Development and zoning in our community

A recent BECA Orleans Facebook conversation last night about zoning made us realize that a lot of people are mostly unaware of what the potential for development is in our neighbourhood.

We verified the zoning of the forested areas in Trailsedge to ensure that the forest is protected, particularly around the storm water pond area. Thankfully, the forested area between Shinleaf and Trailsedge is designated as an Environmental Protection area and will not be developed. There are, however, a few pockets of Development Reserve. Again, development reserve means that the land is "reserved" for re-zoning, to either commercial, institutional lands, or homes. I've included photos with descriptions.

Keep an eye on the geoOttawa website, which is an excellent tool for looking at zoning, and other geo information about the city. Do NOT rely on what the developers tell you.

You can even scroll back in time and compare aerial photos from the past, in some cases as far back as 1920s. Here are some cool aerial shots of our neighbourhood, for those who are unfamiliar. A lot of you have lived in the neighbourhood for decades, along Renaud Road and have watched the land change from forests and fields to homes and schools.

2017 aerial shot

2002 aerial shot of Trailsedge and Bradley Estates. You can use the triangle intersection in the middle of the photo as a point of reference.

Trailsedge forest, mostly Environmental Protection zone, with some pockets of development reserve (DR). Taggart development circled in red.

2017 aerial with zoning. The large forested area above the storm water ponds is EP (barely visible) and the DR rectangle in the middle is development reserve (to any of commercial, homes, ...) O1R is open space reserve. R3YY is medium density (usually townhomes, and now the location of Edgewater development). O1 is the Tulip Tree park.

1965 aerial shot of the Trailsedge forest in the middle of the photo (not visible but the zoning is EP, Environmental Protection zone).

1999 aerial shot of Trailsedge with current street overlay. Trailsedge was a forest except for the north-east side of Compass.