Stop the Busses rally

Forty two people, plus some media types and politicians, showed up for the  7.30am rally at the corner of Bayswater and Scott for a rally to raise awareness of the possible shifting of transitway buses onto Scott/Albert during LRT construction period.

Councillor Leadman was there, as was challenger Katherine Hobbs. Paul Dewar and Yasir Naqvi were also present, as was one city transit planning honcho, and there were a few residents also wearing suits. Dogs and children in strollers and one in a 19th century costume, completed the picture.

The streetside venue was somewhat noisy, so I didn't hear any of the speaches. Several people present gave media interviews or soundbites; the few I overheard were careful to distinguish between the LRT project (good for the neighborhood) and the lack of plans as to where to put the buses now on the transitway during the construction period (bad).

                                  The back of Paul Dewar's head and the front of Yasir Naqvi's.


The biggest smile was on the bus driver who arrived (nice new bus, clean) at the stop and loaded on several passengers, whilst the media types on the sidewalk snapped pictures of him.

1946 Scott Street condo and house prices

This boutique-scale condo is proposed for the corner of Scott and West Village Private.  Yesterday's post dealt with the conflicting planning documents, and how each party relies on the document (level) that best suits their arguments.

I was surprised at the hearing how often the proponent was asked extremely detailed questions about the building. Would the side bedroom windows of the condo have a view across park and then obliquely across the street into the second and third floor windows of the houses on WVP?

Did the proponent have a detailed traffic plan from a consultant showing the impact of his 26 parking spaces on the traffic flow of Scott Street and turn volumes onto Lanark?

Was the west wall of the building concrete or steel stud, given its proximity to the Hydro station next door (which was a whole 'nother story of last minute objections made by Hydro, some of which struck me as ludicrous).

Was the exterior brick colour of the building really as bright orange as shown on the magic-marker coloured drawings? Where was the landscape consultant's report on how to construct foundations to avoid root damage to an on-site oak tree that was to be saved?

The proponent, I discovered, had been to the CofA once before. His architect had drawn detailed constructable floor plans for the building. The plans were then redone, with new suite layouts, new structural calculations, new drawings, more negotiations with the City, and brought back to CofA. The new plans made the building thinner, filled it out closer to the lot lines at the request of the City, etc.

I couldn't help but think how much all these steps cost. And opponents of this project or other projects make the most of picking flaws, requiring more expensive studies when common sense indicates some of the objections are on pretty thin ground. Who pays for all this? The developer of course, but these costs get passed on to the home buyers. You know, the young couple looking for their first step onto the housing escalator by buying a small condo right on the transitway that pops them into work. Or the elderly widow selling her bigger hard-to-maintain older home to get a no-maintenance apartment.

I have no idea what the amount is, but it has to be significant wastage of money to constantly redo detailed plans to meet various objections, to hire endless consultants, to hire a planning presenter at the CofA, the city staff time ... all for issues such as height and setbacks that in my view should have been settled well before the proponent starts to plan his project. Of course, the putative builder cannot meet all the rules because there are so many of them, and they conflict with each other!

This isn't the first case I have seen at CofA. Last year I saw a developer who proposed a low rise apartment-style building infill in New Edinburgh. The local community association prevailed that the developer go away and bring back a townhouse development instead. Which was then turned down by neighbours because it was too close to the side lot line. Redrawn, then presented again to fresh objections from a new party who now complained it was too close to the rear lot line. The proponent faced endless objections caused by satisifying the first objectors, when they met the zoning rules with their first proposal. Oh vey! Eventually, a harder-nosed developer will simply cease consulting neighbors and build what can be mostly accomodated within the existing rules, whether the neighbors like it or not. So sad.

And house or condo buyers pay the price for this system. And taxpayers for the City planners and detailed planning studies like a CDP that the same community associations that help draft them ... then go on to object to their implementation.  And taxpayers again, who then get to subsidize the construction and repair of social housing units because the badly-regulated market doesn't deliver them cheap enough housing that the same planning process (like "smart growth") worked hard to squeeze out of the market. It's enough to make one cry.

It seems to me there should be a two-step process: the proponent works out with the city the size and shape of the proposed building on the lot and the conflicts between the zoning, infill guidelines, CDP and Official Plan. Once it is agreed what can be built, then the battle moves on to the specifics of the design.

1946 Scott Street condo

For edutainment, I went to the Committee of Adjustment hearing on this condo a few weeks back. The six storey condo is proposed for the corner of Scott at West Village Private (WVP). Also at the intersection is Lanark Avenue. Directly across the street is the Metropole condo, the tallest in the city.

The proponent wanted several variances. For example, reduced side yards and building the structure closer to the street. It turns out that the builder was being forced to ask for these by the City, because the zoning requires certain setbacks but the Community Design Plan (CDP) for the area calls for buildings along Scott from this site west to Churchill to be built close to the street, with a wide streetscaped sidewalk in front, the buildings are to abut each other tightly with no side yards, etc. to look like a traditional main street (eg West Wellington, Richmond Road in Westboro).

Opponents of the plan, who had a professional planner as one of their presenters, objected to various issues. Parking was a sore spot. Residents of the WVP didn't like that the builder was having less than one parking space per unit and felt there would be spill over parking into their street. Perfectly reasonable ... except the City forbids the proponent to provide the normal 100% parking because his condo is within x metres of a transitway station.

Other objections focussed on the ground floor commercial space, possibly a convenience store. Once again, the proponent was happy to make the building 100% residential but the City demanded commercial space on the ground floor to animate the street and sidewalks per their traditional mainstreet designation.

There were detailed objections to the condo based on close readings of the zoning bylaw and the city's infill guidelines. The condo proponent based their request for adjustments on the City's official plan that demands more intense infill and the CDP which specifies the lots along Scott are to be developed with a continuous row of six storey buildings with commercial at the sidewalk level.

I sympathized with the neighbours who might not want a six storey building overlooking their back yard, and saw traffic issues. Some of their other complaints struck me as trivial. They used the zoning laws as their tool of choice.

I sympathized with the condo proponent who is being told by the City that if he wants to build he has to violate those same zoning bylaws in favour of the CDP requirements for a traditional main street. I subsequently learned that the hierarchy of rules is

•  Provincial planning directives,
•  under that is the City Official Plan,
• under that is the CDP,
•  under that is the individual lot zoning.
• The infill guidelines sort of float inbetween the zoning and CDP levels.

These various levels of plan frequently lead to contradictions when it comes to developing an individual site, eg the CDP demand for a continuous line of building frontages vs the zoning requirement for generous side yard setbacks. These contradictions seem to get resolved by the advice of the planning dept. as ratified by the Committee of Adjustment.

In this case the CofA heard all sides, and decided the contradictions between the zoning bylaw and CDP were so great that the zoning needs to be clarified/changed. The proponent can wait for that to happen (a process that will be subject to much lobbying...), or the proponent can appeal the decision to the OMB which often rules based on the higher level of planning document, eg the CDP.

to be continued in next post

New Scott Street Condo

Shown above is the first elevations of a six storey condo proposed for Scott Street. Small buildings like this are called boutique buildings. It will have about 30 units, with one commercial space on the ground floor. Since the lot has access only on the Scott frontage, the building face has the storefront, main entrance, then parking garage ramp, all in a row. Exterior is brick and stucco with glass balcony railings.

The building is proposed for the vacant lot immediately west of West Village Private, which joins Scott at the same intersection as does Lanark Avenue, near the Metropole condo tower. This condo is on the southwest side of Scott. When the West Village was being pre-sold about 4 years ago, the initial sales office was on this lot, and I vaguely recall that even then it was proposed as an apartment site. I also vaguely recall that Larco (the WestVillage developer) also owned the bank note printing plant behind the West Village that also faces Richmond Road at Kirkwood. I like the idea of condos there better than the original suggested new Cdn Tire which relocated to Carling in any case.

Condos in the area seem to sell like hotcakes. The Thieberge Homes building on Richmond between Island Park Dr and the Metro store are 80% sold in just the few weeks since they opened their sales office. Most units are smallish one bedrooms (500-600 sq ft @ $425+/sq ft). Buyers fall into two main groups: first timer DINKs; and older Empty Nesters.

Scott Street will be undergoing a community design plan (CDP) in the next year or two. Apparently some decisions have already been made, since the builder has been instructed by the City to move it right up to the lot front. Apparently when Scott is redone it is to be in the "traditional main street" format (like Preston, West Wellington, Bank Street)? This building is considerably shorter than the one facing Scott as proposed for the Westboro Collection, the McRae Avenue site behind and across from Trailhead.

It will be very interesting to see if the City can manage to develop Scott as a traditional main street format when it is presently a mish-mash of houses and commercial, some old, some new. They deserve credit for the attempt, in my opinion, since considerable redevelopment is expected all the street in the next decade and it is better to plan before development than after.

DOTT plans affect west side residents (v): when the transitway ends at Tunney's

The first phase of the LRT system extends as far west as Tunneys Pasture. It may always terminate there, or may be extended further west as phase two of the LRT system. Until it is extended, a major transfer facility is required at Tunney's for bus users from the west who need to transfer onto the LRT vehicles for the continued journey through the downtown. (The design of that station will be subject of another post.)

Most of the users of the 95 and similar buses from the west will get off their vehicles at the new transfer station to be built to the north of the current station at Tunney's, and have grade-separated direct access onto the LRT station platforms in the cut. The LRT will take them through the downtown core. For users going beyond Blair, they would have to transfer again onto the east end of the 95 route.

However, for 95 users who wish to go to the OTrain or City Centre employment node, or wish to go to Gatineau, it would be frustrating to have to transfer to LRT at Tunneys and then transfer again at Bayview onto the OTrain or Rapibus (more on that! in another post), or at Booth onto a Gatineau-bound bus.

The solution the city proposes is for every third or fourth 95 bus to extend beyond Tunneys along Scott to Bayview and along Albert to Booth, and then turn north and go to Gatineau. Presumably,this may also apply to 97 and some other bus routes. These route extensions would run for as long as the LRT ends at Tunney's and is not extended west (ie 5 - 20 years, possibly forever). We have no word yet on how many buses will be permanently routed on Scott / Albert but we already know intersection widenings will be required/demanded for this at Booth and maybe elsewhere.

BikeWest - part iv - Scott Street from Bayview to Dominion

The Scott alignment is much straighter than the riverside path and passes through major residential and employment areas

For most of its length along Scott, BikeWest is pretty simple. The two-way paved surface would be set back from Scott Street whenever possible. At major signalized intersections, the bike route might snuggle up to Scott. Signalized intersections at Holland, Island Park, and Lanark would operate as described previously: through east-west traffic on both the road and BikeWest would proceed on green; all left and right turning traffic that might cross BikeWest would go only on green arrows when through traffic movements are prohibited. This would not unduly delay car traffic, and would minimize the conflicts between cyclists and motorists.

Lots of City-owned room along Scott for BikeWest and new pedestrian walkways

For the minor, unsignalized intersections, the bike route might be pulled close to the transitway cut, and would cross the streets on a raised surface. This sharply raised surface will be self-enforcing to vehicles, which will slow down before going over the hump. With a hump, motorists would be reminded of the cycle route whether cyclists are present or not. There would be at least one car length transition zone between the bike crossing and the Scott roadway, so cars would not get hung up in the intersections. There should be yield signs located at each car crossing of the bike surface, to remind vehicles that they are crossing the bike way and that cyclists have priority.

If the raised bike route crossing intersections arrangement fails to get past City hall bureaucrats and naysayers, it will be back to level crossings similar to the picture below, but with better alignment and hopefully a coloured asphalt path crossing the road to reinforce the presence of the bike route.

Current Scott path meets cross street: a mess that discourages path use

The preferred set-back / raised crossing is not perfect. Nothing short of a fully-grade-separated route can be. But most of these unsignalized streets are low volume local traffic roads. Signage would be required reminding motorists not to queue up blocking the bike route.

Exactly how the BikeWest route would bypass the bus transfer stations at Tunney’s and Westboro can only be determined when design criteria for these stations has been decided on.  The bypass need not be difficult or expensive or dangerous. But it needs to be designed into the stations right from the beginning. For example, the current arrangement at Westboro Station locates the bus bay well off Scott Street, letting cyclists continue along a painted shoulder. This is better than the Tunney’s arrangement that forces cyclists to mix with pedestrians and waiting bus users in the same area. Recall that both these stations will be redesigned as part of the LRT project and modifications/provisions for WestBike could be incorporated in the rebuilding.

Current Tunney's Station will undergo major renovation and rearrangment if LRT goes ahead. Could BikeWest be incorporated in the redesign?

Westboro Station. Cyclists either ride on the bus bay or between the island and the road

Once BikeWest approaches Churchill and Dominion, a number of options open up. Many cyclists will percolate south on the side streets that penetrate the residential neighborhoods between the River and Carling. For more dedicated longer-haul cyclists, two options will be explored in the next segment.

Click to enlarge route map along Scott

One key reason why the BikeWest concept needs to be accepted soon is there are a lot of road and infrastructure projects going in along the route in the next seven to fifteen years that can make or break the feasibility of the cycling route. In addition to the transitway and stations, Scott may be rebuilt/realigned, there is a Scott CDP (planning exercise), a Bayview-Carling CDP, and the Interprovincial transit study. The LeBreton concept plan and the city’s Escarpment CDP (covering the area from Booth to Bay) would need to be updated to incorporate the BikeWest concept.

The generous right of way along Scott facilitates BikeWest infrastructure.

BikeWest – part i - Opportunity Knocks

The BikeWest project is an idea. An idea about how we can move beyond shared bike lanes. About doing something significant and big to promote cycling to work. An idea for a dedicated, separated-from-cars two way bike road capable of moving thousands of people between neighborhoods and to the downtown. At the same time, an idea that is affordable. Achievable in the medium term. An idea that doesn’t monopolize cycling resources or block other projects. A project that builds up Ottawa rather than dividing it.

Ottawa has many cycle paths now, almost all of them provided by the NCC (bless them for that!). Most of the paths are designed for recreational use: they are scenic, winding paths rather than straight origin-destination commuter paths. The City has marked some “bike routes” and “multipurpose paths”, but they are often unsuitable for both commuters and users who feel threatened by pavements shared with motorists. Some of the marked lanes are really beneficial to those comfortable with on-road cycling.

The main impediment to a high volume dedicated bike route are pretty obvious. First, there’s the car-oriented mentality that dominates City Hall and the NCC. Of course, cars currently are the dominant mode of transport. Second is the short-term mentality at City Hall and the preference to do small-area planning and thus miss the longer-term opportunities. As for the NCC, it’s simply not in their mandate. Third, there is the physical problem of finding a route that has land available, is fairly direct, and goes where people want to go.

Fortunately, there is an opportunity for a dedicated bike route where there is space available, all in City ownership, in a direct line to where users want to go, and where a dedicated bike road can be built where already in-advanced-planning-process major capital expenditures are planned over the next decade and a half.

BikeWest is a bikeway from the downtown running due west along Albert Street to Bayview, continuing west along Scott Street to Westboro, and easily extendable to Lincoln Fields and other points west and south. As evident from the map, it’s an amazingly straight line in a built up city.

The population between the River and Carling Avenue, from the downtown to Westboro, is about 80,000 people. All these people live within an easy ride on residential streets that feed into the BikeWest route. This is a tremendous prime potential feeder area to BikeWest. Of course, there are also many hardier cyclists that would come to the route from outside this catchment area

Above: the main route (click to enlarge)

In subsequent entries, I will describe each segment of the BikeWest project.

The next entry will look at the first section, between the end of the Transitway at the Albert-Slater split by the Good Companions centre, and the downtown.

Opportunity is knocking. Will Ottawans let it in?

Coming soon: BikeWest

Starting Sunday or Monday I will deviate a bit from my catch-all blogging and post a multipart series on a project to improve the cycling experience from the downtown to Westboro.

At the end of the series (next Friday?), the entire post will be available, with photos, as a single document, for anyone upon request to my email or to via comments on the blog (be sure to include your email address explicitly stated, it won't show up even to me when you submit comments to the blog).

Bayview re-landscaped

Looking east on Albert as it goes over the OTrain

Boulevard trees, west side of Bayview seen from Scott

Curious curb jogs, seen from Somerset looking north

Field of Trees, between TomBrown Arena and Albert

Sometimes the City makes me very happy. Like when I see the amount of generous landscaping going in along Bayview Avenue between Somerset and Albert/Scott.

For several years the City waterworks people have been burying high pressure water mains in the area. Approx.where the sidewalk is shown in picture 4 & 5 is the route of the pipeline. There was a bare grassy lawn running from Tom Brown arena's bright orange roof over to the intersection of Scott/Bayview/Bayview/Albert (that's right - all four streets at this intersection have different names, possibly a record for Ottawa). The area was used for staging construction supplies and got all chopped up. Now there is topsoil and a host of new trees. My only regret here is that once again the City cannot bear to actually pave the desire lines that pedestrians wear into the grass showing where they really want to go, but the city makes the sidewalk follow the street line as if pedestrians are just slow cars. By next year, the grass will be worn into a few popular walking lines, diagonally over to Albert Street.

At least the sidewalks here are not glued firmly to the curbline, but are set back generously from the curb, with trees planted in the boulevard, as shown in picture 2. I do hope all these trees survive.

It is always difficult to picture the final layout and appearance of the streetscape before it is all put in place. Certainly I have been fooled before by what something looks like in isolation, but makes more sense as more elements are put in place. But looking down the Bayview the curb line from Somerset the jogs do not make much sense. Bayview is wide at Somerset, to allow for three lanes of traffic and to align with Bayswater on the south side of the interesection. As Bayview goes downhill from Somerset, the street narrows to a two lane road. But notice in picture 3 that the road then becomes much wider again where the new pavement starts, and over the next 40m or so goes back to a narrower roadway. The widening cannot be used for parking, as it is a row of townhouse driveways (and the sidewalk in front of them stays depressed, it doesn't roller-coaster every driveway!). I'll keep an eye on this, but it looks bizarre now.

Picture 1 is looking uphill along Albert as it ascends to go over the OTrain tracks. There used to be a lengthy "merge" lane here. When the City help public meetings on these roadwords, they had kept the merge lane in place, and I had a lengthy debate with the engineers as to why they shouldn't have one (it isn't a Qway merge lane, after all!) and that City policy required they remove it. They insisted it stay. Now its gone, and that is good news. I hope some trees appear in the boulevard.

BTW, the sidewalk running up the hill is brand new concrete squares. The City actually took out and replaced all those squares just last year. Maybe second time lucky ...

This wouldn't be my blog if it didn't contain a beef about the City, and here it is. The high pressure water pipe project runs from Bronson to Bayview. The portion from Bronson to Empress is beautifully landscaped with path and trees and pedestrian lighting, even though the area along the path is subject to redevelopment in the near future and Albert Street is to be reconstructed. Then, there is no landscaping from Empress to Preston to City Centre Avenue, and the City refuses to plant trees because it would be only "temporary" until developments come along the street. But these new buildings are not scheduled to come for another 20-plus years! Then, once the pipeline crosses the OTrain, the lush landscaping resumes. Did our neighborhood do something wrong that we can't get trees from Empress to City Centre?

Scott Street bike/multipurpose path repairs

I use the Scott Street multipurpose/bike path at least weekly. It takes me from my house to Loblaws in Westboro. Any user will know the paving is in bad shape (as is the design of the path, but that is for another day...).

Some paving repairs have begun by the City. One of the worst sections just west of Tunney's Pasture Station has lengthy sections marked for repaving. Previous repavings have often been half-hearted patches. I look forward to discovering that this time proper repairs will be done to bring the path back up to point where it is a pleasure to ride on the path again.

Green Cycling

A few days ago I was cycling back from Loblaws, along the Scott Street multipurpose pathway. My panniers were full of groceries. I noticed that my front tire glowed green as a I cycled. I have to admit I admire those cyclists who whizz by with green or red tire rims, they look so neat, so fast. Not like me, another elderly cyclist on my Cdn Tire six-speed. I stopped at the light at Lanark Avenue.

Hmm, I looked more closely at my front tire.

I reviewed my route. I had cut accross the grass at the end of Clifton or McRae Street to access the path. Were these grass stains?

Nope. It's ground-in goose shit from riding along the Ottawa River pathways. My tires are permanently dyed green.

I do love Ottawa.

Westboro Collection

click to enlarge site plan

The Westboro Collection is a proposed multi-building development in Westboro. The Real Cdn Superstore (aka Loblaws) is at the bottom of the page, where the title SITE is. The building at the corner of McCrae is Bushtucka. Further north, the building at the corner of Scott is Trailhead and the Westboro transit station is on the top left.

Two features of this development that I like: it removes the sidewalk back from the curb and places it along the store fronts (new and existing) running up the east side of McCrae. This should create a nicer pedestrian environment than being glued to the curbside. The other feature is that instead of single buildings or scattered redevelopment, there a several buildings being designed with the existing buildings incorporated into the plan.