Uh, but I just want to understand because the money part is always tricky. Yeah, we'll ask staff to come up. I assume there'll be a lot of questions for staff. So, get to stay up here. Why? So, so she can spill it over there on you. So, be careful. You know, she spills her coffee every day, so be careful over there if she gets one. Ask Sean. Yes. Watch out. Oh. Okay. Okay. So, we'll ask for for staff comment on the on councelor Curry's questions around regular course of action, the concern about uh uh homers and their expense now and perhaps what this motion would change. So, excuse me, chair uh Jason Per with Forestry Services. So with respect to current processes in place, um we have direction from uh a 2005 report to council that establishes what we as city staff use as a review process for matters of significant property damage related to municipal trees. We refer to that as a four-phase assessment process. So that's in place citywide uh currently where uh matters are brought forward to the city. We would undertake that review process. It's a due diligence uh piece that we undertake uh to determine if a tree is contributing and then look at mitigations following that process. So the motion as being presented would simply um remove the geotechnical report requirements that are required uh by the residents. So uh the the due diligence piece would remain in place for staff to continue to review and make decisions with respect to the tree and what mitigations might be appropriate. Okay, that's very helpful. Thank you. Thank you very much, counselor. Uh, councelor Johnson. All right. Help me understand what's going on here. Okay. I I I feel I feel, you know, persuaded by the idea that there actually is Lita Clay present in much of West Ottawa, and I'm sure I'll have some eastern colleagues that may suggest it's in the east. So tell me how this uh this motion uh does not in fact affect more than just the original intention of of of the counselor's uh concerns. So the motion u as presented looks at a specific geographic area uh within bar haven. So there's a defined parameter a series of streets that are defined in the motion. So within that particular geographic area, it's been proposed through the motion um that residents within that zone um after city review uh would not be required to come forward with a geotechnical report, city staff would still look at um you know the aspects of of damage, how the city tree may or may not be contributing and then reach a decision on on mitigation with respect to a tree that's contributing significantly to property damage. So the the motion as drafted or is presented would um just change those uh geotechnical report requirements uh for residents in that specific uh neighborhood citywide um in in other areas of the city. Those geotechnical report requirements are still uh there for residents to come forward as part of city review. So what makes this particular area of the city so unique that these residents do not have to pay for a geotechnical study that residents in other areas who may feel that their trees on Lita clay or etc are suffering the same fate would have to pay. uh chair through what we've observed and and the calls that have been presented and complaints that the city's received at this particular neighborhood um it is unique in the number of houses that have come forward in a short period of time. Uh typically across the city we don't see such a concentration of calls and complaints related to these matters in such a short period of time. Um so in this one particular neighborhood currently the to the city's awareness we have in the range of 10 to 12 uh homes that have come forward or residents that have come forward with issues. Uh typically we don't see such a concentration. The only other neighborhood where we've seen concentrations uh in recent years is uh in the Greenbrow neighborhood uh as referenced in the motion where we see have seen that concentration. So um that prompted you know city staff to look at this uh you know you know differently in that in that we've got a concentration that is unusual. So is this the case where you know sometimes you'll have a member of the community for example often we see um uh sign bylaw waiverss be put forward at committee. Um is this similar in this case where you have you know you have said the only way that we would be able to uh circumvent the uh geotechnical phase is by way of a motion and the counselor in this case has has chosen to do so or has supported your your recommendation to do so or is this uh otherwise? So chair, uh, with respect to, uh, the geotechnical report requirements as part of the city's four-phase assessment, the motion as written would exempt only this particular neighborhood in Bar Haven. Those report requirements would maintain or stay in place for the remainder of the city with the exception of Greenboro where uh, that area was previously defined in city policy. Okay. Um, okay. So in this case, you know, the the there's no transfer of the geotechnical requirement costs onto the city from the homeowner as was uh suggested by one of our delegates. Uh so chair, in this case, we're the city's proposed or the we're being directed through the motion to uh look at a review of the geotechnical conditions in this particular neighborhood. So, uh, city forestry services staff and, uh, engineering staff with the city would, uh, undertake, uh, a review of known existing information, uh, information from, uh, time of subdivision development and also information that has been brought forward by, uh, residents in this community. undertake a review to establish um some geotechnical information specific to this neighborhood and that would be the basis on which future decisions would be made with respect to the city's review of tree and foundation matters in this neighborhood. Okay. So, you'd sort of take a a neighbor wide a neighborhoodwide examination of the issue that could then be used to apply to various specific house comments or house uh concerns. Um okay. Uh I I appreciate I appreciate the motion. I appreciate the context. We we and I see a couple people who are after me. I I just want to make sure could could you offer some comments in terms of the concerns being brought forward by cafes where you know the tree might um for lack of a better word absorb some of the blame uh for you know pre-existing conditions in the soil. um where we might be tempted to remove a tree when in fact you know we might have stability issues more broadly than that are are there is there are there bounds around that um that you can offer as assurance chair we in in staff's application of the four-phase assessment process that was established in in 2005 we look at um all the known contributing factors to the site Um in our review frequently there are many uh not just tree related causes. Uh so we look at a full review of of all contributing factors. Um and staff look to uh put in place where trees are found to be significantly contributing. Staff look to put in place mitigations um where appropriate. Uh tree removal um in in most cases is is something that is the the last consideration for staff under the policy. Okay. Okay. And in the cases that you did need to remove a tree, would there be a replanting program in place to put them back uh on municipal property where there was better stability? Chair, in in with respect to tree replacements, it's possible we would have to look at the the circumstances of the site. We would have to ensure that any planting is done in line with tree the city's uh policies with respect to planting in sensor marine clay. Uh essentially that means the appropriate setback from house or foundation to the location of the tree. We would have to make sure that uh any tree that's planted is the appropriate species and size. Uh it is possible but we'd have to do an examination of the site to ensure that the appropriate space is there. Okay. Uh I'll I'll let the other guys on the board go and if I need to come back on I will. Thanks. Thanks very much for those questions. Uh Councelor Kavanagh. Yeah, thank you very much. Um, my concern is that it's I find it hard to believe that this would be the only place where this marine clay exists and is a problem. I do have a community that has lita clay. I assume that's the same. We're just calling it different names. Um, and then we're talking about building an entire neighborhood in the east end on Lita Clay. Um, so it's it just strikes me that uh there's going to be uh concern and I'm it just there's a lot of it and you know I what makes this so special when um you know uh for example Crystal Beach is Lita Clay and I hear about that um I haven't had any concerns um but uh I just I am concerned that this could be asked to be used again and as we're trying to plant trees. Um things get in the way. People want other things and they don't realize, you know, that one tree on their property um is still pretty valuable. Um and every time we take one out, it's uh we lose our our canopy just a little bit more. So, how is it that this would not be applicable to other areas? Uh, chair, the uh the the motion as as presented has a defined uh geographic location that we're looking at having this um uh geotechnical report um you know exemption essentially for this from for this neighborhood. So that wouldn't currently not apply to to other areas of the city. I I I still think that there's the possibility of it being precedent setting. Um and uh that's that's my my major concern. I appreciate the direction that has been moved by my colleague. But, uh, that just still concerns me and, um, it it doesn't take much. And I'm I'm actually thinking how it might apply it to developers who are, you know, especially when we're trying to get, say, three units on a property. This could be very convenient if there was something that they could use to if a treere is in the way. So, how do we deal with that? I'll just uh just add to what Jason said before and then I'll answer the question about the developers just that this and especially in Jason's experience he's got a ton of experience dealing with these marine clay soil files over you know up to 20 years now and um just to say that in this area the re the reason we see this as being unique is because we haven't had another area like this with with a concentration of of of issues essentially. So the issues that we usually see every year sort of spread out across the city. And so we know there's a lot of marine clay soil in in in the city. We're not saying that this is the only place where there's marine clay soil. We know that this is, you know, for us in our our tree work and and um tree planting and development application that this marine clay soil thing is a really big challenge in Ottawa and a unique challenge. It's not doesn't really exist in many other cities around the world at all. Um, and so the reason that this is unique is because we're seeing this concentration and the the style of development maybe that was used here, the timing of the development be which was before our policies came in place for tree planting in marine clay soil are probably contributing factors and that's why we're looking deeper in this area specifically. with respect to um your comment about infill development and how this could impact that. Um in that in those cases, you know, we're looking at I don't see this as a as a sort of a reason that would be used to remove trees given that they're they're coming forward to do a development on the site and when there is a development application, we're considering it in the context of the development. Um it you know it could it is and can be a challenge to plant trees and plant largesiz trees when we have areas of marine clay soil. But we have our tree um tree planting and marine clay soil policies in place in they were created in 20 2005 as Jason said and updated in 2017 to actually um require sort of more specific information about the soils so that we didn't we were able to zero in on how sensitive the soils are and be able to plant larger sized trees when we don't have that sort of like ultra sensitive soil, you know. So, we're allowing the new policy 2017 allows us to plant sort of bigger trees than we were able to before when we know that there's areas of sensitive rain clay soil, but we still have to be aware of that and be um using the setbacks required and stuff. So, it it can be challenging in those areas, but I wouldn't see that it's a reason that we'd be faced with to remove trees for development. You know, um we would navigate that the same way we navigate all sites, um all infill sites. I appreciate the experience and and uh yeah your thoughtful answers. Um the tree bylaw was, you know, something I cheered for. It was really really helpful in terms of uh preserving trees, especially by having trees examined and um protected in when development applications were going through. I realize it's not the same, but it was preventative. It was about u planning around trees rather than um you know uh trees be being told they were in the way because they didn't plan uh for the fact that they were there. Um they were expecting to remove them. So I I'm just making sure there's no loopholes because that's my concern. Um and uh and marine clay is even though this area has had a lot of complaints, it still concerns me that it could be used in other areas with the same soil. But um I appreciate the experience and um and your comments. Thank you. Okay. Thanks for that counselor. So uh councelor Lo councelor tierney on after you. You going to make comments and then wrap up or do you have a question? Uh, I'll go at the end. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Yeah. And I'll I'll probably I might have a couple questions before um I'll let you wrap up at the very end after everyone else is gone. Uh, councelor Tierney. Thank you, Chair. Uh, very treatful day today, but uh, at the same time, I'm glad we're talking about Lita Clay because of course this is a big city issue and I know the chair knows it. Uh, um, obviously we've seen what's happened in other areas of the city. We saw the Sunwood situation out in New Orleans where we had houses sinking. in the city getting sued. So, it's a challenge in this city. We see roads all the time where they become depressed. We have to go reset the gr the grills all the time and raise and lower them because the ground's always shifting below us in this city. Um, obviously, if you're coming to us with with something like this, uh this is a high uh concern area right now, but I assume there'll be more work that will continue after this if this is supported. And I think, and I know the chair probably will agree, this is probably one of the bigger issues that really hasn't been dealt with in the city for decades. And we're starting to see a lot of where it's going to have massive impacts. You know, we have vehicles that are heavier, too. That's going to be a big challenge. Uh our buses and cars going electric because we want to save the environment is a lot more wear and tear. So we're seeing the impacts and the importance of trees obviously but also the major concern on Lita clay I guess right to the question is so let's just say this passes or doesn't pass today regardless uh is there going to be an ongoing effort to deal with the geotechn geo techchnical issues within the city of Ottawa is this something that's front burner right now or is this just a casebyase situation Uh well I can say with respect to chair with respect to the uh where areas are brought forward to the city or to city staff where there is property damage associated um with with trees we would continue to apply uh our review process the due diligence process the four-phase assessment uh process as approved in 2005. um colleague mentioned earlier with respect to um new developments going forward, we have policies in place. Um so with respect to tree planting that that provide some guidance in terms of um how those uh sites are looked at, the geotechnical analysis of those new development sites and how trees are considered on those sites. No, fair enough. And again, it's just more about I think this will spur on a great conversation that should continue about the effects of uh you know, very unique situation in the city. I know I have tons of it. Uh well, lots of areas in the city have these challenges and with more flooding, 100-year storms, everything happening, it's probably going to have massive impacts than we can perceive at this point. So, thank you for the time, Mr. Chair. Yeah, thanks very much for that, Council. Yeah, not just not just the tree side. There's lots of concerns around Leo Clay, for sure. fully agree. Um I have councelor Johnson on the second round, but I'm just going to ask a couple questions first and then then I'll go to the rest of delegates here or committee members, but the the geotechnical analysis in this area, what is the potential cost of of that? Uh does the city have an estimate of what it would cost to do one larger study of the area? Chair, what's been proposed uh and discussed uh among city staff is to look at uh using internal city staff to do uh you know an a review of existing known information. So we would take information from time of subdivision development. There are geotechnical studies as part of um you know new subdivision. So we would look back in city files on that information and also take into account the the new or known information that have been brought forward by uh residents in in councelor Lois Ward with this uh in this particular neighborhood. So we look at those pieces of information. Um we've engaged with the city engineer who will help to undertake that review. Uh so uh costs would be you know absorbed by existing uh staff um okay an existing process and if but if those studies are finding that there is some foundation damage or that there's concern here it's not just necessarily the trees that we're talking about it's it's the potential payment for replacing or repairing damage to to property foundation or otherwise of the of the private property as a result of potentially of a public tree. I just want to be clear on the the potential result which exists now as I understand it. It's just that we're paying for the geotechnical study or internally to do it. That is current policy. I just want to make sure. So chair, yes, there there is an existing uh city claims process with respect to um you know where a city tree may be contributing to private property damage. Um so those those processes would remain in place. Um the motion would not change that. Okay. And my biggest my biggest question or concern I guess is more around the this is a pre-planned community. This is a plan this was a planned community. Greenboro was a planned community at a time that the these these come up. So what we plant there at that time is super important now. Knowing which kind of clay or which kind of soil is there and what what type of tree we're planting, where we plant them. Uh that that's a huge issue for for the city obviously going forward. And I know you've since 200 I guess five and then 2017 update. the these are things that uh you're taking into consideration. Now, what what was the issue in this in this area? Was it the type of tree that we're seeing? Uh was it the proximity to the to the foundations? Uh was it just the soil conditions and and drying out more than we're seeing in other areas? Or is there something specific to this area beyond just the complaints you're seeing? Um although we can say it's I guess early days, we haven't completed the the geotechnical review here. Uh early observations from staff with this particular neighborhood uh show that um the neighborhood was built at a time prior to uh city policies being in place with respect to tree planting in areas of sensory clay. Uh so some of the the tree species selection uh the distance from uh the tree to the house structure uh wouldn't be in line with existing policies as we have in place currently. So that that is one uh of the contributing factors that have been observed by staff to date. So there's more work to do, but that's a early observation. Okay. Okay. Well, thank thank you for that. Councelor Johnson on your second round. Yeah. Thank you, Chair. So I just wanted to uh move a friendly amendment um in discussion with councelor Low and knowing some of the uh impacts to my neighborhoods when we have tree loss. Sometimes we're not able to see tree replacement happen. And so, uh, the amendment I would have sent to the clerk, but, um, it it says, you know, where trees cannot be replaced in front of the affected properties, the city will consider replacement elsewhere in W 24. Thanks. Okay, thanks for that. I guess we'll get language drawn up or if you can send that into to the Yeah, it should be it should be in chair. Thanks, counselor. Um, councelor Low. Thank you. Uh, sorry I'm getting over a a man cold. Um, so, uh, this neighborhood was built in 2000 before the guidelines for trees in Lita Clay existed. The homes have shallow frontages averaging 5 m, which is actually smaller than the canopy of uh, the trees in this neighborhood. Uh, I am very grateful to city staff, uh, Martha, Nicole, Jason, Ally, uh, with whom I've worked over the last two months to arrive at this amended motion that respects the existing process and the affected homeowners in a neighborhood in my ward. Uh, in brief, again, several properties in one of my neighborhoods experienced structural damage last year. As mentioned earlier, in the most severe case, one house's garage uh, separated from the rest of the home. Preliminary investigations which are done by engineers indicated that it was caused by the municipal tree in front in the front yard and the presence of lead clay. It was exacerbated by last year's very dry weather and recommended removal in every case. Most of these most of those residents began the prescribed process to seek removal of those trees but bulked at the eyewatering estimate of almost $20,000 for the geotechnical investigation. A process that doesn't even guarantee the trees removal. This is on top of the tens of thousands of dollars affected homeowners have already spent on repairs and the preliminary investigation. So, this isn't for fun. In fact, affected residents have stated that they will actually be sad to see the tree go and they do intend to plant uh sorry, replant as soon as possible. City staff did note the similar issue in Greenboro a few years ago and said they can apply that precedent to this neighborhood in my ward. The motion does shift the responsibility and cost of the geotechnical investigation onto the city um to determine if the municipal trees do indeed need to be removed and then remove the trees as required. Uh this way one geotechnical investigation can be done instead of multiple geotechnical investigations uh in a very small area. I hope to have uh I want to thank you for the time that you spent on uh everyone has spent on on this item and I want hope to have your support for this important ward neighborhood issue. Thank you. Okay, thanks for that. And the friendly amendment's fine. Yep. Sorry. Go ahead, councelor. Sorry, I didn't I missed that last part. Oh, and the friendly amendment's fine. Okay. So, you're accepting the the the amendment. So, um maybe we can get the just the the don't have the amendment yet. So on the councelor car or the vice chair car direction staff are uh able to to implement that and accept the direction chair. Yes. Uh with respect to to tree planting uh in the ward we we can accept that piece. Okay. That's helpful. And um on the amendment uh just I just want somebody to read it in perhaps as it's worded. Maybe councelor uh Johnson, could you just read it in perhaps just so Yeah, sorry. It's um I thought it had gone through. My apologies. Uh where trees cannot be replaced in front of the affected properties, the city will consider replacement elsewhere in Ward 24. Okay. So, that's a that's a friendly amendment. So, it's now part of the the main motion. Um is the main motion carried? I'll um I'll descent on the operative clauses two and three. Okay. Okay. Um Okay. So, dissents uh from councilors Carr, Kavanaaugh, and King on um clauses two and three. Otherwise, carried. Okay. Thank you. Uh thank you very much for that. Uh are there any notices of motion uh for consideration at a subsequent meeting? Okay. Um inquiries. We've got uh two two inquiries that that I'm aware of. uh councelor Divine uh on assisted waste collection gap as part of Ontario's transition to individual producer responsibility for recycling. Circular Materials now delivers curbside recycling collection in Ottawa and offers a special accommodation recycling service for residents with temporary or permanent disabilities. This service includes assisted setout and return of recycling bins. As part of the city of Ottawa's responsibility for curbside collection of garbage and organics, the city does not appear to offer a comparable assisted setout or assisted collection service for these waste streams. As a result, residents with disabilities may receive assistance for recycling, but not for garbage or organics, even though a waste collection occurs on the same collection day and is experienced by residents as a single municipal service. By contrast, several other Canadian municipalities, Toronto, Edmonton, Waterlue provide assisted waste collection programs that cover all waste and organic streams for residents with verified disabilities or mobility limitations. The questions, could staff provide information on the following? One, does the city of Ottawa currently provide any form of assisted setout or assisted collection service for residents with temporary or permanent disabilities or mobility limitations for garbage collection and organics collection? Two, if no such service is provided, what policies, operational considerations, jurisdictional factors, or funding constraints currently inform this approach? Three, have staff assessed the service and accessibility implications of circular materials providing assisted setout for recycling while no comparable service exists for other waste streams collected by the city. Four, can staff provide a highle summary of how peer Canadian municipalities address assisted waste collection for residents with disabilities, including which waste streams are included and whether these programs are municipally operated or contracted? And five, can staff identify any preliminary considerations, challenges, or potential options should council wish to explore a more consistent approach to assisted waste collection across all waist streams, particularly from an accessibility and aging in place perspective. Thank you very much, councelor uh councelor Low uh with regard to rats. Thank you, chair. Um, over the last few years and particularly since the pandemic, rat related resident outreach, excuse me, is perceived to have increased exponentially. It is not uncommon to hear phrases like it's never been this bad when discussing the matter with the community. As the issue continues with no signs of slowing down, uh, city staff are requested to provide the following information. Uh, one, the number of rat rellated submissions via 311 council's offices and other intake sources since the 1st of January 2020, broken down by month and year and supplemented by heat map if possible. an updated on the effective uh sorry, an update on the effectiveness of the centralized rat sighting reporting tool at ottawa.ca. Any additional uh or modified measures the city is taking on the issue in 2026. Four, uh clarity on the city's role and responsibilities versus those of private property owners in addressing rat sightings. And five, an update with regards to the pest management regulatory ay's research into rat fertility reduction bait, referencing a motion passed by council on the 25th of June, 2024. Thank you. Okay, thank you very much for that. Uh staff will get back on those inquirs. Is there any other business? The committee. Okay, I'm not seeing anyone. So, we're going to adjourn and the next meeting is May 19th, 2026. We'll see you then. Wow.

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