By James Sinclair
While local politicians and community groups say they’re excited about plans to develop Lebreton Flats, they’re skeptical that the National Capital Commission will be able to implement the plans anytime soon.
Earlier this month, the NCC released plans to develop Lebreton Flats along with five other projects designed to “revitalize” the downtown core.
The plans for Lebreton Flats include space for homes, commercial buildings and an abundance of parkland for festivals and public use. The NCC will retain about one-third of the land for government offices and cultural buildings.
“Generally I’m satisfied with the plans,” says Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson. “What I’m frustrated with is taking the plans from paper and turning them into reality.”
Watson says the NCC, which also plans to redevelop Metcalfe and Sparks Street, has “bitten off more than it can chew.”
That, he says, will further delay the development of Lebreton Flats.
“When (the NCC) is distracted by plans like the Metcalfe demolition and the Sparks Street demolition, that takes away from valuable time and resources that should be spent really pushing and working hard to get Lebreton Flats redeveloped and revitalized,” he says.
Diane Dupuis, a spokesperson for the NCC, says development of Lebreton Flats should begin within the next three to five years.
Until it was demolished by the NCC in the mid-1960s, Lebreton Flats was one of the oldest communities in Ottawa.
It was supposed to be the home of the national defence headquarters, but this plan, as well as several other plans, were scrapped and the site has remained vacant for the last 35 years.
Phil Jenkins, the author of An Acre of Time, a history of Lebreton Flats, says one of the major problems with the development in the past was that the NCC, the region and the city all owned parts of the site.
While the NCC owned the land, both the region and city owned the roadways that crisscrossed the site.
Jenkins says now that full ownership of the land has been given to the NCC, there will be less of a problem developing the site.
Other obstacles, however, will have to be taken care of before development can begin. Both the OC Transpo Transit-way and the Ottawa River Parkway will have to be rerouted to make room for development. The possibility of extending a light rail track to Lebreton Flats is also being considered.