Bushwacking for cyclists

Last week a group of concerned citizens participated with the City and its consultants on the routing exercise for the O-Train corridor cycling path (cyclopiste de Preston). Participants represented the NCC, Dalhousie and Hintonburg Community Associations, CfSC and Cycle Vision Ottawa members, a landscape architect, engineer, planner, and others.

The cycling arterial will connect the Ottawa River cycling paths to the Otrain at Bayview, run along the tracks behind the City Centre complex, under Somerset via a new underpass, behind the PWGSC complex at 1010 Somerset, and come out at ground level again at Gladstone. Then a short overground stretch would take it beside the city signals yard annex, under the existing Qway overpasses, to Young Street, where it would join a rebuilt existing path along the east side of the Otrain cut all the way to Carling. The NCC person was present on the bushwacking expedition to consider, amongst other things, where it goes at Carling and how it connects to the Farm paths.

The areas behind the City Centre and 1010 Somerset proved to be very dense bush, with constant surprises hidden in the tall grass, weeds, and shrubbery: the odd half truckload of asphalt or cement, bits of rail, sleeping bags, laptop computers, etc. It is difficult to imagine a safe-feeling path there given the area's current appearance, but with tree thinning, opening up vistas, improved fencing, path lighting, and some suggested alignment and elevation mods, it will work well with current and future developments proposed along the corridor.

The cycling underpass under Somerset is also planned to handle the possibility of a LRT station at that location. If all goes to plan, the underpass would be constructed in 2011 with the path completed in 2012.

If you click on the word cloud to the right of this blog posting, select Cyclopiste de Preston to read earlier posts on each segment or use the search button.

Cyclopiste de Preston (vi)

Most of the photos in the previous posts on this cycling route showed the path in winter or early spring. That is not the most attractive time of year. Here are a few shots in summer, to show what a pleasant route the Cyclopiste de Preston could be for cyclists and pedestrians; for recreational, short-haul and commuter users; and for easy access to and from the Preston mainstreet.

Cyclopiste de Preston (ii)

 The first photo was taken mid-winter, from the area behind the City Centre warehouse complex; the Otrain track is on the right, going south under Somerset viaduct. This shows there is considerable open space on the east side of the track for a cycle path. A cycling and pedestrian underpass would be straight ahead centre in the photo.

The underpass, a precast concrete "box", would be a few feet above the current track level, and set back from the track far enough to allow for a LRT station on the far side (southside) of Somerset, should one be installed. There are currently no plans for such a station, this is just good planning to allow the space for one.

The new tunnel would be both a cycling path and would permit pedestrians and users of any future LRT station to walk under Somerset and directly into any future City Centre redevelopment (recall the site is zoned for 5 or more towers, up to 22 floors or so)(not that any redevelopment is planned soon).

Photo two was taken from the Somerset Street level. It also shows how much space is available. A second rail track will be laid immediately to the right of the Otrain. There might also be "storage" tracks here for trains waiting to begin runs through the downtown and east. Provided a small berm and some landscaping is installed, it should be quite pleasant to cycle or walk along the corridor, given that the path will be set back from the moving trains and about one meter above the track level.

The City centre complex follows a curve as it goes north (the curve, of course, is defined by the curvature of the railway tracks that used to be under the elevated roadway and further west and north of the building). The cycling path would follow this curve and come out onto City Centre Avenue just north of Albert street, from which cyclists would have easy access to the downtown (via Albert) or to the River (via the Preston extension). Eventually, should Jim Watson fail to block the LRT project, the path could run north along the tracks to Bayview Station and the River and eventually the Gatineau Hills.

The chain link fence shown is not necesarily on any property line. When I was a tennant in the City Centre complex, they told me the lot line was right at the base of the concrete pillars. Presumably the fence would be relocated as part of installing a path.

Personally, I would be perfectly happy with a stonedust path. It could even double as a service road to the tracks or warehouses, given the low volume of truck traffic that would entail. Eventually, as the LRT tracks are developed, I would expect the path to be paved and lit to be attractive to all types of users at all times of day and evening.

Cyclopiste de Preston (i): Cycle Path along the Otrain Corridor

The Carling-Bayview community design plan calls for a bike path along the Otrain corridor. So does the City's official cycling plan.

Parts of the path were built in the early 1960's when the NCC removed the street-level railway tracks and consolidated them into the new "cut" dug from Carleton U to Bayview, where the Otrain now runs, and the furture southwest LRT lines will run. The path has trees on both sides (moreso on the rail cut side) and a variety of views into back yards and small industries along the Preston side of the path. These walking and cycling path sections are remarkably nice, and largely unknown:

                            Existing cycle path; Otrain cut is to the right, Carling in the distance.

The corridor ends at Young Street, even though there is a right of way under the Qway to Gladstone. But the big impediment to continuing the path north of Gladstone to Albert Street, Bayview station, and the Ottawa River pathways, has been how to get by Somerset Street, which is high up on an earthen embankment called the Viaduct.

As part of the Somerset reconstruction process, road works are supposed to be implemented to permit other bits of the official plan to go ahead. In this case, there should be an underpass put under Somerset during the reconstruction of Somerset process to permit the cycling and walking path to be completed

The new cycling underpass would be separate, to the left of the Otrain underpass. This view from the upper (west) deck of the City Centre complex

. The project engineers (Delcan) have confirmed there is room for an underpass similar to this one under the Champlain Bridge (although it would be under a higher road than shown):

The reconstruction of Somerset having been in the works for years ... and the sections connecting to West Wellie largely completed after two years of digging ...   the city realized that the Otrain underpass was coming up. So now, with road construction starting next month, the City is dealing with the cycling issue. Apparently, the city has extended the Delcan contract, so they are doing the detailed feasibility study for the underpass, how to access it, and bike route location on either side of the underpass.

If the city build the ped-cycling path behind the City Centre complex, it would probably come out at the intersection of Albert/City Centre Dr (shown) until the LRT Bayview Station is completed in 2018 and then it could be extended to join BikeWest along Albert/Scott, and  the Ottawa River pathways.

The city has not committed to actually installing the underpass in 2010-11 during the Somerset reconstruction process. Next time you see your councilor,

tell him/her you want the Somerset underpass built now, not in some far off future date when we are all dead. Or email your councilor.

Hickory-Champagne Condo Site

Mastercraft-Starwood acquired the Aquerello site on Champagne Avenue at Hickory some months ago. This site is immediately north of the Arnon proposed office towers at 853 Carling, and immediately south of the current and soon to be redeveloped humane society site. The new condos will border the OTrain on the east side of their site.

Their proposal is for high condo buildings positioned to view Dow's Lake. Recall that Hickory Street is likely to be continued across the Otrain corridor cut as a pedestrian street, which will also improve access to the Otrain station there for all the new developments proposed for this area. Recall too that Domicile has acquired the small printing plant located on the west side of Champagne at Hickory for a proposed 12 storey condo tower with six townhouses facing Hickory.

To see the artists sketches of the proposed condo towers from various viewpoints, go to this link http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/appDetails.jsf?lang=en&appId=__7UMT1F and click on the pdf's for the 3 elevation pictures and the site plan.

There is also a story on the proposal in Ottawa Business Journal, at this link:
http://www.obj.ca/Real-Estate/Residential/2010-02-19/article-795846/Developers-file-plans-for-Little-Italy-condo-towers/1

Bayview-Carling CDP Re-Activated !

Along the OTrain corridor is this hidden gem.

After a long struggle by residents and the neighborhood associations (the Dalhousie Community Association and the Hintonburg Community Association), and with much behind-the-scenes pushing by the concerned Councillors Holmes and Leadman, the Bayview-Carling Community Design Plan has been reactivated by the city.

The focus of the plan is Bayview Station to Carling Avenue, along the OTrain track, which is currently the subject of a development frenzy by condo and office developers who feel the time is right for the rebirth of this former industrial zone. No doubt some of the "time is right" feeling comes from the impending completion of the Preston Streetscaping project that puts Little Italy firmly into the trendy neighborhood category.

In the early 1960's, the NCC paid to remove many of the railway lines in Ottawa, as "relics" of an industrial era unsuited to modern government cities. (My first government job was with the Cdn Transport Commission, a quasi-judicial and regulatory body, where I researched and wrote the first analysis of the relocation process and what it accomplished). Most of the rail lines, condemmed as barriers between neighborhoods, were replaced by roads, such as the Queensway, Colonel By Drive. Other roads, such as the Champagne Arterial which would have run from Fairy Lake Parkway over the River through Dalhousie, through the Carleton Campus, and join the Ottawa Airport Parkway by the Taxation Building, were not completed). In retrospect, the highways that replaced the railways are bigger barriers and problems today than the rails were before. Someday we may wish to convert them back to rail, especially Colonel By Drive and the Alexandra Bridge.

The CDP is another chance for the neighborhood to gets its wishes into the planning process. While a lot of the planning horses have left the barn, there are still some that can be harnessed. Most particularly, I will be pushing for Transit Oriented Development that has some teeth, additional pedestrian crossings of the tracks at Hickory and elsewhere, a real north-south bike route from the river to Dow's Lake, a larger  park at Beech.etc.

The first meeting, primarily aimed at getting participants in the original study back into the process, will be the initial Public Advisory Committee meeting on Thursday, December 10th, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m., at Room 4102E/4103E, City Hall. The rooms are located on the fourth floor at City Hall.

Condo mania on OTrain corridor

The issue of Ottawa Business Journal (OBJ) out this past week has a major story on the development pressures along the Carling-Bayview OTrain corridor, parallel to Preston's trendy Little Italy.

They interviewed me (tiny bit, amongst more illustrious others) following my postings about developments at the Champagne/Hickory/Carling area. You can read their story at http://www.ottawabusinessjournal.com/295971895949675.php

Last week I attended the Civic Hospital Neighborhood Assoc meeting. First item was the new development by Domicile at the corner of Hickory and Champagne Avenue (shown below). The site is now a one storey industrial building, and is zoned for 4 storey redevelopment.

A month or so ago, I heard Domicile was planning an eight storey condo tower on the site, along with six townhouses facing Hickory. The plan unveiled at the CHNA meeting was for the same six townhouses, but now a 12 storey building. I wondered where the additional height came from: the developer or the city? The proposed tower is significantly higher than the Merion Square project (9 floors, two towers) immediately adjacent, on a much larger site.

I expected there to be a lot of comment on the height of the building, as it backs onto single houses. But there was nary a peep on the issue, despite the developers architect and planners continually opening the door to the issue. Instead, all the commentary was saved for Ron Jacks, the traffic consultant, who did a fine job of dealing with the questions. The 101 condos will generate one car per 12 minutes for rush hour along Sherwood Drive, which aggravated some attendees.

 The Domicile site needs rezoning before it can go ahead. Recall that 855 Carling is also up for upzoning; and I hear the former Acquerello site has been sold to Mastercraft-Starwood, currently selling condos on Parkdale north of Scott. Alas, at the rate things are going, all the sites and heights will be determined before the City's Community Development Plan is re-activated, and all local bargaining power lost. Also lost will be any chance of establishing view planes so each set of residents will have an unobstructed view of Dow's Lake.

Underutilitzed lot on Champagne

Half way along Champagne Avenue is this drastically underutilized lot behind a 1960's-era apt building. The lot is used for surface parking, and is not a desirable long-term use of valuable urban land. Given that it has street frontage along Champagne, I expect someday the owners will apply to relocate the parking underground and build condos -- either apartment condos or townhouse condos -- along the street. Depending on the condition of the existing apartments, they may even demolish the building and start anew.

Out with the old, in with the condos

The printing establishment currently located at the corner of Hickory Street and Champagne Avenue is the only remaining industrial use in this section of the Bayview-Champagne corridor. It once was an industrial heartland of the city, with convenient rail access (the tracks were relocated into the cut in 1963, before that they ran at street level). The old Sunoco fuel depot site has been cleaned up and is currently zoned for a 40,000 sq ft building. The former Campbell Iron and Steel plant at the corner of Carling/Champagne (now a satellite parking lot for the Civic Hospital) is in process to become several office towers (see earlier blogs on 853 Carling Ave) once the Bayview-Carling CDP is completed.

I hear the printing plant site pictured will soon be reincarnated as six townhouses facing Hickory and a eight storey condo facing Champagne. I imagine the neighbors will object, as some are already upset at the Merion Square townhouses and one condo tower (soon the second tower will be built). In my opinion, they are lucky, since the vacant and underutilized lands on the edge of their neighborhood are perfect for intensification (close to transit, have separate street access to the busy arterial Carling Avenue, and on the edge of the existing low rise neighborhoods but not in the middle). By building along the perimeter of this established area there will be less disruption to the existing areas and less pressure for intensification within the existing areas.

And recall too that the area immediately south of Carling, currently a green field running up to the Sir John Carling building, is zoned for mixed use high rises, but we wont see that for another three decades.

East Side of Champagne Avenue

The park at the corner of Beech and Champagne. It has bocce courts, playing fields (shown with ice-rink boards just delivered), a bicycle-polo park, and on the far side a play structure. The line of trees in the background is along the OTrain cut. Most of these trees will be lost when the cut is widened for the second phase of LRT construction, should the SW LRT service actually get built. This park could easily be expanded to the east by covering the cut with concrete girders and a playing field. The area on the other side of the cut is the north-south multipurpose path and narrow parkland corridor.

The Champagne animal shelter will be abandonned when the new shelter is finished out the 'burbs. The land will be sold, another excellent location for condos, with easy access to transit and the busy Preston Street of Little Italy, and with views to the Lake and downtown. The Bayview-Carling CDP will determine the degree of intensification, if the developers don't built it before the plan is resurrected.

Champagne Ave condo site on the market

The Acquerello condo was in pre-sales several years ago but did not sell enough units to go ahead with construction. It was located at  the corner of Hickory Street and Champagne Avenue, one block south of the Carling Avenue O-Train station. The proposed building was quite large and offered nice layouts with views of Dows Lake and the downtown plus easy access to rapid transit.

The lot is now back on the market. Domicile has proved there is a market for condos at this location, with his first tower at "Merion Square" built, and another two condo towers nearing construction. With the City's continued push for instensification, I expect whoever buys the site will try to increase the density or height to take advantage of the views and location. One way to increase the FSI is to cover-over the OTrain cut to increase parkland as a tradeoff for more height.

Unfortunately, the City's Bayview-Carling CDP for the area along the OTrain was aborted several years ago. By the time it gets resurrected, all the larger vacant lands along the OTrain will already have development proposals. See previous blog postings on 855 Carling Ave, the lot next door.

855 Carling, part ii

The Ottawa Civic Hospital Community Assoc. held a meeting on Tuesday evening. On the agenda was the 855 Carling Ave project proposed by Arnon Developments. They already own the two red brick office towers on Carling between Preston and Rochester (a site I vaguely recall might already have planning approval for a third tower?)

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From their planning documents I had concluded in my post a few days ago that this was a rezoning well in advance of any project, but at the meeting it became clear that this project might proceed in the near future, and my interpretation was wrong. The new building will be close to the lot line on the Carling side, but the lot line is set considerably back from the existing sidewalk, so the new building will be set back about the same distance as the existing CMPA towers to the west. If Carling is widened, perhaps in conjunction with a median LRT transit line, the hardscaping might get closer to the building, but until then it will be as suburban looking as the CMPA towers, which is a shame.

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The proponent noted that the 800 car parking garage would operate for one office shift a day, whereas the existing 300 car lot on the site today operates for 3 civic hospital shifts (there is a shuttle bus and waiting shelters) so the traffic impact of the new building will be similar to what is there now. The new garage would be four floors deep, which is considerably deeper than the adjacent OTrain cut. Apparently there are talks with the City about extending the building excavation right out to the OTrain cut.

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The rezoning and increased FSI for this site should not be considered in isolation. There is a Community Development Plan (CDP) neighborhood planning study for the redevelopment of the Carling to Bayview corridor (remaining old stuff from the railway era needs to be replaced with developments meeting current needs and the transit corridor opportunity) but the CDP was stalled when the north south LRT project was cancelled about 2 years ago. It is apparently getting going again (3 cheers ! something right from City hall !) and is the proper place to consider the height and FSI for this site, in conjunction with the other sites along the LRT

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I am very concerned with the possibilities for squandering the transit oriented development opportunities presented at this site. The developer has a main entrance on the east side, adjacent the station, and he indicated he was amenable to connecting it directly to the station. Such a connection needs to be all season, weatherproof, and perhaps climate controlled to compete with the 800 car parking garage in this building alone.

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But further planning is needed to access the CMPA buildings and Merion Square condos and the residential neighborhood to the OTrain/LRT to make it as convenient as possible. This might mean through-building access, or a link to Hickory Street pedestrian overpass over the cut. It is rare enough to find a lot of vacant land, ready for development in the next decade, right on top of a major transit station, and possibly the junction of two transit lines (the north-south and Carling LRT).

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Keep in mind also the land south of Carling, currently a grass field, is NOT NCC parkland nor part of the experimental farm, but is zoned for high-density mixed-use development. The OTrain and LRT station needs to be connected to this site too, and that does not mean a crosswalk with push-button placebo, it means a proper underpass from the station to the south side, also accomodating the bike path.

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The southmost anchor for development of that site is already there, but under threat, as the Feds are proposing to demolish the Sir John Carling building whereas it should be repurposed, perhaps as a condo.

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The 855 Carling developer is asking for increased FSI. The City should not grant it without some price. In the earlier CDP process, I advocated for covering part of the OTrain cut near Beech Street to expand Larouche Park. This neighborhood is a park desert. This is a marvelous opportunity to double-deck the narrow OTrain corridor so we get both transit-oriented development and neighborhood improvement.

855 Carling Avenue

855 Carling is a parking lot bounded by the OTrain Carling Station, Champagne Avenue S, and Carling Avenue. Immediately west of the site is the CMPA office buildings and beyond that is the Merion Square townhouse and two apartment towers being built by Domicile. The site is currently used as a park and ride lot for the Civic Hospital. The lot is owned by Arnon Developments, which tore down Campbell Steel and related industrial works on the site a number of years ago. The photo above is taken from Carling Ave near the Otrain Station, looking northwest.

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The planning document excerpt shows the site viewed from further north and east of the site, with Carling Avenue running left-right across the centre of the picture and the OTrain running top to bottom.

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The Arnon proposal is seeking not so much to build two office towers, the tallest one 15 floors, as to get the City to agree to the size of building, floor area, and location. If approved, Arnon will then consider whether to build an office, residential, or mixed office-residental building(s), and when, if ever to build them. In short, they feel the time is right to lock in an upzoning of the site.

Something similar was done for the theoretical condo tower on Preston at Sydney. Once rezoned, the proponent went away, there is no sign of any intention to build the condo, the owners wanted to strike while the City is readily approving upzoning. Sadly, Arnon is proposing upzoning for its theoretical building based on the proposed height of the unbuilt theoretical building on Preston. Only Domicile is actually building anything in the area, although Charlesfort and other developers are knocking on doors (metaphorically and physcially) throughout the area. The recent site cleanup of the old Esso at the corner of Carling and Preston has readied that lot for redevelopment.

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I cannot blame the developers for doing what they want to do. I do regret that the City has dropped the ball, letting the Carling-Bayview Community Development Plan get stalled. This CDP was well on its way to completion when the city put it on hold, because the N-S LRT line was postponed. I, and members of the Dalhousie Community Assoc (representing the neighborhood immediately to the east) have been nagging the City to get the plan restarted, precisely so that all the properties ripe for rezoning along the OTrain Corridor could be planned in a coherent manner. The Arnon proposal is not necessarily at odds with what the CDP proposed, but it misses several opportunities, such as a direct link to the OTrain, possibly covering the Otrain cut to increase the lot green area, connecting bike and pedestrian networks, etc. The City should postpone the rezoning application until the Carling-Bayview CDP is completed (which should be quite quick that much of it was already done).

LRT Maintenance Facility Site

There will be a low-key public meeting at City Hall on Wedn. June 24 from 5.30 to 8pm on the proposed new maintenace facility. No speaches, just poster boards and comment sheets.

Recall that on May 27 Council approved the alignment (route) and station locations. The consultants and staff are now working on station design, the BRT to LRT conversion process, construction staging, and how the LRT and BRT will operate once the line opens. Their results will be shown at another open house in Sept.

But back to the Maintenance Facility. Planners examined all the site along or near the LRT phase one alignment from Tunneys to Blair. The three top sites are
1. St Laurent, south of the Qway, either on PWGSC lands or immediately west of the current OC Transpo yards
2. Bayview, between Bayview Ave, Scott/Albert to the south, the Ottawa River Parkway to the north, and the existing bus marshalling facility to the east (Bayview Station)
3. Hurdman North, the vacant land immediately north of Hurdman Station

The consultants showed some familiar google satellite images or air photos of existing facilities in Mineapolis, Houston, and San Jose. Unfortunately, none of those are of the type proposed for Ottawa. Due to our extreme climate (minus 50 in winter, plus 32 in summer with high hummidity) most of the Ottawa facility will be indoors. The maintenance facility itself would of course be a large indoor structure. The storage yards would also be a structure, perhaps partially heated, to protect the vehicle fleet from weather. There would also be some test track sections, lots of loops and switches to move vehicles around, and a huge employee parking lot. These are most likely to be outdoors. So there is abundant oportunity for the facility to a noise nusience to residential neighbours, which is why the consultants prefer an industrial or already-noisy area.

The Bayview site is currently vacant brownfields, former snowdump and garbage infilling of Nepean Bay. Running through the site is the east-west transitway and the north-south OTrain line, the presence of which will complicate building a yard. Especially worrysome is the link across the Prince of Wales Bridge to Gatineau, which cuts the site in half. I would hate to see this potential interprovincial link 'lost' because the LRT itself used up the approach space to the bridge.

There is an existing Community Development Plan for the site. It calls for high rise apartment towers about 75m tall (23 stories, approx). Unfortunately, the City elected to build the high rises east of the Larouche Park, on unstable land that requires massive cleanup. The CDP plan deliberately scorned any consideration of economics, which would have put the residential uses on the land now used by Larouche Park and moved the park east one block to be adjacent the riverfront parklands. Now, apparently, the CDP is stalled because the proposed developments are too expensive to build due to remediation costs. And the City may well lose a potentially large and viable residential neighborhood close to the transit, the core, and employment centres, in favour of a one or two storey high sprawling industrial building and outdoor trackage because to build that does not require remediating the lands: just lay down a meter or two of stone excavated from the tunnel under the core, and presto, industrial heaven.

Now I can envision that a facility could be built there that would be compatible with adjacent neighborhoods and able to develop the site to a higher potential. Such a facility would locate the buildings and test tracks then fill in the loops and empty spaces with apartment buildings on top of a large podium structure that would be the green roof covering the maintenance facility, etc. Note that buildings would not be built over the maintenance garage itself or storage tracks, just all the other less-critical tracks and parking lots. Such a facility should have minimal neighorhood impact as all the facility would be indoors and quiet. The biggest impact would be workers commuting to the buildings, but that should be a similar traffic volume to the proposed CDP which would have had a dozen or more tall apartment towers.

But while architects, planners, and dreamers can envision such a development, I have absolutely zero faith that the City could or would actually built it. Until they come up with a plan that shows a largely indoor facility, with apartment towers above, and no gross underutilization of the site for "surface parking" or squealing train loops, it's thumbs down from me for this site.

Urban Planning Nostalgia

Over at the blog The Ottawa Project is a story of visiting Lorne Ave and the not-unreasonable assumption that what is visible on Lorne represents that which was demolished on the Flats in the early 1960's.

I think that overview is overly sympathetic to the demolished areas. I do not wish to take the view that it was right to demolish whole neighborhoods/built up areas in favor of total rebuilding, which was the big government view of urban renewal then (note to today's amateur city rebuilders and commentators who too often wish for bigger govt action - be careful of what you wish for ... ).

The Flats was a mixed use neighborhood. There were grotty warehouses and rail tracks and SLUMS there as well as some nice houses. We dont do ourselves a favor by sugar coating or idealizing the old neighborhood. Granville Island or Old Montreal or old Halifax represent the effects of millions of dollars of disneyfication and not the normal evolution of old mixed use neighborhoods. Sometimes cheap housing is just that - it serves a purpose and then should be demolished and replaced by something better. As successful as Granville Island is, Vancouver is busy demolishing old stock in the adjcent neighborhoods for redevelopment from scratch. And who in Ottawa is clamoring to declare Hintonburg or Mechanicsville historic districts with every building preserved from demolition? If not Mechanicsville, then why LeBreton?

It is just plain wrong to assume that Lorne avenue represents what was built and demolished on the Flats. The NCC demolition targetted the polluted lands, the obsolete industrial uses and the structurally impaired housing. Their demolition continued south only as far as the worst structures went ... for eg they went half way up Booth and stopped at Primrose but left the houses backing onto these from Lorne because the Lorne houses were structurally sound (and when I moved here 30 plus years ago, certainly not nice nor trendy). Similarly, only some units were demolished on Rochester, Preston, Primrose ... leaving a gap-toothed landscape. But it was the bad-condition houses that were demolished and the good ones were left in place. Once a high percentage of the area is demolished, there were no doubt some structurally sound and maybe even attractive structures demolished simply because they were isolated in a non-functionable landscape.

Fortunately, the era of widespread urban demolition is past. Or is it? Will the Carling-Bayview CDP, which Councillor Holmes has agreed to try to resurrect, aim to preserve the old industrial buildings and every old house? Or will we view this area as a brownfields to be majorly redeveloped with townhouses and apartments and new park space?

Phase one of Lebreton flats in 1980 built new housing around some of the survivors and this makes a fortunate transition zone from new townhouses to old community. Note that it was the city/government that built the remarkably ugly and ill-suited townhouses at the Albert St end of Lorne Ave that blight that otherwise admirable streetscape.

In short, many of the houses on the Flats were demolished because they were substandard, slums, or structurally compromised. Certainly today, we MIGHT spend vast sums of public money to "save" and reposition such a neighborhood. Look at neighborhoods that were better than the Flats that were left alone - like Hintonburg, Mechanicsville, etc - which evolved to what they are today, with a lot of infill development of mixed quality and scale.

I dont think we should idealize the past and be nostalgic for a quality residential neighborhood that exists more in our imaginations than reality. Eddy McCabe wrote a lot about what it was like to grow up in that neighborhood, and it was anything but wonderful.

Somerset Viaduct (Bridge) over the OTrain Line

Somerset west of Preston rises up and over the OTrain Tracks, near the City Centre Building. At the height of the crest, the bridge itself is only about 20' long; the rest of the road is simply a fill between retaining walls. The road was designed long ago and the angle of the slope means that motorists cannot see what's on the road (for eg, a parked car) over the crest. This creates a stopping-in-time problem.

The solution selected by the City is to narrow the road to two lanes for vehicle traffic. The road is wide enough for a bike lane on each curbside, but whether it is implied or will be painted on I do not know. By narrowing the road, moving vehicles are out of the curbside parking lane.

This project is nearing completion. Decorative lampposts and bollards were installed this week.

The south side concrete sidewalks were laid late last winter and the cement did not set well, with the results the sidewalks are spalled and already look a decade old. More curiously, the bridge repairs -- like the ones at Carling and Prince of Wales -- kept the one-OTrain-track-wide size. [in the comments section, I correct this. This bridge is already two tracks wide] If the OTrain is not double tracked or replaced with a double-track LRT for the next 20 years or so (life span of the repairs) then it will have been a cost effective decision to repair the bridges at their current size. But if the OTrain service is expanded or LRT service to the south is resurrected, the newly repaired bridges will have to be torn out and replaced by longer spans to cross the double tracks.

I sincerely hope that at that point the bridges are made another 15' longer to cross a future bike lane that is supposed to run along the Carling-Bayview alignment, although with no Community Development Plan in place, we run the risk of the Chiarelli-era fiasco whereby the bridges were to be replaced but without provisions for bike and pedestrian lanes. That was a near tragedy averted only because the LRT project was cancelled. Will we do better if the project is reincarnated? Our chances are better if we had CDP in place, but as yet there is no sign of one.

A stadium for Ottawa

Lansdowne Live? Scotiabank Place? LeBreton - Bayview?

I am not a fan of a new stadium at Lansdowne Park. It is not accessible enough - the neighborhood streets are narrow, local-style shopping and residential streets. It is not on the Qway nor the transitway. Open air concerts and mass public events are just not compatible enough with the residential area. A major park, including residential development (yes, expensive condos) to help pay for it all, is better. A massive city expenditure on a fancy park just for the Glebe, no. I suggest we continue the urban fabric along Bank Street and maybe on the north side too, with condos and commercial spaces sold to fund the development of the parkland. Do a great job, not a cheap job (the condo sales will help determine the budget).

ScotiaBank Place? A better choice than Lansdowne, for sure. It just makes sense for two major sport facilities to use the same parking lot and eventually the same transit station (extend the transitway out there sooner rather than later, bus rapid transit if necessary but LRT would be best). Open air concerts and games would not be so intrusive on neighbors simply because so much space around the Place is commercial or freeway. And we want our suburbs to be more than dormitory dead zones, so putting another major cultural centre in Kanata makes sense in diversifying their/our economy. And if I recall right, Scotiabank Place is pretty much the geographical centre of the city anyway, and stadiums of this size draw from a wide region.

I realize that the recent city report into stadium locations put three highly rated possible locations in my neighborhood: Bayview, Somerset, and Carling sites. Only Bayview seems large enough to me. But I dont want the noise of the open air concerts (Noisefest is intrusive enough, being permitted to exceed the city's noise bylaws by 100% isn't exactly a subtle musical atmosphere). Nor do I really want all the on-street parking that would accompany every game or event. And Bayview isn't on the Qway but it will be the meeting point of the east-west and north-south and interprovincial transit system. I also lack faith that the city could ever develop a dense enough project, that they couldn't really integrate it into an urban fabric - I fear we would have a big building surrounded by dead space and parking lots (see Scotiabank, and any city funded building elsewhere). Smart growth remains all talk, little action in this city.

So, with some misgivings, put it in Kanata.

Sir John Carling Bldg - demolish vs conversion

The Sir John Carling building is a large gray office slab rising out of the eastern edge of the Experimental Farm between Dows Lake / Prince of Wales Drive and Carling Avenue. Built in 1967, it is certainly a more-attractive building than many government cubicle farms. The distinctive brise soleil screens on the exterior (only on the west and south sides, the picture shows the east side without sun screens) were inspired by the trendy architecture of Brasilia, and promoted by the then minister of agriculture (Hees??), if my ageing memory serves me right.

The Feds plan to demolish the building in 2010. I can understand their claims that it is an inefficient building, even if I disagree with them. Public Works today wants large floorplates to challenge building occupants in finding their way through the maze of gray partitions, and far be it for me to reduce the mental challenges that might keep our civil servants alert. PubWorks also likes higher ceiling levels to pipe mechanical air into the warren.

I suggest they sell it to a condo developer. Seriously. There, I said it. The thin building floorplate is more suited to residential uses.

I don't see why having condos on the farm is any different from having civil servants in a highrise on the farm. In fact, the condo might generate more diversity of activity at all hours of the day and night.

And don't be mislead by the current appearance of the building surrounded by farmland to the west and greenspace to the east, because the greenspace to the east (the Dows Lake side, shown in the picture) is NOT PERMANENT GREENSPACE. It is not parkland, part of the experimental farm, nor part of Dows Lake / Commissioner's Park. It is, in City zoning, identified as MCF 1.5, ie Mixed Use Centre with a floor space index of 1.5. The (aborted) CDP for the area calls, amongst other good things, for higher density development here.

Recall too that the Carling Avenue LRT service promoted by Clive Doucet and others uses a part of this lot to swing the LRT from the Carling median under the (future) buildings down to the current O-Train line towards Bayview Station. As for the land to the west, isn't this one of the sites identified for a potential new Civic Hospital?

Please don't accuse me of wanting to pave over the Farm. The Carling Building is already there, the issue is whether to refurbish it as office space, demolish it, or my suggestion: a residential building. The (potential) land uses to the east and west of the Carling Building are already in the public forum. Can the Carling building be recycled, reused, repurposed? I hope so. Demolition is the recourse of losers.