Centretown businesses’ hopes for an Elgin Street entrance to Ottawa’s planned light rail transit system are back on track after a last-minute proposal for a pedestrian walkway offered a potential solution to the impact of moving a key downtown station to the Rideau Centre.
Ottawa council passed two motions March 28 that may affect the LRT station planned for Queen and O’Connor streets.
City staff will look into moving the Downtown East station further east.
In addition, private businesses would be permitted to build a pedestrian walkway to the station if it is possible, with private dollars covering the cost.
“A station should serve every individual person, not just O’Connor or Elgin,” says Sam Elsaadi, chairperson of the Sparks Street merchant association.
“So at least now (councillors) consider doing something in the middle way, which is good.”
Elsaadi owns La Mode hair salon at the east end of Sparks Street.
Business owners along Sparks and Elgin streets had been upset with an earlier city decision to scrap an entrance at the National Arts Centre that would have led to Rideau Station.
This happened when it was controversially decided to move the station east from under the canal to the Rideau Centre to reduce construction costs and increase ridership in Lowertown, Sandy Hill and the Byward Market.
The new motions approved at city hall surfaced after Lord Elgin Hotel owner Jeff Gillin – one of many area business people upset over the scrapped NAC stop – offered the city $2 million toward the construction of a station entrance at Confederation Square.
His letter to Mayor Jim Watson and councillors also asked for a 30-day deferral on the vote to move Rideau Station so other interested parties could be contacted.
Coun. Diane Deans, chair of the transit commission, NAC officials, Watson’s chief of staff, Serge Arpin, and the Lord Elgin’s Gillin met the night before the council meeting to come up with a solution.
The 30-day deferral was dropped and the idea of a pedestrian walkway developed.
“Everyone was in agreement that this would be a workable solution in everyone’s interest,” Deans said at city council.
“I hope others will also look at the buildings downtown and their own opportunities for linking into the LRT system,” she said.
“Obviously the more links we have the better for the community, the better for the users, the better for businesses, better for the whole system.”
At council, Watson was adamant that the city would not spend money on overlapping stations.
He also said the project must remain on budget at $2.1 billion since provincial and federal contributions are capped at $600 million each.
“The project has been in front of council for three years,” said Watson.
“It is time that we put shovels in the ground and deliver value to taxpayers.”
However, not everyone is satisfied with the changes.
“Everybody is forgetting about the centre of the city, which is Confederation Square,” says Sparks Street business owner David Wright.
He says that the Byward Market has been getting too much attention lately and that a station should ideally be built under Confederation Square.
David Jeanes, president of Transport Action Canada, agrees.
He says there should be a station under Elgin Street and that the Downtown East station should be moved west to Bank Street.
He adds that alignment of the LRT would efficiently serve the north-south pedestrian traffic along Elgin and Bank streets.