Hunt Club Community Association

Archives: Issues

Issue Details

McCarthy Woods and the Southern Corridor

In conjunction with other community groups, the HCCA led a campaign in late 2025 and early 2026 to prevent “Development Reserve” zoning for the unique urban greenspaces surrounding McCarthy Woods.  City staff had proposed this zoning, at the request of the National Capital Commission, in Drafts 2 and 3 of the new comprehensive Zoning By-law. On December 17, 2025, Councillor Riley Brockington’s motion to reverse this zoning was approved at the Committee stage by a vote of 11-4.  This decision was confirmed on January 28, 2026, when the full City Council approved the amended Zoning By-law unanimously.  The HCCA’s campaign to reverse the Development Reserve zoning built on the work of the Hunt Club community in the late 1990s, during a previous attempt by the NCC to rezone these lands.
For further information, please see:

Tudor Hall Development

There is a proposal to build a new residential complex on the current site of Tudor Hall (3750 North Bowesville Road). The project will have 392 new homes in two fourteen story buildings.

We appreciate the need to build more homes as the city faces a housing crisis, though there have been numerous concerns expressed about the proposal from the community. The biggest concerns include the potential impacts on traffic, an insufficient provision for resident parking, and the lack of transition between the high-rises and the existing neighborhood.

While the developers have made some improvements to their design, particularly to address the issue of transition, there are still outstanding issues that we would like to see addressed. Our housing committee has been hard at work assembling community feedback and developing proposals to improve this project. Read our discussion paper below for more details.

https://hunt-club.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/HCCA-Tudor-Hall-Discussion-Paper-Final.pdf

Library Services in Hunt Club

After years lobbying the Ottawa Public Library and working with Councillor Riley Brockington, the HCCA has been successful in securing a library branch for Hunt Club!

Space at 3310 McCarthy has been identified, next to the Shoppers Drug Mart. It was most recently used as a temporary Driver Test Centre Following the design phase, construction and fit up with furnishings and equipment will start in the third quarter of 2026. Opening is targeted for late first quarter of 2027. The community will be consulted so service is tailored to the local needs.

In the meantime, the kiosks, lockers for reserved materials, and the return box will remain available at the Hunt Club Community Centre. Bookmobile service will continue until the new branch opens.

Library staff currently offer free Family Story Time on Thursday at 11 am in the Community Centre, followed at 11:30 by optional play time. Check with the Community Centre schedule for information on further programming offered at the centre.

We would like to thank everyone involved for their years of advocacy and commitment to having our own library branch in Hunt Club!

St. Mary’s Development – Hunt Club and Riverside

The area of land immediately northwest of the intersection of Riverside Drive and Hunt Club Area is proposed to host a new residential neighbourhood with about the same number of homes as the existing Quinterra-Riverwood neighbourhood to the north.

This parcel of land has long been vacant though it has a history of repeated project proposals. In 2019 the City of Ottawa Planning Committee approved an extensive proposal that would have included a car dealership, hotel, and private school. HCCA opposed this due to concerns of traffic safety on both Hunt Club and Riverside Drive (that intersection has one of the highest rates of collisions in the city). HCCA sent letter to all councilor’s and there were media interviews with HCCA representatives. The Planning Committee made no changes as a result of HCCA and others’ submissions.

The new proposal is for approx. 660 new homes, including townhouses, detached homes, and 4 towers of 7, 11, 14, and 17 stories along the southern portion of the property. You can see the project summary (and submit your own comments) here.

The HCCA has prepared a position statement including several issues it would like to see addressed and submitted that to the city planner. We will update this page as we learn more and as the process evolves. Our view is that the new application is an improvement over the previous ones, but that significant planning issues need addressing in order to maximize the benefits for future and existing and to minimize any negative impacts.

You can read our proposal here: HCCA Feedback for Application D07-16-23-0001

The HCCA recently with the support of the Ottawa Field Naturalists conducted a walk in the affected forest. A summary can be found in the June Meeting tab under Nature Walk which can be found here.

Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force

Are you ready for the changes coming to our community?

In response to the affordable housing crisis, the Ontario provincial government created the Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force comprised of bankers, developers and urban planners, in December 2021.  The task force published its report on February 8, 2022 and makes 55 bold recommendations that aim to remove barriers for developers allowing them to build more housing units faster.

The Hunt Club Community Association wants to make you aware of these recommendations and what they could mean for our Hunt Club Community. Members of the Hunt Club Community Association are concerned that these recommendations, if fully implemented, would:

  • Remove the ability of local communities to have a voice in how their community is developed;
  • Remove the ability of the City of Ottawa to have a voice in how the city is developed by contradicting the City of Ottawa’s Official Master plan that has been approved by council;
  • Not provide affordable housing options for those wishing to join our vibrant community; and
  • Promote Urban Sprawl.

Learn more about the Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force and its report by going to ontario.ca/page/housing-affordability-task-force-report

The City of Ottawa has produced its own report responding to the 55 recommendations made by The Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force.  This was discussed at the Planning Committee on Thursday March 10.  For details check out the committee’s agenda (app05.ottawa.ca/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=8508&doctype=agenda&itemid=421164)

What Can You Do?

Stay informed!

To stay informed on issues affecting the Hunt Club community please sign up for the HCCA e-newsletter, attend one of our monthly meetings, or become a full member.  Our next virtual meeting is Monday, April 4, 2022 @7pm. Details on attending the virtual meetings, learning more about the HCCA and its activities, or how to become a supporting member of the HCCA can be found at hunt-club.ca.

You can also voice your opinion by contacting your municipal and provincial representatives:

 

Media Reports

CBC.ca

Ontario.ca – Municipal Affairs and Housing

 

Download Documents

400 Hunt Club Road Zoning By-Law Amendment and Site Plan Control Applications

The City of Ottawa has received two Zoning By-Law Amendment and Site Plan Control applications to develop the site at 400 Hunt Club Road with a storage yard and parking lot in two phases. The proposal includes a total of 79 parking spaces and 377 storage spaces, which are to be used by Otto’s BMW Car dealership located at 600 Hunt Club Road.

Application Details:

The actual application and all submitted plans, reports, surveys and accompanying documents can be found on the City’s Development Application Search Tool.

• https://devapps.ottawa.ca/en/applications/D02-02-21-0040/details
• https://devapps.ottawa.ca/en/applications/D07-12-21-0061/details

Summary of Application:

The proposed site is approximately 2.82 hectares of land located on the northeast corner of the property at 1000 Airport Parkway, which is the federally owned lands containing the Ottawa International Airport Authority. The site has approximately 137 metres of frontage along Hunt Club Road, and is immediately to the west of the Otto’s BMW Car Dealership site located at 600 Hunt Club. The majority of the site is forested with a red pine tree plantation, and a watercourse runs along the eastern limit of the property.

The purpose of the Site Plan and Zoning By-Law Amendment applications are to permit the development of a parking lot and storage yard to support employee parking and outdoor vehicle storage for Otto’s BMW Dealership. The lands will be leased from the Airport Authority.

The development of the parking lot and storage is proposed in two phases. The first phase proposes 69 employee parking spaces and 259 storage spaces on approximately 1.25 hectares of land to be leased, and the second phase proposes 10 additional parking spaces and 118 additional storage spaces on a total of approximately 1.57 hectares of leased land.

The proposed access to the new parking area will accommodate both pedestrian and vehicular traffic, and crosses a watercourse that runs along the east side of the Subject Property. The proposed parking lot will be gravel, and the proposal includes landscaping elements along the frontage of the site within a 13-metre landscaped setback along Hunt Club Road.

Media Reports:

CBC.ca
June 17, 2021 – BMW dealership plans to pave a forest and put up a parking lot

 

Hunt Club Community Association’s Position

During the June meeting of the Hunt Club Community Association, a motion was discussed regarding the Zoning By-Law Amendment and Site Plan Control applications for 400 Hunt Club Road.

The HCCA Board of Directors acknowledges Otto BMW’s plan to address their identified business needs by building a parking lot and a storage facility on federal land at 400 Hunt Club Road.

After careful consideration of the broader implications of this proposed business development, the Board of Directors, and members of the HCCA Environment Committee concluded that the development of a parking lot and storage depot would not be the best use of the land, given that 1.57 hectares of mature, red pine trees serve as a green-space buffer which mitigates against increasing climate change impacts. We also considered the fact that the red pine trees are an excellent absorber of carbon dioxide and that there really is not an adequate replacement strategy for 55-year old red pine trees. Moreover, such deforestation is contrary to and undermines the city’s climate change strategy, and would leave the adjacent communities, including Hunt Club, very vulnerable to the anticipated climate change impacts in our area.

While we are generally supportive of economic development proposals that benefit communities and businesses, in this instance, we are unable to support this proposal for the above reasons.

 

Councillor’s Position

I am aware of the application by Otto’s BMW to rezone up to 4 acres of land, owned by the Ottawa Airport Authority, for the purposes of car storage and parking. I am opposed to this application for two main reasons:

  1. The first is that this is not an appropriate planning use for this parcel of land. 4 acres fronting a major arterial road, should, if development must proceed, have something here that actually serves and benefits the community. There is nothing being proposed that makes this an ideal use for this parcel fronting Hunt Club Road.
  2. From an environmental side, there could be no proposed use that is in greater contradiction from a healthy, viable, 55-year old forest, to a car storage facility. This forest is alive, maintains a healthy canopy, has new regrowth and although predominately red pine, other species of trees have been observed. If City Council is serious about its Climate Resiliency Plan, which includes an ambitious target to reduce GHGs, it must not allow paving over a healthy forest to store vehicles.

I oppose this zoning bylaw application.

Riley Brockington City Councillor, River Ward

Get Involved:

The Hunt Club Community Association strongly urges all concerned residents to get involved.

1. Send Feedback to the Planner

The Hunt Club Community Association strongly urges all concerned residents to submit feedback to the City’s Planning Department and Development Review Planner working on this file.

Sarah Ezzio, Development Review Planner
Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development Department
City of Ottawa, 110 Laurier Avenue West, 4th Floor Ottawa, ON K1P 1J1

Register for future notifications about this application or provide your comments by sending an e-mail to Sarah.Ezzio@ottawa.ca with File No. D02-02-21-0040 and D07-12-21-0061 in the subject line.

 

2. Present Your Comments to the Planning Committee Meeting

This Zoning By-Law Amendment application will be considered by the City’s Planning Committee on August 26, 2021. You can submit comments in writing or register to speak remotely at the meeting by emailing committees@ottawa.ca

 

3. Sign the Online Petition

Please consider signing the online petition and share this link with your neighbours and friends.

4. Social Media

Lots of local residents are gathering, discussing, organizing events and getting involved through various social media platforms.

#SaveHuntClubForest

Urban Boundary Expansion

At a Special Joint meeting of the Planning Committee and the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee on May 11th, members will vote on whether to expand the urban boundary. This decision, will come to Full Council on May 27th. Some say this is the most impactful decision Council will make in this four year term. The issue is complex and sensitive. This issue is very important in shaping the city of Ottawa for decades to come.

There are different views and perspectives on urban boundary expansion.
Here are some of the perspectives held by those who live and work in Ottawa:

 

Hunt Club Community Association’s Position

While several Ottawa Community Associations have written letters in support of no expansion to date and three city councillors have voiced their support for no expansion to the boundary, The Hunt Club Community Association does not have consensus on a position after discussing the issue during our April and May monthly board meetings.

 

Submit Your Comments:

Please let our Councillor and the Planning and Agriculture / Rural Affairs Committees know your views.
It is imperative that Committee and Council hear from residents on this issue. You can submit comments in writing or register to speak remotely at the meeting by emailing committees@ottawa.ca by May 8th.

Watch the Special Joint Committee Meeting:
Planning / Agriculture and Rural Affairs
Monday, May 11, 2020 (9:00 am)

The meeting will be held online and can be viewed on the Ottawa City Council YouTube Channel. You can register to speak remotely at the meeting by emailing committees@ottawa.ca by May 8th. For full details on format and instructions for delegations can be found within the meeting agenda.

Watch Ottawa City Council Meeting:
Wednesday, May 27, 2020 (10 am)

You can watch live City Council meetings on the Ottawa City Council YouTube Channel.

City Council Meetings will also be broadcast live on RogersTV Cable 22 and live streamed on the RogersTV Website.

Claridge Homes

HCCA representatives made written and verbal presentations throughout the planning process. There were media interviews with HCCA spokespersons. The concern was traffic flow and road/pedestrian safety at an already overloaded intersection with a request to reduce the size of the development to minimize the disruption. The Planning Committee made no changes as a result of HCCA and others’ submissions.

Hunt Club Community Association (HCCA)
3320 Paul Anka Drive, Ottawa, ON K1V 0J9
info@hunt-club.ca

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