Monthly Archives: February 2012

LRT revisions affect the west side

The City will shortly be considering some revisions to the downtown LRT project. The mainstream media focussed on the Rideau Station, which has been moved slightly east (main entrance no longer under the food court, but under the now-vacant lot immediately east of the Rideau Centre). But what are the changes that will affect us west siders?

First, the portal. That’s where the surface track running across LeBreton Flats goes into the cliff face near the Juliana apartment building on Bronson, and then continues under the downtown along Queen Street.

Previous plans had the tracks enter the cliff face in a typical train-tunnel entrance. The NCC had aesthetic concerns with how this would look, and how it might affect the overall escarpment look and feel. It also necessitated elevating Commissioner Street (if it was to be left in place) and the cycling and pedestrian paths. I previously expressed concerns that these paths were becoming complex, expensive, and unattractive to users.

In the revised plan, the trains leaving LeBreton Station (at Booth Street) will travel downwards and enter their tunnel a few hundred feet before the cliff face. Commissioner Street can remain roughly as it is now, and pedestrian and cyclist access to the LeBreton condos and downtown will be direct and enhanced. Transit-oriented development objectives will be met instead of thwarted.

Coincidentally, the City owned development sites immediately south of the new alignment (currently surface parking lots between Brickhill and Commissioner/Bronson) will be better placed for building the 22 storey highrises called for in the approved Escarpment Plan. There will once again be the potential for ground level access from these sites over the top of the tracks to the aqueduct parkland spine. All this is good.

Over at Bayview, the City is confirming the Station will be located on the Bridge over the O-Train Station. This station location is convenient for transferring between the N-S O-train and the E-W LRT lines. It is also well located to serve the proposed terminus of the STO Rapibus (their transitway) when it comes over the Prince of Wales Bridge. The location does not prevent extending the O-train (or its successor LRT service) from going north to Gatineau or swinging it around to join the eastbound line to the downtown.

Back in December, I previewed the Bayview Station design, which you can see at this link: http://westsideaction.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/bayview-station-final/. Personally, I don’t think this station is nailed down firmly yet. Expect more changes, especially to the community access to the Stations:

Not mentioned in the update going to council is the LeBreton Station or the “detour” routes all the buses will have to take when the transitway is closed down. Nonetheless, expect some changes:

Bus Detours: The City has been considering how to get the buses from Tunney’s to the downtown. Tunney’s is the region’s second largest employment node. Recently, they were proposing to widen Albert Street between Bayview and Empress (the Good Companions site, where the transitway joins Albert/Slater and both those streets have bus-only lanes into the downtown). The widening would be from four traffic lanes to six. But then, in 2018, when the LRT is up and running, they would convert the two outside bus-only lanes into a fancy bike boulevard. I was prepared to consider this option, provided there could be some guarantees that the lanes wouldn’t simply be handed over to Gatineau commuters.

However, no matter how wide Albert is, there is still a major gridlock in the bottleneck between Preston and Booth. So they have resurrected the Preston Extension option, which was previously discarded several years ago. Recall that Preston currently ends at a T-intersection with Albert. But pedestrians and cyclists continue north, and cross the transitway (for now…). Long term official plans have Preston extending north, and using an overpass over the transitway/LRT line, ending up at the already-in-place intersection at Vimy and Ottawa River Commuter Expressway. This missing road link might be back on the drawing boards as a first element to construct.

LeBreton Station, you will recall, is in a bit of a hole, down by the aqueduct. Somehow, the builders have to build a LRT station there, and a new bridge that takes Booth over the top of the station and over the aqueduct. And, until now, the city insisted this could be done while keeping Booth open to daily commuter traffic and pedestrians. And not filling in the historic aqueduct. Even if they pressed the old Broad Street alignment into service, this was a tall order. Extending Preston over the Flats to Vimy allows them to simply close Booth for three or more years during construction.

Once Booth is closed, there is no more bottleneck of traffic going from Preston to Booth along Albert. Ergo, reduced need to widen Albert…

Also in the City’s revised LRT plans are revisions to the Train Station design. I seldom comment on that Station since it isn’t on the west side, but until recently it was very awkwardly and expensively situated under the motor car approaches to the Train Station. Now it is moved west:

The revised location might well be cheaper to construct. It also meets other, unmentioned  criteria. VIA has a surface parking lot immediately west of the station. This now becomes a rather attractive development site. And there is better potential to link the OLRT station via a ped link to the new VIA office development and then extend that further south, under/over the VIA tracks, to the office building and shopping complex in the Train Yards area (VIA won’t countenance using the existing ped tunnels under the tracks that are inside the Train Station, or extending them southwards).

Bigger Pie for Contractors: The current City plans call for a single contractor, to be selected in Dec 2012, to finalize the LRT design plans, build it, and operate it. They collect their money back from the City over time. Under a done-deal agreement with the Province, the same contractor will now be the project manager for the widening of Hwy 417 (The Queensway). This is portrayed as being administratively convenient. Hmm. Is that all??

It also makes the winning prize much much larger to the proponents. And it puts Mayor Watson is a better seat to negotiate for more from the contractor. I’m thinking of the western extension of the LRT, of course. The current first-phase line is severely handicapped by terminating at Tunney’s. It should run at least to Lincoln Fields, maybe even Algonquin, right from Day One.

The problem with the western extension was it needed a route selection and lengthy environmental review. This could have delayed the whole LRT project, so the City severed it into two phases. The Western extension study is well behind its reporting dates, because it is going into more detail. Rather than discuss route options in the abstract, in terms of values and urban planning wishes, it will have detailed costing for each option (Richmond vs Carling).

I make no secret of my preference for the Westboro-RochesterField/Richmond-Woodroofe alignment. It is direct and likely to be much cheaper than Carling.

Just as Watson has negotiated a deal with the first phase proponents to design-build-operate the downtown LRT, with the developer providing the capital and collecting its payment over time (with interest, of course…), I fully expect him to propose that the winning proponent will also design-build-operate & finance the western extension, without obvious Fed or Prov aid up front. There are significant economies of scale to achieved, and the bills won’t come due until long after Watson has cut the ribbon in 2017 and retired to nice board appointments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claridge application for 1050 Somerset West

Claridge is proposing a new condo tower for their site at Breezehill and Somerset Streets, just west of the O-Train corridor. The site is between Devonshire school and Somerset, in the old Chinese market store (which was Acklands AutoSupply before that). (Pending zoning approvals etc the store is being renovated and rented out to a dollar store).

Immediately to the west of the site is a four storey red brick office building, opposite that is the 18 storey residential tower that looks like it might date from the sixties or early seventies.

Here in a nutshell is the neighborhood context:

The left picture, a typical helicopter planning view, is taken from somewhere southeast of the site, maybe above Preston Street.  In the right picture our helicopter has flown us over Spadina Avenue, the existing 18 floor tower is visible on the left and the distinctive curved City Centre building is visible on the top right. There are already several high rises within three blocks or so of this proposed building (two on Bayswater; one at Somerset/WestWellington).

 Claridge is proposing a 28 storey tower, with a 3 to 5 storey podium that actually reads like a real bit of building and isn’t just drawn on the base of the tower to pretend it is progressive planning.

The building podium will have commercial spaces wrapping around the Somerset faces:

 As illustrated above, the second thru fifth floors of the podium are shown as residential uses. I don’t imagine this is locked down yet, and could very well turn out to be commercial spaces.

Claridge is offering residential “townhouse-style” units on the Breezehill, back, and lane sides:

 If the past practices of Claridge are anything to go by, the townhouses are most likely to be ”drawn on” the building and not really contribute to street level life. It will take vigilance on the part of the Community Association and the support of the Councillor to force these units to provide real, actual street level activity. This is best provided by ensuring they do not have “back doors” into the elevator lobby, garage, and internal corridors, so that people actually come and go by way of their front (exterior) doors and walkways. 

Of the 271 units, a welcome 105 will be two bedroom. This is a pleasing shift towards some “family oriented” condos. Of course, he will also sell you a three bedroom unit, but at the typical construction selling price of $500 a foot these become rather pricey.

The proponent is asking to move the building back a bit further from the sidewalk along Somerset Street both to handle the slight grade elevation change along the block, and to provide additional sidewalk space for a cafe or sidewalk uses. As seen from the existing conditions photo (above, showing the former market in operation) the front sidewalk could stand to be a bit wider.

The garage to the building is off the public laneway that runs up through the centre of the block. It enters the building at its midpoint (see car entering garage in the right photo above). Claridge is proposing to widen the laneway to handle the traffic. And possibly to introduce measures to thwart traffic from going southwards past Devonshire school parking lot.

I’m not particularly happy with this lane access. While the exiting cars are facing the red brick office building, they will provide lots of traffic to cross the Somerset sidewalk at a midblock location, not far from either the Bayswater or Breezehill intersections. Unless the office building parking lot is fenced off, some exiting cars will cut through their lot to access Bayswater.

A better solution might put the garage entrance on the south edge of the lot, adjacent the playground. While this cuts the Breezehill sidewalk there is less pedestrian traffic on that street. This would require a slight redesign of the building to put apartments above the garage entrance. However, since the developer is proposing to provide daycare space valued at $300,000 as part of his community benefits (section 37-ish) , this could be located on the southeast corner too, allowing it direct access to the school playground (this side is the smallest-kids playground). Removing the townhouse units from this area is not a problem in my estimation, given the unlikeliness of them actually animating the dead strip of grass that is currently proposed to run along the south side of the building.

A condo on this site has the potential to provide some neighborhood housing and intensification without being directly adjacent much existing housing (there are a few low rise house conversions to the SW along Bayswater), it avoids a number of shadow issues, animates the least-lively section of Somerset, and offers residents easy access to transit (to Bayview via Breezehill north or via the new North/South multipurpose path to be constructed this summer, along the O-train corridor) and good views. In all, not a bad start.

It is also adjacent the Bayview-Carling CDP study area, which is pretty much committed to developing both sides of the O-Train corridor with high rises.

There will be a public meeting on the proposal on Wedn. March 7th, 7pm,  at the Hintonburg Community Centre. Expect to hear a lot of complaints about height, traffic, the sacred need to provide free teacher parking, etc.

 

Signs of the times

Do our signs inform or amuse travellers to here? 

Recall the “joke” about every bridge in Ottawa having the same name: The Pont Bridge.

Here is the sign at the entrance to the Elks Opera House in Prescott, Az. At least the villains in the performance were safe from Frontier Justice:

You do have to pause a bit at the condition ” unless otherwise authorized…”  Does that apply to any license to carry a concealed or unconcealed weapon?  Would someone unlicensed hand in their gun to the usher like someone might check a coat?

But wait, there’s more: here is a sign at a roadside rest stop and scenic view. Are there really poisonous snakes and scorpions just beyond the path? Want to find out?

In downtown Phoenix, municipal wayfinding signs were abundant and clear. And very well designed. They have depth, quality graphics, and clever materials. I immediately thought this is the quality of sign the NCC would install, and the City of Ottawa never would. But maybe if Downtown Moves recommends it, we could afford one or two only:

And this sign, inspired by Smokey the Bear:

How to make a train out of a bus

As home to one of the few extensive bus rapid transit (BRT) networks in North America, we tend to forget what a marvellous system we have. Cities such as New York, which we yearn to emulate for its pedestrianizing activities, and its new bike ways, struggles to get bus lanes on regular streets let alone a bus-only road network such as we have in Ottawa.

Our BRT is closer to a rail-transit network than the typical bus-on-streets-in-mixed-traffic that most urban transit systems are still stuck in. Our largely grade-separated transitway makes it frequently faster to take the bus than to drive a car, provided your origin and destination are along the transitway spine.

In Las Vegas they have a successful double-decker high frequency bus route running along the “strip”. Called The Deuce, it has curbside ticket sales and is wildly popular. More recently they introduced an express bus version, using low-floor articulated buses with more spread-apart stops. In the photo above, you can see both types of service. Both bus services operate in mixed traffic. The vending machines were admirably simple to operate –select, insert, take — which is vital in a city with so many visitors (in varying states of concentration).

The express service is explicitly designed to emulate a train/LRT/metro service. Stops are fairly far apart. Easy-to-use curbside machines vend tickets and passes . The curbside stops are not elevated platforms, so there still is a step up to get on board. But the intriguing innovation is they market the bus like a train. So it looks like a train.

At first glance, it does seem to be a train service running along the street. The roof line is straight, the front “cab” looks like no North American bus on the road today, and the wheels are covered with fenders. This wheel covering is amazingly effective, it makes the bus look faster and smoother than a conventional bus. On the front wheels of the bus, a super hubcap forms the wheel covering.  

Marketing is not everything, of course. There has to be a service and fare package to go with the marketing position. But the make-it-look-like-a-train format does play well to those who favour train technology as the  transit solution.

If you can’t have trainsets, at least it can look like you do. And in Vegas, it’s all glitz and glamour and image. But with substance behind the marketing hype.

Get paid to ride your bike …

 

 

I met this cyclist on a pedestrian bridge in Utah. At first what caught my eye  was the number of instruments on his handlebars. Getting closer, the abundance of gear became more visible. Why so many cellphones?

 

Turns out he worked for AT&T. His job was to cycle through the city according to a map, stopping every 100′ to take readings as to cell phone signal strength. Was the download speed what was promised and what customers’ expected?

 

In the back panier was a battery and stuff to power his phones. It had enough power to keep him (stopped) on the road all day.

He didn’t get much cycling in with all those frequent stops.

But it could have been worse: what if they had equipped him with a Kmart grocery cart of stuff?

Lonely house on the parking lot

The area along the O-Train corridor has undergone lots of changes from its original industrial beginnings. Occasionally, an old building survives.

Notice that it has a real slate roof, there are few houses or buildings left in our neighborhood with slate roofs. In this case, it probably was to provide additional fire proofing from the sparks that flew out of the many steam engines in the area.

David Jeanes tells me this may have been the home of Ottawa Stair Works. Probably built right after the Great Fire in 1902, the building then faced Somerset Street which was not yet elevated up on the viaduct as it is now. The area behind it, now the City Centre parking lot, was first the D Kemp Edwards Lumber Yards, later the Argue Coal Company yards. In this 1912 fire insurance map the building was located, but not shown on the map, immediately right of the blue building labelled “planing mill”.

Somerset Street runs across the bottom of the pic; the blue building is approximately where the south end of the City Centre warehouses now is. The building is shown in its correct location in earlier maps, just not the 1912 version.

It was later used by fashion apparel establishments, and for hobby, toy, and picture framing businesses. It now appears to be empty.

All this is a long way around to saying that the community association has suggested to the Bayview CDP planning team that this old structure should be kept or relocated on the site when the area is redeveloped for the three planned condo towers and commercial development. It would make a pleasant contrast to the modern towers that will surround it, and could function as a coffee shop, bike dealer (it would be right on the new O-train north-south bike route being constructed this summer, as it could be just north of the new Somerset bike underpass).

What do you think? Should it be saved and incorporated into the new project?

Over arching concern

As land values increase and it becomes more urgent to maximize development potential. This necessarily causes architects and developers to focus on the space above driveways.

The result has been a spate of “carriageways” or porticos.

Sometimes these are on large buildings, such as Claridge has built on the Flats

and is proposing for the project at Richmond/Kirkwood. Recall too that Ashcroft is proposing two pedestrian porticos from Richmond into the Our Lady of the Condos site.

Here is a simple driveway entering a tiny courtyard with six or so garages. The “flatiron” rooms above it are interesting. It is on Gladstone:

And there is another development coming, this time on Booth, designed by Hobin, where the carriageway entrance goes into a mews with another row of townhouses in the back. Simple, neat, attractive. And the laneway is only one storey high.

But just a block away, on Rochester, the developer there insists that he could not ever possibly build carriageway entrances to his project because… Well, because they would have to be at least 16′ high, be fire-proof, be big enough for fire trucks, be very wide, and all sorts of other too-expensive provisions. Thus the site layout could not be improved as the community association suggested. I wonder why Fotenn chose to take this “can’t be done” route when it is becoming so popular for others?

Sometimes small minds are found in the largest developer agencies; and the neighborhood misses out.

And here is the grand-daddy arch of them all, Rowe’s Wharf in Boston. It is big enough to span a whole street. Speaking of which, when will we see something like that in Ottawa?