The Good (and Not-So-Good) of Ottawa's New Zoning By-Law for Bike Parking
- Let's Go Cargo!
- 47 minutes ago
- 8 min read
Where do I keep my bike safely and securely at home or at my destination? Good bike parking is critical to removing this significant barrier if residents are going to choose to use a cycle to get around.
With substantial new neighbourhoods such as Confederation Heights and LeBreton Flats soon to be built in the heart of Ottawa, and with all the infill development around the city, these draft standards should ensure residents have a place to store their bikes, trikes, adaptive cycles, child trailers, etc.
Or will they?
Let’s Go Cargo looked into the latest draft and submitted feedback to the committee overseeing this new zoning by-law. Here’s what we found:
✅ Standards for proper horizontal cycle rack design. YES!
✅ Requirements that vertical racks do not require users to lift bikes
✅ Removing wheel ramps on stairs improves access for all cycles
✅ Adding “Inclusive Spaces” for larger and heavier cycles
❌ “Inclusive Spaces” exclude child carriers, cargo trikes, some adaptive cycles
❌ Removing requirement for indoor parking facilities
❌ Removing requirement for covered outdoor parking
❌ Reducing the number of long-term cycle parking spaces for residents
❌ Reducing number & moving short-term parking spaces away from front doors
❌ Door and elevator access may not fit child carriers, trikes, or adaptive cycles
❌ No Inclusive Spaces for schools, hospitals, libraries, and community centres
❌ Reducing/no parking at retirement homes and long-term care facilities
❌ No parking for 4 or fewer residential units (many infill units)
Copy of actual letter submitted:
Written submission on the final draft of the new Zoning By-Law Section 613 - Bicycle Parking Rates and Provisions, presented on December 17 Joint Meeting of the Planning and Housing Committee and the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee
Submitted to:
Kelly.Crozier@ottawa.ca - office of the city clerk
Jeff.Leiper@ottawa.ca - Chair PHC
Glen.Gower@ottawa.ca - Vice-Chair PHC
Riley.Brockington@ottawa.ca - Member PHC
Cathy.Curry@ottawa.ca - Member PHC
Laura.Dudas@ottawa.ca - Member PHC
Collegeward@ottawa.ca - Member PHC
BayWard@ottawa.ca - Member PHC
Clarke.Kelly@ottawa.ca - Member PHC
Catherine.Kitts@ottawa.ca - Member PHC
Wilson.Lo@ottawa.ca - Member PHC
Tim.Tierney@ottawa.ca - Member PHC
Ariel.Troster@ottawa.ca - Member PHC
Ward21@ottawa.ca - Ex officio PHC
Mark.Sutcliffe@ottawa.ca - Ex officio PHC
December 16th, 2025
Dave Roberson
Owner Let’s Go Cargo! Bike Rentals
1111 Gladstone Ave.
Ottawa, ON
K1Y 3H2
(343)600-2453
Comments and General Points
(More detail in “Themes” section below as it applies to the current ByLaw draft section 613)
Cycles are accessibility devices used by people with visible and invisible disabilities. The inclusive parking is excellent, but the name, definition and dimensions need amending to include the many trikes and trailers that individuals and families use in our city.
The current dimensions for inclusive spaces need to be amended to account for the cycle types used by people with disabilities or families. Also, we need to ensure we are adding these inclusive spaces in facilities like schools, hospitals, retirement homes, care facilities, and Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORC).
We should not remove good provisions for short and long-term parking, as the industry says they will face challenges in some cases. We should not be planning for poor facilities across the board, but instead allow industry to plead their case during the project application phase with an application to amend.
Support amendment to remove (14)(b)(iii). Wheel ramps should only be used to retrofit an existing facility that does not have a ramp or elevator until that facility can be made accessible. Accessibility challenges for users with trikes, cargo cycles, adaptive cycles, e-cycles (weight), cycles with trailers, and cycles carrying loads such as groceries.
Some people have/need more than one cycle, and so we need to take this into account when estimating the number of spaces in future buildings.
LOVE that the bylaw outlines approved APBP racks, such as staple racks, and that vertical racks must not require users to lift cycles (weight of cycles can be a barrier). Suggest a graphic to identify examples of approved and not approved racks like this one from Bike Ottawa.
Excessive use of salt in our city and its impacts on cycles are a barrier to year-round cycling. Best practices I have seen in Ottawa include developers providing users with a simple cycle-washing basin to leave the facility cleaner and to remove a significant barrier to year-round cycling.
Cycle repair stands remove the barrier of needing to own tools for simple maintenance, or of leaving your cycle at a shop and having your transportation unavailable for days at a time. I have one at my workplace, and it has saved me on numerous occasions by allowing me to make simple repairs that would have otherwise prevented me from getting home by cycling.
Providing metrics for long-term outdoor and indoor lighting makes these facilities more pleasant, more secure, and easier to navigate. Often, bike storage facilities are dimly lit, making navigating around them challenging.
A bench seat, especially in long-term indoor cycling facilities, may provide users (perhaps with disabilities) with a space to comfortably remove outdoor clothing.
Consider marking inclusive spaces as reserved for intended use (credit Twitter/X @EllisPalmer94)
Themes
Accessibility and Cycling
The definition of “Bicycle Parking Space, Inclusive” name and definition exclude cargo tricycles, recumbent tricycles, adult tricycles, adaptive cycles that are designed for someone’s specific disability, as well as other types of cycles found in Ottawa.
Wheels for Well-Being is an organization with extensive resources that explain these types of cycles used by people with various abilities and disabilities. This is an excellent graphic from their September 2025 inclusive cycling document. But it must be inclusive of all cycle types, including those often excluded from everyday conversation, and that should be included in this bylaw, as I have seen ALL these types of cycles in Ottawa.
RECOMMENDATION: Amend “Bicycle Parking Space, Inclusive” to be called “Cycle Parking Space, Inclusive” and amend the definition to include a broader range of cycles that might have different dimensions than other two-wheeled cycles.
An elevator accessing long-term bicycle parking must be sufficiently large to accommodate cargo cycles, trikes, adaptive cycles, tag-along kid cycles and adults with trailers (children/pets); otherwise, they may not have access. Imagine a parent towing their children in a trailer, and the trailer can’t fit into the elevator.
RECOMMENDATION: Any elevator used to access long-term cycle parking must accommodate the dimensions of these cycles/tricycles. Recommend a width of 1.15m and longer than 2.75m (recommend 3.20m) to accommodate tag-alongs and trailers. 613(14)(b)(i) and Table 613A(iv)
There still needs to be inclusive parking spaces for under 20 spaces.
RECOMMENDATION: Under 20 spaces, one inclusive space must be provided.
The dimensions for inclusive cycles' parking needs in Table 613A(iv) need to be amended to account for the width and length of these cycles and their family attachments.
RECOMMENDATION: Row (iv) in Table 613A be modified where column (a) is 1.15m and column (b) is 3.20m.
Doors to cycle storage (indoor or outdoor) must be at least 1.15m vs. the bylaw’s 0.85m. A wheelchair transporter tricycle (typically 1.10m wide) and a Triobike Taxi that might be used in Retirement Homes, Hospitals, or a Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC - my mother lived in one of these) is 1.06m wide. In addition, in our rental fleet (trikes available locally), we have a Triobike Boxter, 0.91m wide, and a Black Iron Horse Polly-4, 0.87m wide. The doors should also open automatically, as opening a heavy door, pushing a large (wide or long) cycle or trike is awkward (Section 613(11))
RECOMMENDATION: Doors accessing long-term cycle storage need to have a minimum width of 1.15m to accommodate trikes and adaptive cycles. Any door should also have automatic door openers for accessibility reasons.
Short-Term Cycle Parking
Having short-term cycle parking as close as possible to the front door of a business or residential building is critical for visibility, security and accessibility. Yes, there may be challenges to fit this parking close to the door in all cases, but removing 613(7) means that “industry” has been permitted by the City to provide poor short-term parking options in all future builds. Industry can still apply for case-by-case amendments to plead the challenges they are facing in a particular build.
RECOMMENDATION: Leave 613(7) as is.
To not provide additional short-term parking spaces for a new building that will add more people to a specific area, and thus a greater need for short-term parking, should not rely on the presumption that the City provides sufficient short-term cycle parking across the city for these new residents.
RECOMMENDATION: Leave Table 613B(a)(v) to (vii) as is.
Concerned about the lack of requirement for inclusive spaces for Schools, Community Centres, Libraries, and Hospitals, where there is a far greater likelihood of cargo cycles or adaptive cycles being used.
RECOMMENDATION: Add a provision for minimum inclusive spaces for these facilities.
Long-Term Cycle Parking
I support a mix of indoor and outdoor (sheltered and secure) parking - outdoor might be suitable for overflow and winter cycle storage, while indoor will have more security measures and be more comfortable for users. A majority of long-term spaces MUST be indoors.
RECOMMENDATION: Ensure that a majority of long-term cycle parking spaces are indoor.
Cycles parked outside long-term will be quickly affected by the elements: rusting, being covered in ice/snow in winter, and, in summer, the sun soon breaks down parts like seats and handlebar grips. Covering exterior cycle storage is essential to remove these barriers to cycling. Yes, there may be challenges to fit covered parking in all cases, but applying 613(7) means that “industry” has been permitted by the City to provide poor long-term exterior parking options in all future builds. Industry can still apply for case-by-case amendments to plead the challenges they are facing in a particular build.
RECOMMENDATION: leave 613(13) as is.
Concerned about the minimum number of long-term spaces for residential units, using 0.75 spaces per residential unit with five or more units. For example, a building with 12 3-bedroom apartments might mean 48 people live there, yet it has only 9 cycle spaces. Based on the recommendation below, 21 cycle spaces are more realistic.
RECOMMENDATION: Shift the requirement from “residential units” and “dwelling units” to “bedrooms,” using Canadian examples from West Kelowna and Brampton. Using metrics like 1.0 space per bedroom, 1.5 spaces per two-bedroom, and 1.75 spaces per three-bedroom. Applies to the recommendation to amend Table 613B(b)(v).
Concerned about the minimum number of long-term spaces for rooming units.
RECOMMENDATION: Shift the requirement from “rooming units” to “bedrooms,” as in West Kelowna, Brampton, etc., using metrics such as 1.0 space per bedroom, 1.5 spaces per two bedrooms, and 1.75 spaces per three bedrooms.
Concerned about the minimum number of long-term spaces for Residential Care Facilities(Table 613B, (vi)). Employees working at these facilities need these spaces, and we should be planning for inclusive spaces for wheel-chair trikes and Triobike Taxis to take residents out (ie. Cycling Without Age).
RECOMMENDATION: One inclusive space should be provided for wheel-chair trikes and Triobike Taxi, and a metric should be developed for bicycle space for employees.
Concerned about the minimum number of long-term spaces for Retirement Home (Table 613B, (vii)). Employees working at these facilities need these spaces, residents need alternatives to get around as driving becomes less of an option, and people need to stay active (perhaps more residents using trikes). We should also be planning for wheel-chair trikes and Triobike Taxis to take residents out (ie. Cycling Without Age).
RECOMMENDATION: A metric should be developed for employee space, and all spaces for residents should be inclusive.
Concerned about no cycle parking required for four units or fewer. I recognize this can be a challenge, but there are so many of these units being built as infill, and this will have a significant impact on many residents. I worked with City staff on this on behalf of Bike Ottawa early on in the bylaw work. Instead of choosing to prevent so many future residents from having the opportunity to store cycles (a significant barrier to using cycles), we should look at best practices to ensure these buildings provide cycle parking (as a developer would often ensure there is car parking).
RECOMMENDATION: require a cycle shed, or a sheltered cycle area with locking points along a wall. Alternatively, the builder pays, or helps pay for a city-installed neighbourhood cycle locker on city property nearby (ie. on the street).