ARAC rezoning prohibits development on Mansfield Rd. cropland
The City of Ottawa Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee voted to approve a zoning amendment that would prohibit residential housing on a parcel of land between Richmond and Munster.
The 42.3-hectare site is located on Mansfield Road near Conley Road, and also has frontage onto Bleeks Road. The property is currently used as cropland, and is surrounded by similar agricultural parcels, as well as the Richmond Fen Wetland Complex.
The Zoning By-law amendment restricts new residential development and prevents the loss of agricultural land to other competing uses. This Zoning By-law amendment protects the rural landscape by supporting the continued productive use of agricultural lands.
The lands to which the proposed Zoning By-law amendment applies were the subject of an application for a surplus farm dwelling severance and an application for a rural residential severance. The severance requests were granted by the Committee of Adjustment on July 22, 2020 and September 16, 2020 with a condition that the owner rezone the retained farmland to prohibit residential development and to allow the zoning designation of the entire property to be consistent with the Official Plan designations.
The site is currently zoned Agricultural Zone (AG). It is proposed to rezone approximately 20.76 hectares of farmland to prohibit future residential uses and to rezone approximately 20.98 hectares of woodland to Rural Countryside Zone (RU) to allow the zoning designation of the entire property to be consistent with the Official Plan designations in accordance with conditions of severance. The remaining land area of approximately 0.56 hectares contains a one detached dwelling and will remain zoned Agricultural Zone (AG).
