2.         Revisions To Boundary Of Urban Transit Area

            Révision des limites du secteur de transport urbain

Committee Recommendation

That Council approve the revisions to the boundary of the Urban Transit Area detailed in this report, to match the transit service area and to provide for the funding of transit service in expanding areas of the City.

Recommandation du Comite

Que le Conseil d’approuver les révisions proposées au secteur de transport urbain, et décrites dans le présent rapport, afin de faire concorder ce secteur avec la zone des services de transport en commun et de prévoir le financement nécessaire aux services de transport en commun dans les secteurs de la ville qui sont en expansion.

Documentation

1.         General Manager, Transportation, Utilities and Public Works report dated 19 November 2001 is immediately attached (ACS2001-TUP-TRN-0016).

Report to/Rapport au:

 Transportation and Transit Committee/

Comité de transport & des services de transport en commun

and Council/et au Conseil

19 November 2001/le 19 novembre 2001

Submitted by/Soumis par: R.T. Leclair, General Manager/Directrice générale,

Transportation, Utilities and Public Works/Transport, services et travaux publics

Contact/Personne-ressource: G. Diamond, Director/Directeur,

Transit Services/Service du transport en commun

842-3636 ext. 2271, gordon.diamond@transpo.ottawa.on.ca

SUBJECT:     REVISIONS TO BOUNDARY OF URBAN TRANSIT AREA

OBJET:          RÉVISION DES LIMITES DU SECTEUR DE TRANSPORT URBAIN

REPORT RECOMMENDATION(S)

That the Transportation and Transit Committee recommend that Council approve the revisions to the boundary of the Urban Transit Area detailed in this report, to match the transit service area and to provide for the funding of transit service in expanding areas of the City.

RECOMMANDATION(S) DU RAPPORT

Que le Comité des transports et des services de transports en commun recommande au Conseil d’approuver les révisions proposées au secteur de transport urbain, et décrites dans le présent rapport, afin de faire concorder ce secteur avec la zone des services de transport en commun et de prévoir le financement nécessaire aux services de transport en commun dans les secteurs de la ville qui sont en expansion.

BACKGROUND

The Urban Transit Area (UTA), defined in the former Region’s Regulatory Code, sets out the area within which regular transit service is provided and within which a levy to contribute to the costs of transit service is applied to all property taxes. The UTA encompasses the central, urban parts of the city, generally from Kanata to Orleans, and as far south as South Nepean and Riverside South. The former Regional Council approved revisions to the boundary of the UTA from time to time to keep pace with the growth of the urban area.

At its meeting of July 11, 2001, Council approved a report entitled Financing Methods – Funding City Services, which recommended that “properties . . . be automatically included in the Urban Transit Area as they receive the defined level of transit service.”  The Department will work closely with the Departments of Development Services and Corporate Services over the next year to develop a process to facilitate implementation of Smart Growth initiatives including the introduction of transit into neighbourhoods as development occurs. This will involve ensuring sufficient financial capability, through expansion of the Urban Transit Area, earlier in the process.  This report follows that direction by recommending adding to the UTA areas in which transit service has begun in 2001.

DISCUSSION

At its meeting of May 23, 2001, Council approved the recommendations of TransPlan 2001, which extended transit service into new developing residential and commercial areas in the east, south, and west. The new services were introduced on September 4, 2001. Development approvals had been given for these areas on the understanding that they would be made part of the UTA once development had occurred and transit service had been introduced. This report recommends the necessary revisions to the boundary of the UTA.

In particular, the boundary of the UTA would be revised to include:

·        An area in eastern Orleans, served by Routes 30, 35, 36, 136, and 193;

·        An area in southern Orleans, served by Routes 20, 27, 28, 30, 125, and 135;

·        An area in South Nepean, served by Routes 176 and 186; and

·        An area in northern Kanata, served by Routes 60 and 160.

A map showing the proposed boundary of the UTA is attached as Exhibit 1.

RURAL IMPLICATIONS

City staff is conducting a process of consultation and evaluation to develop recommendations for Council on public transportation in the villages and rural areas of Ottawa. This report does not pre-judge the outcome of that work. A separate property tax arrangement could be recommended to fund public transportation service outside the UTA, or further changes could be recommended to the boundary of the UTA.

CONSULTATION

Consultation on expanding transit service into developing areas on the edges of the UTA was conducted as part of the development of TransPlan 2001. Transit staff distributed the proposals for service changes on board all buses and door-to-door in areas which would receive new service, held public open houses at which customers and residents could ask about and comment on the changes, and collected comments from many hundreds of people. The Transportation and Transit Committee and City Council approved the TransPlan 2001 recommendations following this public consultation.

TRANSPORTATION MASTER PLAN

The City’s Transportation Master Plan establishes a principle that travellers will be encouraged to use transit in preference to individual automobiles.  To provide a useful, convenient, and attractive transit service requires that the service be properly funded.  The revisions to the boundary of the UTA recommended in this report will ensure that residents in newly-developing parts of the City contribute toward the cost of providing a good transit service in the same way that other residents of the urban area already do.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

With the approval of this report, approximately 2600 additional properties would be brought within the boundary of the UTA, providing approximately an additional $825,000 per year in tax revenue to defray part of the costs of transit services that are already being provided in these areas.

ATTACHMENTS

Exhibit 1 – Proposed boundary of Urban Transit Area

DISPOSITION

Upon approval of this report, a by-law will be prepared for enactment at a subsequent meeting of Council. That by-law will replace the part of the Regional Regulatory Code related to the UTA.

EXHIBIT 1