By Chris Clarke
A plan to redevelop downtown has left some community members wondering whether the city can find the cash to finance such sweeping changes.
The NCC and the City of Ottawa commissioned a study detailing a 20-year plan to modernize Ottwa’s urban spaces. The study was unveiled earlier this month at City Hall.
Some of the recommendations include repairing the street grid around the Museum of Nature, changing Metcalfe Street and O’Connor Street to two-way streets, creating more park space, putting a road and trolley through the Sparks Street pedestrian mall, and scores of other changes to Ottawa’s downtown core.
“I’m happy with the general direction, but how feasible is it?” asks Dalhousie Community Association president Archie Campbell.
Campbell notes that as the ambitious plan is released, city council will cut $120 million from its budget this year, gutting its urban development projects.
Still, Somerset Ward councillor Elisabeth Arnold says many of the recommendations can be done without city resources by enticing the private sector to invest in the community and help shoulder the costs.
“(The changes) can all happen if the political will is there,” Arnold says.
But the upcoming municipal election puts the vision on hold until February, when council can reconvene with a new mandate and a new budget.
Arnold says she will be pushing this future vision of Ottawa as far as she can in council discussion until her term is up. She is not running for re-election on Nov. 10.
George Dark, a partner at Urban Strategies, the organization commissioned to do the study, says city planners across North America are rediscovering downtown as the main area to redevelop. And now is the time to start, he says.
“We want, as a society, to stop developing endless suburbs,” Dark says. “Ottawa is late coming to the table to organize this.”
Winnipeg, Toronto, Calgary and other major metropolitan areas have begun the initial stages of changing their downtown cores into esthetically-appealing areas to live, Dark says.
According to a Brookings Institute study, cities across North America will see downtown populations increase by 26 per cent over the next two decades. Dark attributes this to the baby boomers tired of living in the suburbs — they want to be within walking distance of entertainment, restaurants and other downtown attractions.
However, Dark and his team don’t envision a complete change of downtown communities such as Centretown. Instead, he would emphasize and reinforce the strengths and characteristics of the community.
“Infrastructure is holding back Centretown from blossoming into an amazing community,” Dark says.
He says he wants to change Centretown from its current perception as two off-ramps for the Queensway.
Despite these arguments, the question still remains as to how any of these changes can be financed.
City planner Donald Morse says the city should look at the five recommendations that are the most practical and pragmatic.
“You don’t get anywhere unless you put ideas on the table,” says Morse. “And ideas on the table bring money in.”