The “cash-in-lieu of parkland” fund is creeping back into discussion at Ottawa City Hall, but now the concern is about managing the pool of cash generated by property developments.
In a Nov. 19 memo to city councillors, Michael Mizzi, acting general manager of the planning and growth department, outlined a “pilot project” for the wards of Somerset, Rideau-Vanier, Capital and Kitchissippi.
In the memo, Mizzi said the first objective of the pilot is to help city councillors make decisions with the cash-in-lieu money portion allotted to their ward.
That money comes from land developers.
When facing a requirement to build parks in communities but also a lack of available green space to create them, developers can pay the city instead.
That cash is split 60-40 between the individual wards and the citywide budget.
But since a meeting of the planning committee on Aug. 25, the accounts can now be used for park upkeep in addition to creating and building new recreation facilities in city parks.
This was a contentious issue among city councillors, with Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney saying the priority needs to be on new park development, not routine repairs.
“What we need in Centretown is new green space, new opportunities for parks,” she said.
She argued park maintenance should be paid for with the citywide budget rather than through the wards’ parkland funds.
In a February memo to city council, John Moser, then general manager of the planning and growth department, provided a breakdown of cash-in-lieu spending for every ward in 2014.
Somerset ward spent more than $1.2 million on improvements and redevelopment to McNabb, Jack Purcell and Dundonald Park, as well as on basketball court lighting for Plant Recreation Centre, leaving it with a balance of just over $1 million.
The issue of spending the cash-in-lieu money for individual wards posed a problem earlier in the year, when River Coun. Riley Brockington accessed his account to find it empty.
It turned out the previous councillor, Maria McRae, had left him with a deficit due to park improvements and construction of bronze plaques with her name on them.
In addition to helping councillors with costs, Mizzi said in the Nov. 19 memo the pilot would also help the city’s parks department with planning their projects.
In response to this, Dan Chenier, general manager of parks and recreation, indicated in a memo to the city’s community protection and services committee that he wanted to temporarily withdraw his own proposal to create two new full-time park planner jobs.
These two staff members would have helped manage the cash-in-lieu fund, but Chenier has opted to try the pilot instead.
“Staff proposes to take no further action at this time for the two parks planner positions,” Chenier said in the memo. “This will allow staff to review the outcome of the above-noted pilot project and its impact on workflow to help confirm the actual resourcing requirement.”
This was a change from his earlier proposal to create three full-time jobs paid through a 10-per-cent surcharge on all cash-in-lieu developments that cost over $100,000.
Chenier had pushed the initiative in order to assist with the high volume of demand for parkland work in Ottawa.
“Finding planners to do this type of work has been a challenge, especially when the positions are temporary,” Chenier had said at an Aug. 25 planning committee meeting. “We’ve also had difficulty retaining them because as soon as something comes up that’s permanent, they’re gone. That has resulted in some delays in dealing with the volume of cash-in-lieu projects that are coming at us.”
At the Aug. 25 planning committee meeting, Kanata South Coun. Allan Hubley said he did not want the money intended for development of park space spent on staff salaries.
However, parks are far from being the only major budgetary concern the city is facing going into the final weeks of 2015.
The city is projected to face at least a $41-million deficit for the year, and dozens of people representing different organizations crowded the community and protection committee meeting on Nov. 30, pushing for funding.
The final budget will be approved at city council on Dec. 9.