Some Spark Street shop owners say high heritage standards are slowing business development.
New businesses that rent space in National Capital Commission heritage buildings on Sparks Street are upset with the Crown corporation because they say that the slow-moving bureaucracy makes it difficult to get their businesses up and running.
David Flemming, former president of Heritage Ottawa, says he understands that some businesses may find it frustrating to operate under the NCC’s supervision.
“One of the difficulties with the federal government is they tend to do what they want and although they might consult with the local community, they don’t always listen,” he says.
Because they are heritage sites, Flemming says the businesses along Sparks Street are expected to uphold high standards for historical preservation.
Su-Phoung Chu, owner of the new salon Her Esthetician, says it’s been frustrating to work with the NCC, which needs to approve her construction decisions. Her latest concern is the salon’s missing exterior sign.
“It is not there right now and they said in a couple of weeks but they keep saying it will be in a couple of weeks,” she says.
Chus says her sign was first approved by the Sparks Street Business Improvement Area but still needs approval from the NCC which owns the building. It has now been six months since she opened and the sign is still not up.
A couple of entrances down from Chu’s salon, new gym Greco Lean and Fit had similar problems with the NCC and signage.
“They made up problems because they want to know every nut and bolt you design,” says the gym’s owner, Phil Scavo. He explains that the NCC requested several architectural drawings from every angle before they allowed him to build it. “More drawings cost me more money,” he says.
“I come from the private sector so for me everything is redundant, everything bothers me,” Scavo says. “I mean, in theory they have a job to do. They keep the heritage.”
This is how the NCC sees it, according to Cedric Pelletier, a communications officer with the commission. Before the NCC even agrees to lease out one of their heritage buildings, the prospective business must undergo an approval process, he said in an email.
“The NCC puts a lot into the preservation of the heritage character of these buildings while making them available for contemporary use,” he says. On Sparks Street, the NCC’s properties are mainly located on the south side between O’Connor and Elgin treets.
During review, the NCC considers, “type of business, how does the business fit into the area, business experience of prospective tenant and financial factors.”
Flemming maintains that the NCC has been a fairly good custodian of Ottawa’s heritage, particularly along Sparks Street.
“If they hadn’t stepped in along Sparks Street I think we probably would have lost a lot of those buildings along the way,” he says. “I don’t think the city would have looked after them. They would have sold them.”
Flemming also points out that there is a certain reassurance for businesses in a federally owned area that if new development was proposed, it would be subject to the same approval process. In other words, he says, no large neon signs or 12 story condominiums are going up on Sparks Street any time soon.
The sign outside Her Esthetician is currently covered with black garbage bags. But Chu says she is expecting the approval to come through soon. As long as the NCC doesn’t keep her in the dark about policy changes, Chu says the Sparks Street heritage location will help keep her family-run salon afloat.
“In the summer it is busy and there is still always going to be people because this is where the government and MPs are,” she says.