A different climate

This is the centre boulevard of Carling Avenue. The section from the Otrain to Bronson is to be reconstructed in 2011. This section will NOT be dug up  should the city decide to run an LRT along the Carling median. Also note that the city plows streets to the side only, so the centre boulevard is not used for snow storage. So what is put down in the 2011 reconstruction is what we will see for the next half century or more.

At the open house, I suggested the median be landscaped properly. I suggested there be a 18" setback from the curb, then a 2' wall be constructed and the centre filled with great dirt or structural soil and planted with trees, shrubs, or even decorative grass. The City planners wagged their heads no...no...no. The stuff wouldn't survive. It couldn't possibly work. Besides, there's already a nice park to the south ... as if the NCC facilities obviate the city from ever bothering to do something nice to their lands.

Here is Allumettes in Hull Gatineau. Remember when Hull was the poor cousin to Ottawa? Well, the story is different now. Note the decorative centre light standards, the lush planting, the close row of trees, all apparently thriving in their hostile climate north of Ottawa.

The centre plantings are so lush they partially obscure the cars on the other side, thus reducing the apparent width of the road and ameliorating its impact on the urban environment. Gatineau can do it ...

Close up of plantings and two rows of curbs. Plantings included rose buses, lavender, shrubs, and trees.

A maintenance crew doing a summer weeding. They told me its once a year.

After weeding, a watering (fertilizer?). The resultant lush attractive streetscape shows the results of the manicuring work.

Another section, planted solely in tall grasses.

Thick planting of attractive greenery makes a rich boulevard -- only in Gatineau you say, pitty.

An older section, with higher planter walls making a clearer separation of the roads on each side of the centre boulevard.

Carling Avenue boulevard. Other than the car models, its exactly the same as 1955. Will it look the same in 2055??

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.

Images of Summerlude at Winterlude

Winterlude is on. But while walking through Commissioners' Park at Dow's Lake, I could only recall the glorious gardens there during the past summer. Here are some reminders of the riotous colours that are now gone.

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.

Begonias anyone?

Nice display of potted begonias on a front sidewalk along the QE Driveway near Torrington.

The Unfinished Deck

I first noticed this steel girder structure in early Spring. There is a similar one on the other side of the concrete pier that extends out to the Dow's Lake Pavillion (surely one of the better NCC projects, it adds needed life to the Lake).

It looks like the steel should be topped with thick wood planks or concrete pavers, to widen the pier and improve the alignment to the new entrance to Mexicali Rosa's and Malone's Restuarant.

Anyone know why the project has not yet been finished?

Naval Flotilla on the Rideau

I got rather excited to see Navy uniforms on Saturday cruising up the Canal. Mind you its not as fast as the Bras d'Or (hydrofoil)* or big as the Magnificent or Bonaventure (aircraft carriers), all now noticeably absent from our navy fleet.

My dad was in the Navy forever, and being a navy brat, moved every year or two. I attended 9 schools before I graduated from high school. Maybe that's why I haven't moved from my Dalhousie neighborhood in the last 30 years.

*I recall this story, I don't know if it is true. Trudeau was PM. To make a dashing impression, he had the Bras d'Or taken down to Baltimore and then rode it, fastest warship in the world, skimming 2m above the waves, up the Potomac to the tidal basin, to see the US President on his (much larger) ship. If you can't swing a bigger d...k, go for style.

What Blight is This?

I had occasion to cycle along the canal several times this weekend, from Dows Lake to the NAC end, using the NCC bike paths.

I was really struck by how many trees have dried up, brown, crunchy leaves. First noticed on the south side of the canal, from Bronson to east of Bank, whole swaths of tree branches, entire sides of trees, exhibit dried branches. I presume it is not from lack of water.

Then some became apparent on the north side of the canal too, along the Golden Triangle area. Once looking, they were frequent. Usually on mature trees.

This week, I cut down one of my back yard peonies right to the ground, and threw out the leaves and stems which had, seemingly overnight, gone spotted and brown. A virus, a friend and better gardener told me, put them in your regular garbage and not leaf collection or composting.

Anyone know what blight this is, and whether the trees and shrubs will come back next year or are permanently dead?

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).

Festival Externalities

Every festival has impacts external to the site it operates on. These get managed in different ways.

Winterlude and the Tulip Festival have numerous events along the canal, abutting neighborhoods like the Golden Triangle and The Glebe. For both these festivals, shuttle buses run along the canal to get crowds to and from the event sites. This distributes parking impacts over a larger area. It also means the City Hall garage and Lansdowne Park parking lots get used.

For Bluesfest, there are no shuttle services, leaving adjacent neighborhoods to suffer from a huge influx of parkers. This is most noticeable in the Dalhousie neighborhood immediately to the south of LeBreton Flats, and Hintonburg to the west. As a resident of Dalhousie, I am astounded at how many people cruise the streets at 8.45 pm expecting to find on-street parking in the first few blocks from Bluesfest, and then expressing their frustration by driving aggressively or parking on the boulevards or paths and right on corners.


The Glebe even gets some its streets temporarily privatized during the festivals, with guards and barriers to control access, keeping out the general public and limiting access to invited guests. There are no similar controls for the neighborhood to the north of Dows Lake, which is Dalhousie again. What's the difference between the north (Dalhousie) side and south (Glebe) side of Carling Avenue? Would it be that houses on the south side sell for $900,000 and up and on the south side for $250,000?

Right after the Bluesfest, there was the Classical Series on LeBreton Flats. Sponsored by the NAC and NCC, the concerts attract smaller crowds than Bluesfest, but they are handled much better, with continuous shuttle bus service from Tunney's Pasture's huge parking lots to the site, via the Ottawa River Commuter Expressway. As a result, the neighborhood was not overrun with parked vehicles. Unfortunately, the City's enforcement of parking regulations during Bluesfest was largely lifted, with the prompt result that parkers once again began taking over the parkland and boulevards and Albert St path with illegal parking that went unticketed.

The Tulip festival and Winterlude get signage at the Carling OTrain station advising patrons OTrain transit access and sidewalks to Dows Lake and Commissioners Park. The Bayview Otrain station remains unconnected to the Ottawa River bike paths just a few hundred feet north of the station, which also offer a fast direct pedestrian route to Bluesfest. There is no signage indicating the way to walk, of course, but OC Transpo employs additional security to prevent people from walking along the transitway to Bluesfest.

Why does the Classical Music series, Winterlude, and Tulip Fest get shuttle buses and Bluesfest doesn't? And it is not the cost of the shuttles, the City already pays for a glorious shuttle service that doesn't operate. I am speaking here of the ridiculous situation whereby OC Transpo supplies extra post-concert buses to handle the exiting crowds. The drivers and vehicles show up around 6pm, gathering in large red herds along old Wellington east of Booth, and at the bus staging area at Bayview. The drivers stand around chatting and having coffee for hours, to make one or two runs at 11pm. I guess they have to paid for an entire shift. Instead of having these drivers stand there, why not run shuttle service from the City Hall garage, from Lansdowne, and from Tunney's, from 6pm to 11.30?

Why do some festivals better control their external parking and crowd access impacts than other festivals? It wouldn't just be the a$$luence of the impacted neighborhoods would it?

Magnolia Blossoms on Walnut Court

The magnolia we always went to see on Spruce St seems to have died. But there is this one in Walnut Court just moving into full bloom now. The Experimental farm has a nice collection of trees just above the OTrain tracks near Prince of Wales Drive. Over the years we have identified many magnolia locations and cycle around to see them all. A favorite large tree is on Cambridge a few doors north of Gladstone.

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.

Spring blooms at the Ex

Snowdrops (?) blooming this week in the Experimental Farm, near the magnolia trees.

Hartwell Drydocks

The Paula D gets her bottom polished while in Harwell's Drydock.

Landscaping Goes In, Dow's Lake pathway

Recall that in late fall, 2008, the NCC reconstructed the pedestrian and cycling path along the south side of Dow's Lake (along Commissioner's Park). The new path is wider and in many places a foot higher, which should reduce puddling. There are more bench sitting areas too, set back from the path.


Workers are busy this week cleaning up the unfinished details, including laying cobblestones between the path and the Queen Elizabeth Driveway.

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.