Edible Food Growing in the ROW – Make your voice heard before December 31
The city has put forth a proposal for Edible Food Growing on the Right of Way! Deadline is December 31st.
Here’s OSEAN’s take:
✅ The good news:
City will allow growing food on the right of way/boulevard.
❌ The bad news:
· People who want to grow in containers must use only movable ones and they must be removed between November and May.
· No changes to the maximum heights allowed
Remember that in Ottawa, the boulevard can extend 12-15 ft away from the road. Surely we can agree that permanent beds and taller plants can be allowed if they are located at least 1 m from the sidewalk or the road. These won’t interfere with “winter operations” or sightlines.
· The City is asking residents to inform them of garden projects, without providing a template or form to do so.
Our suggestions 💡
Use the comment sections to wax poetic regarding the things you would have liked to see in boulevard bylaw such as:
1) Permit “soft landings” under trees. Currently the city does not allow any planting under trees for fear of disturbing the roots, but what the city is not considering is that continuously mowing round and/or allowing invasive species to grow around a tree can be significantly more damaging. Other cities require residents to not dig deep (less than 1”) but will allow them to plant.
2) And while we are talking about trees, the city should consider allowing residents to plant more trees and shrubs in the Right of Way. At present the Trees in Trust program only provides ONE tree and the options of edible trees is basically limited to serviceberry. (Those are delicious but don’t really offer much sustenance).
3) Allow native ground cover as an option in all cases where turf grass is allowed. Again, if the city is worried about sightlines or interference around hydrants, or hydro poles or indeed bus stops, ground cover that is less than 20-30 cm tall is going to meet that requirement AND because ground cover will not need to be continuously mowed, there is less likelihood of damage to city equipment. Prioritizing turf grass requires residents to have to mow or trim those areas (ever tried to mow in a circle around something?
4) Increase the height of plants that are significantly far enough away from the road. For example, plants that are more than 2 m from the road or 1 m away from the sidewalk are far enough not to interfere with sightlines. As such the city does not need to mandate their height. As a starting point, allow plants farther from the road to be at least 1.5 m tall. Ideally one might also be able to plant a tree in this section, possibly requiring pre-approval of the city (since it would become a “city tree”).
5) Provide a draft letter AND the email address residents are to use when they inform the city of their intent to install a library… Currently the city requests this but does not say what the letter should include or who to send the letter to - this creates unnecessary barriers (see Section 5A Part 3: "No person may install, or cause to install, a Free Library Box without first submitting to the City a signed letter of acknowledgement in a form and containing such information as required by the General Manager.”) We have looked.. there is no “form”
6) Allow residents to plant in ditches. It is ridiculous after the city advocates for rain gardens that the city does not allow residents to plant rain gardens. Maybe require residents to inform the city and obtain guidance from Rain Ready Ottawa or an expert Landscape designer, but to require residents to maintain these steep ditches and mow them is nonsense…..
7) Relabel “Appendix A: “Species”. To “Appendix A: Species that cannot be planted”. OR Keep the name but clearly state in the Appendix A that “This is a iist of species that are not allowed on the Right of Way” (Without any clarity either way, residents that are not familiar with these species could believe it is a list of recommended species)
What else would you like to see?
