City council reviewed the Lansdowne Partnership Plan proposed by city staff and the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group on Thursday.
The plan, titled Lansdowne Live, aims to make Lansdowne Park into a sports and entertainment district, with a state-of-the-art stadium, retail and office space, a refurbished Civic Centre, and newly designed green space.
City manager Kent Kirkpatrick presented the project’s recommendations to council.
He said the city and the sports and entertainment group need to be more specific about the types of businesses, the number of businesses and how much space would be used.
This information is important to determine how much funding for the project will have, he said.
Nik Nanos, president and CEO of Nanos Research, presented the results of public opinion surveys about the Lansdowne Live proposal.
According to the Nanos research, Ottawa residents are more likely to hold neutral opinions on the proposal, with slightly more people likely to have a negative instead of a positive impression of it.
His presentation indicated 22.5 per cent of those surveyed held negative impressions and 18.7 per cent were positive, while 49.6 per cent were neutral and 9.1 per cent were unsure.
Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Diane Deans expressed concern about the large number of people who were neutral.
“It’s important for us to understand what’s driving the group in the middle – the people that are undecided and have no opinion,” she said.
The surveys gathered feedback from Ottawa residents using a city-wide telephone survey, four focus groups, public consultations over the Internet, open house comment forms, and telephone messages to the city.
City council also heard from representatives in the community.
June Creelman, a representative of the Glebe Community Association, said residents were not able to talk directly to those who proposed the plan. At the open house, residents had to submit their comments in writing.
“The city seems to have forgotten who they should be listening to,” Creelman said.
Glebe residents want Lansdowne Park to be revitalized, but the current proposal doesn’t consider potentially negative impacts on the community, she said.
A huge shopping centre and a stadium would encourage too much activity and would significantly reduce the quality of life for nearby residents, she said.
Shawn Menard, president of the Centretown Citizens Association, said Lansdowne Park is important to Centretown residents too because of how close it is.
He said his main concern is that Lansdowne Live is the only proposal being considered for the site. The process gives preferential treatment to one organization, Menard said.
“It may be legal but it’s not public policy,” he said. “Taxpayers in this city will pay the full public costs.”
Lansdowne Live was the only proposal considered by city council and many councillors accepted it as the solution for that site.
Public delegations continued to present their cases on Friday.
Councillors plan to debate the issue and decide whether they will go ahead with the proposal on Monday.