Ontario Construction News staff writer
A simmering controversy over the planned Tewin community in Ottawa’s southeast end has reignited, with one city councillor calling for a reversal of the 2021 decision to approve the 445-hectare development, while city staff warn of significant financial and planning repercussions if the project is derailed.
Bay ward Councillor Theresa Kavanagh has signalled her intention to introduce a motion this fall to remove the Tewin lands from the city’s urban expansion area. The development, a partnership between the Algonquins of Ontario (AOO) Realty Corp. and Taggart Group, is slated to house up to 45,000 people.
Kavanagh maintains that the original decision to include Tewin, which some councillors at the time framed as an act of reconciliation, was flawed. She points to initial staff assessments that scored the land lower due to its clay soil and distance from existing infrastructure. “I still believe that the right decision was made originally and we have to go back to it,” Kavanagh told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC). “If it’s the right thing to do and it’s going to save us hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure, then it’s worthwhile.”
The councillor’s concerns echo some of the initial criticisms of the project. Many Algonquin communities, apart from the AOO, disagreed with the reconciliation narrative surrounding the development. Kavanagh insists council must listen to these communities who feel they weren’t adequately consulted by the City of Ottawa and do not feel the AOO represents the broader Algonquin Nation.
However, a recent city staff report, prepared in response to an inquiry from Councillor Glen Gower regarding Kavanagh’s withdrawn March 19th notice of motion, lays out a stark picture of the potential fallout from cancelling Tewin now. “The mover has withdrawn the motion with the intention to reintroduce it at a later date,” the inquiry document notes.
The staff response, dated April 23, 2025, and included on the May 7 Planning and Housing Committee agenda, details the “domino effects” of such a decision. “There’s a lot of really serious implications for making that change,” Gower told CBC News. “Wholesale just dropping it or removing it from the official plan is a pretty extreme action.”
Infrastructure and planning deeply entwined
Since the 2021 approval, significant planning and financial commitments have been made based on Tewin’s inclusion in the city’s growth strategy. The Infrastructure Master Plan (IMP), approved by Council in July 2024, incorporates major off-site infrastructure projects to service Tewin, including water and wastewater services.
The estimated cost for providing these services to Tewin alone is approximately $313 million, which the Tewin developers have agreed to pay. The total cost of off-site infrastructure associated with the Tewin area in the IMP balloons to $591 million when considering benefits to surrounding south urban communities and post-2046 capacity. The developers have stated they will only pay for infrastructure that directly benefits Tewin, CBC News reported.
Reversing course now would necessitate a substantial overhaul of the IMP. City staff warn this would involve “reassessing baseline assumptions, integrating population projections…developing new water and wastewater master plans…conducting an in-depth reassessment of areas adjacent to Tewin…and extensive technical analyses and model recalibrations.”
The city’s Transportation Master Plan (TMP), scheduled for Council approval in July 2025, is also predicated on Tewin’s development. “Shifting the growth lands from Tewin to another or multiple parts of the city will require considerable time and effort to understand the traffic impacts,” the staff report states. This would involve updating population and employment projections, reviewing travel demand forecasting, and potentially modifying recommended projects and priorities, thereby delaying the TMP.
The Tewin secondary planning process, which began in October 2023, is already nearing completion of its third of four phases, with over 17 public engagements and meetings held to date. City staff have been collaborating with the Tewin team on designing local and regional transportation networks that encourage sustainable travel.
Land supply and provincial mandates
Removing Tewin’s 445 hectares would significantly impact Ottawa’s provincially mandated residential land supply. According to the staff report, Tewin currently accounts for three years’ worth of developable land needed to meet population growth projections. Ontario policy requires municipalities to maintain at least a 15-year supply of designated land at all times.
“The removal of 445 hectares of urban area at Tewin will require, through the same Official Plan Amendment process, the addition of an equal amount of urban designated land through a land selection process,” the report explains. This process would delay an Official Plan Amendment to update growth projections and impact staff’s ability to complete the Provincial Planning Statement (PPS) 2024 consistency amendment. Adding 445 hectares elsewhere wouldn’t immediately replace the lost three years of land supply, as initiating secondary planning processes by landowners can take a year or longer.
Legal and financial risks
The city also faces significant legal and financial risks. Staff estimate that an appeal of an Official Plan Amendment to remove Tewin to the Ontario Land Tribunal is almost certain and could cost the city between $500,000 and $1 million in external legal and expert witness fees.
Furthermore, existing applications for urban expansion, such as a 152-hectare parcel north of Kanata proposed by Claridge Homes and other developers, could gain traction if Tewin is removed. These lands had initially received higher scores from city staff in 2021 but were passed over in favour of Tewin. Staff warn that these applicants would likely use the removal of Tewin to bolster their own cases for development.
Recent changes to Ontario’s planning rules, effective October 2024, no longer require municipalities to conduct sweeping analyses for urban expansion, instead allowing developers to apply piecemeal. Councillor Gower noted to CBC News that “it seems like every six months or so there’s a new major change in how the province or the federal government would like to see cities grow and evolve, and we feel in a lot of ways we’re playing catch-up.”
Indigenous consultation history
The city staff report also outlines a history of communication and engagement with Indigenous communities regarding the Official Plan and Tewin, beginning in January 2020. This included in-person meetings, presentations, written correspondence, and specific Council motions directing staff to consult with various Algonquin communities. The city also noted feedback received in September 2021 that consultation should not be confined to strict project timelines, and committed to reviewing any feedback arising outside these timelines. However, CBC News reported that staff’s list of consultations included a delegation in 2021 by a former AOO negotiating representative who was later removed from the organization’s list over ancestry disputes.
Path forward uncertain
Councillor Kavanagh, who withdrew her initial motion due to the ongoing Osgoode ward by-election (Tewin is located in Osgoode), hopes the issue will become a campaign topic and plans to reintroduce her motion in the fall once the ward has representation. She remains unconvinced that the city is locked into the Tewin development. “You can’t just say, ‘It’s too late,'” she told CBC News. “I remain concerned that it’s a burden on the taxpayers of Ottawa.”
The debate over Tewin highlights the complex interplay of urban planning, fiscal responsibility, Indigenous relations, and provincial housing mandates. As Ottawa continues to grow, the decisions made regarding this controversial development will undoubtedly shape the city’s future landscape for decades to come. The staff report is scheduled to be on the City Council agenda next Wednesday (May 14)
