City of Ottawa ready to turn the page, regulate little library boxes

Front-yard librarians are divided on a new proposal that would legalize and regulate little free library boxes on city-owned land in Ottawa.

The do-it-yourself cabinets are a grassroots effort to promote literacy and community by providing space for neighbours to take and leave books. The city notes they've become more popular in recent years, but without a bylaw exemption, many are technically illegal.

The strip of grass alongside many roads is a city-owned right-of-way. That includes grassy medians and the space between sidewalks and roads, but often extends well into resident lawns up to the property line.

Under the current bylaw, residents can't make any alterations there aside from mowing the grass and pulling up weeds. But the roadside location makes rights-of-way a prime spot for a neighbourly book exchange.

The city has made exemptions on a case-by-case basis, a process city staff derided in a report as "cumbersome" and "inconsistent."

Staff now recommend a new framework to more broadly allow for the little boxes on rights-of-way, subject to a list of regulations.

'Builds community spirit'

There'd be no need for permits under the proposal, but residents would have to sign an agreement confirming they understand library box standards. The proposal will come before next week's transportation committee for consideration.

"I think it's fantastic that the city is getting on board and making it a formal policy," said Wendy Chaytor, a Stittsville resident who had to temporarily move her little library off a right-of-way last year.

"The libraries are a marvellous community effort, and I think the more and more of them that start springing up, it builds a little bit of community spirit."

But Mimi Golding, who had her own run-in with bylaw in 2016 over a little library in Hintonburg, called the proposed  regulations "a heavy bureaucratic hand that stifles a grassroots social movement."

Height, placement restrictions

On rights-of-way, the regulations would confine the boxes to local roads, with no allowance for libraries on busier arteries or collectors. Residents would only be able to construct little libraries on rights-of-way abutting their own properties, and would have to keep them at least one metre away from roads.

No permanent foundations would be allowed, and the city would retain the right to remove them to install, maintain or repair infrastructure. The boxes would also have to be in a good state of repair.

A narrow height restriction — no less than 0.9 metres and no more than 1.1 metres — would "harmonize" little libraries with accessibility standards for public library drop boxes.

Golding said it "robs the community of an organic response" to its needs.

"Accessibility isn't just about reachability," she told CBC.

For her part, Chaytor managed to reach an agreement with the city that allowed her to return her little library to a spot just a little further from the road than its original location.

While she also expressed hesitations over the height limit (she'll have to go out and measure her box), the regulations seem better to her than the current case-by-case system.

She said the new framework would save future do-it-yourself librarians from the headaches she endured.

"It would have been so much easier and would have saved a lot of stress," she said.

Proposal also covers gardens and vending

In addition to libraries, the proposal coming to next week's committee would also loosen restrictions around gardening and pop-up retail on city-owned rights-of-way.

Residents and businesses would again have to conform to a bevy of regulations.

Gardeners would have to steer clear of city trees, fire hydrants, bus stops and hydro transformers, as well as catch basins and manholes. Plants taller than 0.75 metres would be forbidden, and the same one-metre buffer from roadways would apply.

The regulations would not allow any vegetables, fruit, herbs, nuts or seeds, pending a public health review.

On pop-up retail, staff noted outdoor displays cropped up as the pandemic restricted indoor shopping. Many wouldn't be able to continue under current bylaws.

Under the proposal, vendors would have to remove their displays every night and maintain a clear path for pedestrians. Strict height limits would again apply, as would requirements for registration and insurance.