By Mike Miner
Lansdowne Park has entered the second stage of the rest of its life.
Public consultations wrapped up March 27 at the St. Laurent Recreation Complex, the last of five meetings held throughout Ottawa. Now, the three groups from the private sector bidding for the rights to Lansdowne are putting the final touches on their proposals, which will be given to city council in order to make a final decision on the park’s future. The proposals will be submitted on June 8.
Somerset Ward Councillor Elisabeth Arnold says she expects the changes to benefit Centretown and Ottawa as a whole.
“For Centretown, I think it would be a benefit to have a mix of residential, commercial and leisure,” says Arnold. “(Lansdowne) is an important location for Centretown. Because of its proximity to (Centretown’s) business and residential community, there are concerns that have to met.”
“We wanted to start the public consultation at the beginning of the process as opposed to the end,” says Jim Watson, mayor of Ottawa. “The first stage of public consultation was simply to get the public’s input. It wasn’t necessarily to show the public what they’ve got.”
Watson says he was surprised at the poor turnout for the five open-house meetings. He says he was expecting more people than the approximately 250 who attended in total, particularly Rough Riders fans who have extremely vocal since talks concerning Lansdowne’s future began.
Another series of open houses will be held across the city once the proposals have been submitted so the city can gauge the public’s reaction.
The companies in competition for the development project received mixed signals from those people who did attend the open houses.
“People are more open-minded than you might expect,” says Keith McGruer, a representative from Canadian Gateway Development Corporation. “Of course, there are some people who feel changing anything would be sacrilege.”
McGruer says the main goal of his team is to diversify Lansdowne by balancing recreational, commercial and residential uses.
Dominique McEwen- Lachance, from Canaderel Management and Development Services Inc., says her group is trying to provide a compromise.
“We’d like to keep the important community use of the place, and possibly introduce more housing,” says McEwen-Lachance. “We’ve had people (from the public) discussing this amongst themselves, with very positive ideas.”
Carol McMillan, an Ottawa resident who attended the final open house before the finalization of proposals, says she is unhappy with the direction the proposals are taking.
“I’m afraid the centre of the city is going to die,” says McMillan. “If we lose Lansdowne, you’d have to go to something like a home show in Orleans, or the Corel Centre, or Timbuktu. You’re leaving people with no reason to go downtown.”
McMillan, who grew up near Lansdowne, says the possibility of losing the football field where she watched her husband play in high school would be like losing a part of her childhood.
In defence of the poor showing for these meetings, McMillan pointed out a map where the people in attendance were asked to use a pin to mark where they were from. The map of the city of Ottawa had a little graffiti added.
“What about Embrun, Ontario?” somebody had written. Other people had written, “How about Kemptville,” “What about Nepean, too! We Care!”