Category Archives: Experimental Farm

Planning in Ottawa, the Clint Eastwood Version

Last week the packed Urban Forum lecture heard and saw Dr David Gordon from Queens expound on planning and urban design in Canada’s Capital, 1800-2000. Note the cut-off year: amalgamation; also removing the necessity to venture views on current plans such as the LRT.

He reviewed planning over the century using professorial wit and hectoring. His theme was drawn from spaghetti westerns, particularly The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. You’ll see the various planning efforts allocated to these categories in the picture below. Indeed, reviewing the outline below will give you a very complete summary of the plot.

Like any short-ish commentary on a complex issue, it was incomplete, selective, and provocative. More than once I winced at his interpretation of things, such as describing the LeBreton project of 1980 (which I once lived, now live beside, and transept daily) as a great success. Maybe I am too close to it and see only the flaws. I must try to be more positive and conciliatory in life.

I was surprised — an I must confess pleased — that he favoured connecting the Vanier Arterial (later remonikered as a Parkway) to the MacdonaldCartier Bridge. While he favoured a bridge over the Rideau River between Porter and Green Islands, I always thought a tunnel made more sense. I regret to say that I was a witness at the OMB hearing that shot down that connection. No doubt I shall be wrong many more times.

He gave kind mention to the mostly forgotten railway relocation programs of the 1948-1970 period, which caused me to dig out my old papers on that subject and these I will inflict on readers in upcoming posts so that we may all be equally edified.

Here is his story line for Clint Does Ottawa:

 

Sim Preston: Claridge strikes again

The Soho Italia project by Starwood Mastercraft has been controversial since it first became public knowledge through this blog early in the year. The + or – 35 storey condo tower put a major hole in the established urban plan for the neighborhood and multi-year traditional main street plans. The tower, a short block north of Carling Avenue, is aggressively positioned to maximize views.

Not being in the “first row” along Carling, it runs the risk of being blocked by competing towers should ones be built where the CIBC is, or Dow Motors (whose site has NO height limit on it) or other vacant lots along Carling, all of which have the enviable position of marvelous south views over the Lake and Farm, a huge NCC park at the doorstep, and fine dining and pubbing along Preston. More recently, signals have been insifying from the Feds that some of the Natural Resources Canada lands along Booth and Rochester will up for disposal very soon (like, within a year; soil remediation has been done and we are in the “wait one year” cooling off period). Once approved, the Soho Italia project will have to get shovels in the ground quickly to sell the pieds a ciel before another condo developer announces.

[as an aside, I have several times mentioned to developers or their agents that they should be going after the Sir John Carling Building, which the Feds propose to raze to the ground, even though all the grassy area between it and Carling is already zoned for high rises. The obsolete office building should be gutted, reclad, and sold out as a condo]

The arguments for the Soho Italia project have always been of concern. They will look immensely credible to the OMB. And the proponent is stickhandling the deal through the political process rather than through the planning process, which is much less favorably inclined to the project. These arguments to permit a high rise apply equally well to all the adjacent lots — indeed, they apply to virtually the entire length of Preston.

Imperial Oil, I think,  owns the lot at the NE corner of Preston and Carling. I recall it as one of the very well decorated gas stations at Christmas time, back in the day when businesses did such a thing. The site was decontaminated a little over a year ago, and approved for sale. 

Now Claridge definitely positions itself as a leading condo developer, and is careful to line up a string of developable properties. It has a number of Centretown and West Side sites either approved for development or coming on stream. They own the ex-Chinese supermarket lot at Breezehill and Somerset, immediately north of Devonshire School. They have approved towers in the 28 storey range on Queen and Lyon (3); Nepean and Gloucester (2), and Lisgar just south of Place Bell (where the Big Square Hole is) (3 towers).

When Starwood Mastercraft applied for heights in the mid-thirties for Soho Italia, I heard through the grape vine that Claridge vowed to get every one of their 28 storey approvals revised to also be 35. This would add about 7 floors to each building. This would be quite profitable.

So now that Claridge has bought the lot at Carling and Preston, will they want to add 7 stories to the Soho total and go for 42? Why not, the sky’s the limit.

Claridge's new tower will block some of the Soho Italia views of Dows Lake and Commissioner's Park

Shown below is the SimPreston photoshop done up by my graphic artist (aka dependent child), which replaced Dow Motors and CIBC with tall condos; and also the vacant Esso station lot on the right (east) of Preston, now owned by Claridge. We don’t know what will be proposed yet, but we will know shortly tall-ly.

World heritage sunbrellas

I notice that at Harwell Lock, near Carleton U, the students working the canal now have sun umbrellas to shade them whilst cranking the sluices and the lock doors open.

I did notice that they are not properly branded with the Parks Canada official beaver ™ or the designation of World Heritage Site ™ or a Giant Blue C.  Assuming the sunbrellas pass muster with the United Bureaucrats of Turtle Bay, I hope to see proper logo’d sunbrellas next year.

Humour “off”.

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.

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.