Ontario Construction News staff writer
Will tenants and residents of a 510-unit development planned for Ottawa’s Lincoln Fields area have a 200 metre walk or a much longer 1.2 km, trek to the nearby Lincoln Fields Light Rail Transit (LRT) station?
If things don’t change by the time contractors complete work on the triple-tower development at 2475 Regina St., the answer will depend on the season.
During the spring, summer and fall, there’ll be a short walk along a National Capital Commission (NCC) pathway direct to the new station.
But in winter, it is an entirely different story – since the NCC doesn’t plow the stretch; and city officials are wary of incurring unwelcome costs and “setting a precedent” in clearing the NCC path.
These matters were debated at an Ottawa City Council meeting on Sept. 26. In the end, council approved the Windmill Developments project.
But not before Bay Ward Coun. Theresa Kavanagh argued in a motion to delay approval until the winter access issue was resolved.
“This project relies very heavily on that NCC path,” she said. “If it falls apart, I don’t know why we’re approving this plan.”
The Ottawa Citizen reports that the “city is leery that snow plows could cause costly damage to the multi-use pathway, which follows a steep slope to Carling Avenue alongside the Kichi Zibi Mikan Parkway (previously known as the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway).
“There are also other developments that rely on NCC pathways, and the city doesn’t want to set a precedent by taking on snow-clearing responsibility,” the Citizen reported.
Only half of the project’s units will have parking spaces, so many people will be reliant on public transit and the LRT, which in winter will be so near, but so far, depending on the snowfall.
“We’re being asked to approve to development with more than 500 units that’s within metres of transit, but with no assurance at all there will be an ability, if there’s no pathway, to get them there,” said Stittsville Coun. Glen Gower, chair of the city’s transit commission. He was one of 11 councillors who supported Kavanagh’s motion.
“It’s critical that the people who live in this development have access to the transit system.”
However, the majority of councillors decided that the need for new housing over-rode concerns about LRT winter access.
“We should be building houses,” Orléans East-Cumberland Coun. Matt Luloff said.
Presently, Parkway House occupies the site. This is an accessible nonprofit for 12 adults with physical difficulties requiring round-the-clock care.
According to Windmill’s proposal, the Parkway residents will occupy the ground floor of a new, seven-storey building on the site’s left side.
Windmill is seeking a zoning amendment to permit the high-rise development in what is currently zoned as “parks and open spaces,” the Citizen reported.
The two-acre site was originally owned by the Catholic school board, which sold the land to the City of Ottawa. The city, in turn, turned the property over to Parkway in 1981.
“Parkway has been trying to strike a deal to sell the property for more than a decade, one that would give them a new building and bring in revenue that would keep the non-profit solvent,” the newspaper reported.