By Greg Wigmore
The first phase in the cleanup of LeBreton Flats is set to begin, but the entire timetable for redevelopment could be thrown off because of a row between the city and NCC over the width of roads.
The NCC’s $99-million plan for LeBreton will transform 65 hectares of heavily contaminated, former industrial land into an area blending residential and commercial development with cultural institutions – including the new Canadian War Museum.
At the third public meeting on LeBreton last week, several area residents again expressed frustration with the direction the plan seems to be headed, as well as the lack of cooperation and consensus between the city and the NCC.
The meeting was intended primarily to discuss plans for the decontamination process, but several citizens instead raised concerns about transportation issues.
Some criticized the plan as having a “1950s mentality” that is heavily oriented toward the use of cars while ignoring needs of pedestrians, cyclists and mass transit users. This, they said, would not be conducive to the mixed residential-commercial development called for in the plans and would instead encourage a concentration of big-box stores in the area.
“Is it really going to look like Bank and Heron when you’re done with it?” one critic asked the NCC.
“We want to make sure this community is as public transit-oriented as possible,” replied NCC project director Peter McCourt. The NCC has already turned away interested big-box chains such as Canadian Tire, said McCourt.
The greatest controversy surrounds the NCC’s construction of LeBreton Boulevard, the tree-lined thoroughfare that will run through the development south of the Ottawa River Parkway is. Roadwork is expected to begin late in 2003 and the boulevard is expected to replace the parkway by July 2004. Sometime thereafter, the NCC expects to transfer responsibility for its new road to the City of Ottawa.
The city wants to ensure the boulevard is built with roads wide enough to allow for expansion possibilities at a later date, particularly for light rail. The NCC, on the other hand, argues only four lanes are necessary, with one lane in each direction for regular traffic and another lane each way to be shared among high-occupancy vehicles and a future light-rail system.
The city has repeatedly deferred the NCC’s road width applications because it has yet to decide on the possible expansion of light rail to the area.
McCourt said the NCC agrees with many residents that a six-lane corridor would disrupt the harmony of the new development, creating an unwanted cleavage between the residential and commercial community south of the boulevard and the public and cultural zone to the north.
While the city feels wider roads may be necessary to alleviate traffic congestion, past experience suggests they would be of limited benefit, said McCourt.
However, Somerset Ward Coun. Elisabeth Arnold said that’s not why the city has deferred the NCC’s applications.
“The issue is whether there is a designated right-of-way for public transit,” she said.
Arnold said the NCC hasn’t demonstrated its four-lane concept would adequately accommodate light rail.
Hoping to break the impasse, the NCC has appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board, but a mediation hearing isn’t scheduled until mid-April.
A delay of that length would disrupt the decontamination schedule and put in jeopardy the timetable for the museum’s construction, which is slated to begin in early fall. “It could set everything back,” said McCourt.
Some local residents also voiced concerns that airborne contaminants could blow into their neighbourhood during the cleanup process, especially from dust produced by cars and trucks leaving the vicinity of the site.
Most of the contaminated soil is well below the surface and will be hauled away in tarp-covered trucks, said Jean Roberge, director of environmental services for consulting firm Dessau-Soprin. The trucks will have to pass through a decontamination pad where they will be washed down before leaving the site, he said.
Roberge outlined other safety measures, including the monitoring of air and water quality and prevailing winds, as well as procedures aimed at suppressing dust on windy days.