By Margaret Brown
Cotton candy, the ferris wheel and the petting zoo may still be within walking distance for Centretown residents if the Super Ex remains at Lansdowne Park for the fair this August.
Unfortunately, that may mean at least another year before the area can be converted to green space and be considered as a site for the new library.
“We want to turn it into a real park with multi purposes, rather than have about 18 hectares sitting under asphalt for two weeks of summer midway,” says Capital Ward councillor Clive Doucet. “I’m really disappointed they’re not moving this year.”
The one-year extension of the contract between the fair and the city was supposed to be agreed on at meeting of the corporate services and economic development committee of Ottawa city council on March 18.
However, Peter Hume, Alta Vista Ward councillor, requested that discussion of the contract be deferred to the next meeting of the committee on April 15 because the fair executives weren’t present.
Doucet says it’s hard to see the benefits of keeping the fair in the area. He says the reduction in traffic and noise will be a bonus when the fair has moved.
He says many residents are on vacation in the last two weeks of August when the fair is held, so noise is not much of a problem.“The big problem is that it handcuffs the city in bringing new usage to Lansdowne Park. It’s our only substantial chunk of park land in the centre part of the city and half of it is parking lot right now,” Doucet says. “It’s just such a waste.”
Robert Smythe, president of the Centretown Citizens’ Community Association, says his group does not have an opinion on the fair or new uses for Lansdowne Park, but says there still needs to be a public discussion on the location of the new library.
“As to a location of a new library, it should not be the whim of any one councillor, whether it be Mayor Chiarelli or Clive Doucet. It’s not a personal project to put it in their particular area,” Smythe says, adding that he thinks the best place for the new library would be downtown.
Another reason why councillors and Mayor Bob Chiarelli want the fair out of the downtown area is the cost.
“In 2002, Lansdowne Park incurred direct costs of $224,000 in support of the fair’s operations.
This cost was recovered from the City Wide Capital Reserve Fund,” wrote Kent Kirkpatrick, general manager of the corporate services department of the City of Ottawa, in his report to the committee.
“It’s beginning to feel like the endless extension. It’s very clear that the Ex doesn’t want to move. It’s very comfortable for them there. They have all their services provided for them. It’s basically a city-funded fair,” Doucet says.
“I’m beginning to despair of getting them out.”
In the proposed contract, the Central Canadian Exhibition Association, which runs the fair, has until April 30, 2004 to vacate Lansdowne Park.
The horticultural building and grounds will have to be vacated by Jan. 31, 2004.
The fair was supposed to have moved already, but residents near the new site on Albion Rd. have held up the move with complaints to the Ontario Municipal Board.
They’re worried about the noise and traffic problems the fair will bring. Because of that delay, the fair will not be able to operate this year unless the contract at Lansdowne Park is renewed.