Arty mainstreets

precast block awaiting its hole

Shown above is a precast foundation block for urban sculpture. When planted into a hole, only the top portion shows. Upon this plinth will be mounted civic art work. On Preston, these will be Italian-style columns. On West Wellie will be sculptural renditions of fire hydrants. The Preston art pieces will arrive mid-August, according to city officials supervising the final touches on the street.

precast block inserted in hole, surface pavers relaid 

I really look foreward to seeing these art pieces, as they will be the first of their type for an Ottawa main street, as far as I am aware. They are very different from the Bank Street bike racks, which are an artful rendition of a utility device. Clever. The west side sculptures coming this year will be sculptural art for its own sake. Two very different approaches, both valid, both enhancing the streetscape (we hope) and leading to more lively streets ... streets that are about more than just parking cars.

A hole grows in Westboro

The foundation/parking garage hole for the 101 Richmond condo.

Signs of the times

A few posts ago, the lighting store on Richmond in the heart of Westboro was featured. It is moving to Spruce Street. The Signman is also moving from its location opposite Loblaw's Real Cdn Superstore to Laurel Street.

There are few vacant storefronts on the western portion of the Somerset-West Wellie-Richmond Road strip, and more storefronts being constructed. The further east one goes, the more vacancies appear, for longer periods. As Westboro prices continue to climb, there will be adjustments in the retail market and eventually the condo market too.

Boys Toys

It's a bird ... a plane ... a dragonfly ...

It's Heli-Go, the photographer disguised as a helicopter. Remote controlled, it was taking pictures from above the new Domicile condo site at the corner of Holland and West Wellington. Inside the operators van was a huge flatscreen TV so the operator could see what pictures he was getting, real time.

The operator with the plastic nose cone taken off. The camera is suspended below the skids, and could be rotated and angled via remote control. When flying, the legs and foam base of the copter retract up and horizontal to the 'copter, to clear the way for the camera angles. It was equiped with a digital still camera today, sending its wireless camera images to the ground control TV, but there are also movie cameras that he can attach, for filming aerial movie scenes and promo videos.

Tree planting excitement

double click to enlarge

For some time now, spring tree and shrub planting has been going on along West Wellie and Preston streets. It seems every day reveals a tree or shrub bed somewhere new.

Shown above is the supply dump for the trees and shrubs being installed on Preston between Albert and Somerset. It is incredibly exciting to see the greening occur, especially since in the case of Preston the streetscaping process has been going on for more than sixteen years before big results finally appeared on the ground. But it was worth it!

A few of the trees planted last year suffered nicks and snowplow damage over the winter. Tree guards/fences/cages are now being considered for Preston. Trees are vulnerable to just one careless equipment operator, so I think it is worth the expense of protecting the trees.

Hundreds of potted spirea await planting.

More sidewalk patio issues

The former Melrose groceteria (now there's a word we don't use much any more...) will become a gourmet pizza establishment. The owners are looking for a way to have some outdoor patio.

The front sidewalk area is tight, but I think it is doable. But do the new owners want their gourmands dining beside the tavern entrance? They proposed a patio at the back of the building (but I gather, not the side ...). They are opposed by the local neighborhood association representing neighbors who feel the back yard patio will be noisy for their adjacent houses. The Assoc. suggested to the owners, that they consider a building frontage of opening glass doors/windows, so you can dine indoors yet open air to the sidewalk.

Profit margins in most businesses are thin. Grabbing a few extra seats and getting bodies in them during some good summer weather is a cheap way to increase sales when demand is high. The patio also offers aforesaid pizza gourmands an environmental choice: A/C indoors, patio outdoors. Wide open windows does not increase seating capacity, and can bugger up climate control for those sitting inside but not at the window (and for the kitchen too).

Given the little hierarchy of patio choices I put in a post a few days ago, I would suggest NO to the backyard patio, maybe to a sideyard one, and YES to a front yard one. Now, it remains to show some imagination in how to get that patio built. I gather their is pressure for the city to relocate the gray switch box in front of the building. The owners could also look at renting and decking over the first parking space to detour foot traffic around their patio. Or maybe the city might increase the bulb out to take over that first parking spot.

Reclaiming the corner

Do you recognize the above corner? If you are a west side pedestrian or cyclist, or maybe a No 2 bus user, the likely answer is yes (motorists should not recognize it -- your eyes are supposed to be on the road!). It's at the corner of Bayswater and Somerset, northwest side, where Bayswater starts to suddenly go downhill (elevation speaking, not quality wise).

Behind the green picket fence is an amazing ever-changing collection of . . . stuff. Gnomes, flower pots, a yapping dog that escorts pedestrians past the fence, a patio ... all seem to me to made from recycled materials. People after my own heart. I think the garden is a loveable element of spontaneous urban form, the diversity that keeps neighborhoods interesting.

All the garden is apparently on city property.

Somerset, and the section of Bayswater abutting this property, is being rebuilt this summer. Wider sidewalks, landscaping, decorative lighting, all those good things that make neighborhood main streets much better for residents and businesses.

At corners, the style of streetscaping being employed along Somerset extends the sidewalks and paved areas w-a-y back to the property line, and sometimes beyond. The result is roomy corners for pedestrians, improved sight lines for motorists (opening up the corner triangle, in traffic engineer speak), and changed landscaping at the corners. A typical corner might look more like this:

The city's policy for the Bayswater / Somerset corner was stated to me as "In regards to the corner, the City’s policy and practice is to reclaim public space within the right-of-way for public purposes, and eliminate unlawful encroachments". The drawing for this corner is shown below (the house and corner in question is toward the top right of the intersection):

I find myself somewhat torn about this corner. While interesting now, it could become a parking space or other unattractive use with another resident. In which case, I favour reclaiming it and landscaping it as a public space that will somewhat permanently set its format and use in concrete and official plantings. On the other hand, some of the corners already installed along Somerset/West Wellie seem to me to be rather too large, and this dynamic patio/garden is much more interesting.

It is a trade-off of the spontaneous vs the planned, the resident vs the corporate city, public space vs private space. Where do other west side readers stand on this?

Somerset Streetscaping Plan Unveiled

After numerous meetings of stakeholders, the City and its consultants (Delcan) have come up with a proposed streetscaping plan for Somerset Street. It is excellent.

Readers will recall that the West Wellie reconstruction got as far east as Spadina last year. Starting next month, more of Somerset will be dug up and new sewers and water installed, and then comes the fancy paving, protected parking bays that guarantee on-street parking (instead of rush hour traffic lanes), pedestrian lighting, benches, trees, etc.

The section from Spadina east to the start of the viaduct (bridge) at Breezehill will be landscaped like the parts of West Wellie done in previous years. The bridge itself, which runs over the Otrain cut and then slopes down to go over City Centre Avenue, will be given a distinct treatment of lights, planters, and trees, which will turn this well-used pedestrian and cyclist bridge from a bleak windswept eyesore to a pleasant urban street that should be a delight to all.

From City Centre Avenue (roughly #1010 Somerset on the south side, Musca Wine on the north side) along to Preston, there will be a new style of streetscaping. The benches and ped lights will be same as on Preston Street, as it is part of the Preston BIA. The brick pavers, parking bay pavers, and tree planting pattern will be unique to the neighborhood. These paver and sidewalk patterns will continue up Somerset hill to Booth Street when that section is reconstructed in 2011. The lighting and street furniture going up that hill will be a Chinatown style.

Suffice it to say it was a real ... discussion ... to get to this compromise position that generates a coherent landscape and furniture arrangment that covers 3 BIA's (West Wellie, Preston, Chinatown), two community associations, and multiple neighborhoods, and one street. You can see for yourself if the resultant plan will knit together these diverse interests when the City has an open house on Wed March 24th from 6.30 to 8.30 at the Plant Rec Centre (corner of Preston and Somerset).

One of the features of the plan everyone working on it is proud of, is that we got bulb outs, parking bays, trees, bus stops, and shorter crossing distances ... all without major disruption to on street parking. Last count I saw, we got all the benefits and only lost one legal parking space.

Sidewalk Engineering

I have some tolerance for dilapidated infrastructure in the city. Not everything can be perfect. And I rationalize away some of the puddles at crosswalks as being products of 60 year old roads, old neighborhoods, etc.

This makes it doubly disappointing to discover that sometimes newly rebuilt roads and sidewalks are no better. The photo above is at the corner near Billy's Appliances on Richmond Road, beside Our Lady of the Condos. Yes, it is the final pavement, the catch basins were not unusually blocked (anymore than they are designed to be) ... its just that the sidewalk at the corner is the lowest spot around rather than a higher spot.

But its not as bad as this picture:

This is the brand new asphalt sidewalk and bike path leaving the Baseline Transit station. Looks deep to me. I expect to see ducks or geese there next time. The western city hall outpost of Centrepointe is in the background, the city's engineering depts are located in the Constellation Drive building slightly off screen to the right -- you know, the one with a hundred acres of snow parking lot, free, for employees, even though they are located right at a transit station.

I think we will continue to have drainage problems at intersections as long as we continue to design our rights of ways for cars and not pedestrians. For pedestrian benefit, drainage should be away from the curb to catch basins in the centre line of the street. This would have the additional benefit of making the street undulate from basin to basin, which would reduce speeding. Got that? It's that simple: drain away from sidewalks, not to them. Encourage pedestrians to walk on the dry parts, not the wettest part of the road.

On Streetscaping (iii) Street Lighting

The street lighting problem …

Currently streets are uniformly lit for the benefit of vehicles in the centre of the road. Lighting intensity may increase at certain intersections. Sidewalks and pedestrians may be in the shadow of vehicles and trees. They do not have lighting levels set to meet their needs or to establish a pleasant urban walking environment. Too much lighting is just as bad as too little lighting if it creates a harsh and unwelcoming environment.

Street lights are usually located at a regular distance apart and uniformly set back behind the sidewalk or along the curb. For the motorist, this creates the impression of a wide right of way and gives the illusion the motorist can see far ahead, which encourages speeding.

The street lighting solution …

Lighting needs are different for motorists and pedestrians, and the appropriate level of lighting should be provided for each. Lighting may need to be brighter in some areas than others. Generally, along main streets this takes the form of overhead lighting of the centre of the road with “cobra head” or “shoebox” lighting on tall poles; and more frequent lower height sidewalk lighting that fosters a pleasant and safe pedestrian environment.

If uniformly lower-height lighting fixtures are selected for both the road and sidewalks, fixtures will have to be very frequent (reconstructed Bank Street is an example).

Sidewalk fixtures should shield lighting from shining into adjacent residential windows.

The decorative features of the fixtures are important to set the tone and feeling along the street. Generally the lighting identifies the main street and does not extend onto other streets.

If the street lighting is set uniformly back from the centre line of the road, it gives motorists an impression of wide road right of way, which conflicts with the actual streetscape of bulb outs, parking bays, etc. Installing light fixtures at the curb edge of bulb outs and perhaps behind the sidewalk at parking bays gives an irregular edge to the right of way. Walk along Preston or West Wellington and notice how differently the fixtures aligned and what effect this has to the feel of the street.

Installing lighting and signal control boxes on bulb outs also makes it difficult and expensive to convert the street back to a wider, more traffic lanes format.

The Pattern Under Foot

Picture 1 shows sidewalk pavers laid on West Wellington in 2009. The pattern repeats often, with the joint lines lining up in long straight lines. The manufacturer's instructions caution against this pattern, as the eye sees the long lines.

Almost the same pattern, laid along West Wellington in 2008 contracts. The pattern is very similar to the top picture, but there are no long lines. Every few meters, the blocks jog a bit to break up the distracting line pattern. I find this a much more pleasing pattern.

Does anyone think this matters?