Council approves special event by-laws

Council approved two new special event by-laws to support a wide range of special events, from large outdoor festivals and parades to community block parties and sidewalk sales. The recommendations will make events easier to plan, more efficient to coordinate and safer for everyone.  The Special Events By-law will centralize event administration and coordination, streamlining planning and permit processes for events with more than 500 participants. The City will introduce new measures to improve public health and safety for event participants and staff, including recommended codes of conduct and safe-event training. The Highway Events By-law would regulate events on the roadway, from parades and races to community block parties and sidewalk sales. The changes include a streamlined approval process for weekday road closures, age restrictions for volunteers working at traffic barricades and a new fee schedule to support a range of community events.  The by-laws include a new approach for demonstrations where organizers would provide the City a simple, voluntary notification of their plans. Demonstrators would still need to follow applicable laws and by-laws, and the Ottawa Police Service would maintain its authority to manage demonstrations. Both by-laws will be enacted on January 2, 2026, with the voluntary notification system and actions like streamlining local road closures and reducing barriers for late night events beginning more immediately.  City to begin work on vulnerable social infrastructure by-law Council also directed staff to begin work on a by-law to protect safe access to certain social infrastructure, such as places of worship, during protests and demonstrations through the creation of bubble zones. Staff will undertake a review and a broad consultation process over the next nine months.  New water rate structure coming in 2027  Council approved a new water rate structure that will come into effect in 2027. The new structure will see more equitably distributed costs for water, wastewater and stormwater while keeping water bills affordable. The average residential property will see a decrease of two per cent, and the average multi-residential property would see no change. The average non-residential property will see an increase of five per cent. While most rural residential properties would see a decrease in their current stormwater fees, vacant properties and some farms in the rural area will begin contributing to stormwater costs. The new water rate structure would be revenue-neutral for the City.  For stormwater rates, the City will transition to billing based on impervious surface area, which is a more accurate measure of the demand a given property places on the City's stormwater system. It also promotes climate resiliency by encouraging property owners to reduce impervious surfaces. This will apply in urban areas as well as the villages of Manotick, Richmond and Carp. All other properties in the rural area will cease paying a stormwater charge and will instead contribute to a special area levy to fund rural roadside ditch maintenance. Typical rural properties will see a decrease in stormwater costs. The City will seek to recover more fixed costs for drinking water and wastewater services through fixed fees. A new model for drinking water and wastewater rates, with separate tiers for residential, multi-residential and non-residential properties, will provide a more balanced approach to both fixed and variable charges. It will also better reflect actual usage patterns, ensure fairness across all property types and continue to promote water conservation.   Updated Water By-law will address risk of water loss from leaks   Council approved updates to the Water By-law. One change requires private developments to install water meters at the perimeter of their property to reduce the risk of water loss through leaks or unauthorized use. The City will offer a Leak Assistance Program for eligible single-unit residential account owners. Each property owner could use the program once to repay, interest-free, a large and unexpected water bill resulting from a leak. A new $567 service fee was also approved for same-day cancelled and rescheduled drinking water service appointments.  Paid parking expanding to evenings and Saturdays in some areas Council approved updates to the Municipal Parking Management Strategy rate-setting guidelines to allow paid parking to be expanded on evenings and Saturdays where demand is consistently high. This will help promote turnover during the busiest hours and allow for flexibility when longer stays are required at night. On weekdays, where paid parking is in effect in commercial areas and there are no peak hour parking restrictions, paid parking will start at 8:30 am and finish at 5:30 pm. In areas where the demand threshold is met on weeknights, paid parking would be in effect from 5:30 pm until 7:30 pm. Where Saturday daytime paid parking is required, it would start at 10 am, and Saturday evening would align with weeknights, where the demand threshold is met. Based on collected data, weeknight evening, Saturday daytime and evening paid parking will be added to Little Italy South, ByWard Market and its immediate surrounding areas. Weekday evening paid parking would be added to Glebe South. Saturday daytime paid parking would be in effect Downtown (north of Nepean Street), but not during evenings. The pending paid parking areas from the approved Kitchissippi Parking Study will see weekday evening and Saturday daytime paid parking in Richmond West, while Churchill, Wellington Village and Hintonburg would see only weekday and Saturday daytime paid parking. Sundays remain exempt from paid parking. Staff will conduct annual reviews of evening and weekend rates to identify the need for changes to parking zones. Related topics

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