Category Archives: NCC

How intrusive will WLRT wiring be along the parkway?

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On a recent visit to Toronto, I made a point of noticing overhead electric wiring for streetcars. My general memory of streetcar wiring was situations like the one pictured above, a spagetti heap of wiring over an intersection.

Of course, such situations occur when different streetcar lines meet. And for the Ottawa case, the LRT is a single line with no branches or loops or turnoffs, so wiring situations like the above just won’t be here [yes, there will be a spur line off to the maintenance yard, and in a few cases parallel tracks to store trains, but these will be no where as a common as streetcar intersections are].

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In Toronto, the overhead wiring running up the centre of the street above the track is supported by cross wires, running from one side of the street to the other. It quickly became apparent to me that the really visible part of the wiring was that running parallel to the street, from post to post, above the sidewalk. This was a tangle of thicker cables, messy connections, utility boxes, etc, whereas the single strand up the centre line I had to search for.

During the first WLRT public meeting last month, angry Westboroites claimed the City had fixed the pictures to hide the overhead wiring, to make it invisible, whereas it was sure to be a visual nightmare. After a few times pointing out that the pictures did have the wiring on them, to jeers from the audience, the consultant gave up and just let the audience wallow in their anger.

Fact was, one had to squint really closely to actually see the wire, which may be a factor of enlarging the photo, or maybe, just maybe, the wiring isn’t all this visible. Ergo, my inspection of the scene overhead Toronto streets.

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The above pic is a view along the Spadina streetcar line. The Spadina line is modern, running down the centre boulevard, with some landscaping and curbing elements. The overhead wiring was again visible mainly by looking for it, and accentuated here by using a zoom picture. Some of the overhead signs on the wires related to the LRT line and others to traffic movements on the road lanes. If those signs weren’t hanging on the wires, they would have been put up on freestanding posts.

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In front of the AGO, the wiring was actually hung on the frame of the new building. It made for a wonderfully clear sidewalk, and I think it quite bold that the planners / architects or whomever actually allowed the wires to be attached to a significant public building we are all supposed to be admiring. I can’t see Ottawan’s welcoming wiring anchored to our new convention centre, or the NCC ever agreeing to such a practical solution if other, hugely expensive alternatives are around. Here is a closer picture:

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It is very noticeable that the wiring is underground only on one side of the street. On the north side, the old posts continue, including some real monsters:

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The question of what the posts along Ottawa’s new LRT will look like may have been discussed with the NCC but I am not priveleged to that conversation. I do recall how nicely redesigned the red light camera posts are in front of the War Museum compared to elsewhere in the city. So I expect the NCC  will be very keen to approve the posts holding up the wires if the Western LRT skims the edge of the Ottawa River Commuter Expressway.

Maybe someone will even be concerned about how they will look going through condoville on LeBreton Flats. Claridge and the NCC’s third building is now going up on the Flats, and has a direct view of the wiring between the LeBreton Station and the tunnel portal under the cliff at Queen Street.

Interestingly, the NCC has shown (thus far) no interest in what the trackbed will look like when viewed from all those condos they hope to develop on the Flats, but I suspect their level of interest will be much higher when it comes to the sacred green blades viewed by motorists on the Parkway.

Sir John just might be rolling in his grave — for various reasons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preston “extension” bike path going, going … gone

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The Preston Extension (shown above),  the leftover bit of pavement that runs north from the Preston-Albert intersection, that takes cyclists out to the Aqueduct bike path (now remediated into a pit) and eventually the  Sir John A Mcdonald (JAM?)  Path, is due to be closed this spring.

It won’t reopen in a hurry. The surrounding brownfields will be remediated. For a clue as to what that will look like, examine the Damascas-like terrain out by the War Museum. Then the Confederation Line LRT track will replace the transitway. It will be bordered on both sides with six-foot chain link fences. No overpasses.

There might be a two year respite in the middle, though, if the LRT contractor decides to use the Preston Extension as a detour route around the Booth-LeBreton construction site. But that detour won’t include an overpass, and is “throw away” infrastructure to be removed once Booth reopens.

This week, the NCC closed the section of the bike path running north from the transitway:

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Here’s the sign:

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And bizarrely, there is a City sign advising people to use the OTrain multi-user path that runs between Bayview Station and the Parkway near the Prince of Wales railway bridge. Unfortunately, that path isn’t yet open. And the sign faces the wrong way, and is located at the Preston-transitway closure point rather than well before cyclists and peds get halfway across the Flats:

feb-march 2013 041I think that wavey thingy below the Ottawa wordmark is supposed to be transportation infrastructure, but it always makes me wonder what obscure third-world country’s flag it might be.

All is not lost, though, as the OTrain MUP opens May 8th . Cyclists are a tough lot, and many are using the OTrain MUP pathway now.  Never let a few concrete barricades or high fences get in the way of cyclists, pedestrians, or dog walkers. Others are getting around the NCC closure of the Preston extension by deking around the west side of the fence:

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Maybe, if we are lucky, the city will move their sign to a more useful location for the opening of the pathway.

 

High rises: Gladstone southwards

Yesterday’s post covered high rise intensification — on an east-west axis — along the north edge — the Carling Avenue line — of our  community. Today’s post covers a north-south line drawn roughly along the OTrain cut from Gladstone to Carling. It is not clear if the drawing (second pic, below) puts the line along the OTrain cut or Preston Street itself. This post is somewhat speculative. Here is the area in Google Maps:

Recall that there is a proposed LRT station on the OTrain corridor near Gladstone. Generally, the station is drawn running from Gladstone to the Queensway, with its north exit at Gladstone and its south exit around Young-George Street (which is why Preston has those underused traffic signals at George). Recall too that the City has apparently decided it will not build the Gladstone station at the same time as the OTrain service is upgraded in 2014, even though that will require trains to slow — but not quite stop — at this area.

The drawing below is labelled “7- Urban Morphology“. On the right is the north end of our neighborhood transept, anchored by the Gladstone Station. Shown on Gladstone are some high rises, perhaps these are on the Enriched Bread site or the BA Banknote site, which will become available for development shortly. Or maybe they are on the city’s own signals works yard site, or the back of the St Anthony club on city-owned land.

Maybe we could extort some funds out of the developers under Sec 37 to install the Gladstone OTrain station now or when the residents move in, rather than 20 years out. Better to train them to use transit from day one.

The Queensway is shown as a low point in the profile, and then there are some high rises south of the Queensway. I presume that these are on the block-sized site owned by the Young Street garage, between Preston and the OTrain cut, as the lots on the west side of the cut, along Young and Railway Streets, are already wrapped up in the throes of low-rise intensification.

Very faintly drawn on the diagram are the 600 m radii from the stations, intended to show convenient walking distances to transit and the city’s zones of intensification. Given that there isn’t any vacant land on either side of the OTrain cut in this area south of George, I am puzzled at the set of three graduated high rises shown south of George. Maybe it’s just a signal to developers to start buying up houses in this residential strip in preparation for redevelopment (one developer is already busy here).

Curiously, the profile shows “existing fabric” where the two 600m zones overlap. Surely this is the most prime location for intensification? And yet the authors of the drawing (whom we don’t know, but have suspects) show this area left as about a 33′ height limit. The zoning also permits converting these houses into businesses … so we might see low value conversions and land assembly rather than larger redevelopment. I suspect this designation will be inviting to challenge at the OMB.

The profile rises back up again as it gets within 400m of Carling Avenue and the OTrain station there.  This station currently has only one exit; city policy requires two. Will the second be south or north of the current stair? The buildings between “existing fabric” and the Carling transit station would scale at about 10+ stories.

The suggested heights at Carling station are higher than those suggested at Gladstone, but no height in meters or stories is indicated on this drawing. Recall that in yesterday’s post, the Carling profile suggests 40+ stories here. If this drawing is to scale, that puts 20 storey buildings on the Young St Garage site, and maybe 10 stories at the Norman Street land-assembly of Urban Capital group, but I’ve heard that had not flown by City planners who demanded something lower.

Very curiously, the drawing stops at Carling Avenue. The area south of Carling is shown undeveloped. Yet for decades, the grassy area south of Carling, right up to the Sir John Carling Building, has been designated as a mixed-use development area. This always surprises people who think a field of NCC lawn is destined (doomed?) to remain vacant land forever. In the last versions of the Bayview-Carling CDP, the mixed use development area was being shifted a bit from being only west of the OTrain to include both the lawn west of the OTrain and parts of the NCC parking lot for the Dow’s Lake restaurants on the east side of the OTrain cut. This would make a more continuous series of buildings along both sides of Carling from Preston to Sherwood. I haven’t yet heard a suggestion as to how tall they might be, but I was the NCC I would realize that the land is worth more if developed to the 40+ storey height of the north side of Carling.

In the future, we won’t want for a lack of high rise condos in the west side.

Life’s a Beach, even downtown

The NCC is responsible for most of what is good and attractive in Ottawa.

In the process of delivering the nice stuff, the NCC relies on government ownership of the property. Alas, the Law of Unintended Consequences comes into play. Measures intended to promote access to the waterfronts end up cutting them off, “public” space is too often “dead” space.

The introduction of a new urban beach in downtown Ottawa might go a long way to rectifying this. The beach, between Ottawa U and the canal, on the east side of the Corktown Bridge (not to be confused with Corkstown Road, which is way far away), is now taking shape.

I could smell the new-sawn wood before I could see the patio structure. I must confess to being amazed that the patio was so large and elaborate, for a temporary structure. There is some serious money going into this pop-up canal side experiment in urban recreation. I hope it can be easily dismantled in September and resurrected next year.

Closer , the nicely trimmed overhead beams can be appreciated, and the food vending wagon identified. I hope they are licensed to sell beer, both for the popularity of the beach and its financial success…

At the present looks, it will be a very sunny deck. Note also the nice glass railings, in order to not block the view of the soupy Rideau.

Is not worth pondering for a moment that in a city surrounded by major and minor rivers and lakes, we are creating an artificial beach?

Near the back of the patio was a minor forest of fences, presumably for the food waste, plastic cups, and human waste (go huts, not sloshed citizens).

The beach itself was surprisingly modest. Big enough for a beach volleyball tourney for sure, or beach badminton, and maybe even toasting some flesh. But the money is in the patio and not the beach.

The patio is certainly welcome. For all the “public space” along the canals and waterways, there are surprisingly few places to go for dinner. The Westboro Yacht Club is unpretentious and affordable. I took guests to the Canal Ritz on the weekend, and found the patio delightful, without so much as a bike path between it and the water, but O La La one pays a handsome price for the privilege.

Where else should the NCC or Ottawa be encouraging cafes?

Misc thoughts on the western LRT

The instant springing up of a “friends of” organization to oppose rapid transit is not unexpected. Everyone wants transit nearby but not too nearby.  Me included. At least one block over is just fine. Just like for arterial and collector roads.

I think the City falls short in its communication of the LRT options. Many of the complaints about each proposed alignment are eminently predictable, or have been already expressed (repeatedly !) in the media. If I were running the show, these complaints / concerns would be addressed right up front, either acknowledged or countered. Instead we have endless rehashing of shallow comments.

At prior PAC meetings on the western LRT,  I suggested to the City that the argument that the north side of the Parkway option can’t be intensified, is a superficially powerful one since everyone can see the River is there. But somehow no one notices that other options (eg Carling option starting at the OTrain cut) have lengthy sections along undevelopable lands too (  is someone proposing we build on the Farm?).

And really, is Watson going to suggest that the affluent low-rise neighborhood to the south of the Richmond corridor is going to be redeveloped as high rises? If not, then it’s just as much a dead zone for redevelopment as the River (although over time McKeller park might be rezoned, but before that happens, it will become very very valuable real estate, a preserve of the rich, which argues it is unlikely to get rezoned).

I think the “developable area” argument is way too dependent on a visual perception of the potential area for development. It would be really helpful is planning staff drew some of their catchment circles around each station on the River alignment, and showed its current population and fully-built-out potential. And then do the same for Richmond Road stations. And I bet those circles would overlap geographically about 80%, and overlap population wise about 90%,  and overlap with regards to redevelopment potential about 100%. In short, there may not be much “city building” or “ridership” difference between the options.

So why doesn’t the City make (public) some of those obvious rational analyses? Surely they were done as part of the criteria exercise? Maybe they prefer that “consultation” be a simplistic charade with the public arguing emotionally over the routes, and counting on Councillors to make the right decision when the “facts” are whipped out at the end. That’s showing an awful lot of confidence in Council.

 

There are some other options that I don’t hear discussed much either. These relate to the overhead wiring that most people assume will be required along the parkway, and seem to find offensive. First, I have considerable faith that wiring can be aesthetically handled. It certainly should be much less a blight than all that road asphalt currently there. If the western LRT replaces then eastbound lanes of the Ottawa River Commuter Expressway, then the sea of asphalt becomes a field of grass, albeit with an overhead wire. And this is untenable??

Maybe we won’t require overhead wiring at all. When the international equipment manufacturers gave a presentation at the City a few years ago, at least one had battery powered LRTs already running, where they drew power from wires in some areas and in sensitive heritage areas they ran on battery. Since then, other systems have been built and run today where vehicles recharge rapidly while in the stations and have a enough “juice” to get to the next station. Again, no wires required in select high value areas.

That can also be a neat way to expand the LRT system since the core system is electrified, but each additional segment can be added as rail-only and electrified a few years later as volume increases. This makes it much cheaper to expand the service. Since we haven’t selected our train sets yet, the bidding consortia have a number of options open to them. Ugly wiring isn’t necessarily one of them.

In the meantime, the rather shallow debate on the western LRT makes for a quick read and then I can go do something more important, like sit in the sun.

 

Not your mother’s tulip beds

The NCC tulip beds at Commissioner’s Park at Dow’s Lake are gorgeous this year. And they sure don’t look like the large beds of single colour tulips of your mother’s day. Monochromatic mass displays are so yesterday. Drastic colour combinations are IN.

Sometimes the new combinations include perennial beds. And new beds out in the flat lawn areas. The lawn beds can be operated for several years then grassed over and the tulips planted elsewhere. When Ontario banned cosmetic pesticides, it put the kibosh on large monoculture floral displays. Diseases and blights will remain in the soil, or spread unchecked by chemicals. So the new displays feature moving beds, or smaller areas of tulips set amongst other plant materials.

Like the annual displays seen last year at this park, the colour and plant combinations are striking.