By Neala Barto
The decision by telecom giant Telus to build an eight-storey office building in downtown Ottawa is an indication that the city’s development is going according to plan, says an urban planning expert.
The plan in question is Ottawa 20/20, an initiative approved by City Council in 2003.
“Part of the Ottawa 20/20 process had been to think about growth over the long-term,” says Fran Klodawsky, a Carleton University professor who teaches urban planning.
The 20/20 initiative was created to guide Ottawa’s social, economic and structural development to accommodate the city’s growing population and workforce.
The new Telus building, which will unite 300 of the telecommunication company’s employees under one roof, will be located at the corner of Bank and Slater streets.
“Growth will be directed towards key locations with a mix of housing, shopping, recreation and employment — locations that are easily accessible by transit and that encourage walking because destinations are conveniently grouped together,” the Ottawa 20/20 plan states.
The Telus tower won’t be the only new building downtown. Just one block south on Bank Street, the Mondrian, a 24-storey apartment building, is set to open in fall 2008.
According to the 20/20 blueprint, initiatives like these are just what the city needs.
These new buildings could be a boon for business owners, says Marc Rozanski, owner of Goldart Jewellery Studio. His store is located next door to where the new Telus building is set to rise. More mixed use of the downtown core would be fantastic, he says, adding that Bank Street needs a revival.
He suggests that the city should take more time to consider esthetics. If buildings do not look good, they should not be built, he says.
“The whole of Bank Street should be revamped,” he stresses. “The sooner the better.”
“It needs to be a little more modernized and cleaned up,” suggests Kristy Prefontaine, manager of the Royal Oak, just down the street from the new developments.
She says she hopes the construction will bring more money to Bank Street and, through increasing the mixed-use of the downtown core, encourage business on weekends.
She explains that roughly half the local shops currently close their doors on Saturdays and Sundays; business is not good enough to keep them open, she explains.
Prefontaine says more residential properties would likely bring her a regular clientele, and renew the vibrancy of the downtown core.
Bank Street lost its vitality when the high-tech boom collapsed, says Shigemi Ichino, owner of Ichibei Japanese Cuisine, located across the street from the Royal Oak.
“The people who used to come here don’t come anymore,” she says, though she adds that lately “it’s getting better.”
Ichino says she has plenty of clients during the day but at night, downtown is “dead.” People from the suburbs no longer travel into Centretown for dinner, she explains. With places like Kanata and Orleans setting up their own cosmopolitan centres, he says fewer people are looking to downtown Ottawa for dining and culture.
According to Klodawsky, this new mixed-use development phenomenon spans further than the suburbs.
Even within Ottawa’s core, other areas have made real efforts to encourage diverse property use, she says.
“The area of Tunney’s Pasture is interesting,” she remarks.
Located just east of Westboro, Tunney’s Pasture has slowly developed into a neighbourhood with a large concentration of government offices, businesses and homes. The combination has attracted condominium developments, more restaurants, and has given a reason for the Great Canadian Theatre Company to make the neighbourhood its new home.
With its large employment base, the downtown core has the same potential, Klodawsky projects.
“I think it’s a very difficult challenge because development takes place over a long period of time,” she says.
Still, Klodawsky is optimistic: “I think it is happening,” she says.