2010 Election: Cullen on Lansdowne

image of the winning Lansdowne redevelopment design by Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg

Over the course of the 2010 Mayoral Election campaign, Public Transit in Ottawa will be sitting down with as many mayoral candidates as are available, discussing their platforms and thoughts on transit in this city, and what they hope to achieve during their mandate, if elected mayor.

As councillor for Bay Ward, Alex Cullen has been a vocal critic of the redevelopment plans for Lansdowne Park--mostly because of the questions marks surrounding transportation on the site. Redeveloping the swaths of land devoted to parking is great, Cullen said, but without being served by public transit, building a huge number of destinations at Lansdowne is contrary to the City of Ottawa's goals of building a more sustainable city--and, he says, is a "disaster".

Lansdowne, in my view, is making a huge mistake in terms of urban planning. It’s taking an example of a site which has tonnes of uses, and not "walking the walk" when it comes to transit. The whole notion that you have a 24,000-seat stadium, a 10,000-seat arena, 1,700-seat cinema, 340,000 square feet of commercial retail located at a site with no access to rapid transit; if someone came into this town with a 340,000-square-foot shopping centre in Orleans, Riverside South, in Kanata, we’d obligate them to be located by the Transitway. But we’re not doing that here. On top of all that, it’s an area that doesn't have sufficient parking, so you’d think transit would be the solution--but there’s no access to transit. [...] It’s a disaster, and it’s just bad urban planning. [...] Why create this obligation to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to fix a mistake that you can avoid?

Instead, Cullen has suggested perhaps using a different site to house a stadium for pro football (or even soccer) in Ottawa, one that lies along existing transit lines.

We have an inventory of football sites in this town, there are about 30 other places that meet the criteria of being on rapid transit. Bayview Yards is one example, it’s not the only one, but there it is: City-owned site, right by the Transitway, with proximity to downtown, and it just meets those criteria that are there in our official plan, and has the hierarchy of walking/cycling/transit that respects smart growth. But you’re not dealing with rationale here; you’re dealing with the emotion of football glory days.

Although Cullen has suggested an alternative site, such as Bayview Yards, to house an outdoor stadium for Ottawa, there hasn't been much political capital invested in building the stadium elsewhere--much of the energy has been directed at stopping the Lansdowne development. Still, Cullen thinks it's feasible for a brand new stadium to be built at Bayview Yards.

For $130M, you could certainly put a sports stadium up at Bayview Yards, and you’re on rapid transit. You could marry in some trade-show space, as well, to make better use of the facility—that makes sense—so that would help offset some of those costs. It’s not a startling new idea, this idea has been debated around the Council table during this Lansdowne proposal, but the lobbying by the developers has put it on the backburner. The developers are going for the bird-in-hand, and the bird-in-hand is that the city puts up the money, refurbishes the stadium, and gives them the keys to the whole site, and they have access to land for 50 years for commercial development, and that commercial development will pay for the football franchise. Great for them, but it’s a horrible example of urban planning, with all these uses and no access to rapid transit. It’s council that has the obligation for good urban planning, and it’s council that’s dropping the ball.

After Cullen spoke with Public Transit in Ottawa, city council debated the redevelopment of Lansdowne and, after rejecting Cullen's motion to defer the decision on the site to the next council, ended up supporting the current plan. Still, with some councillors suggesting legal action may be taken, it seems unlikely that the redevelopment of Lansdowne Park is a done deal.

Can we have light rail on Bank Street?

A little while back, Spacing Ottawa published an op/ed piece by Dwight Williams with a suggested way to link the City of Ottawa's two biggest public construction projects: the redevelopment of Lansdowne Park, which is currently not served by rapid transit, with the construction of an east-west LRT line with a tunnel under downtown. Williams' suggestion? A light-rail transit line that tunnels underneath Bank Street at some points, and parallel to at others.

The system map presented above (which you can click to enlarge, and was made with information from Spacing's image) is a rough (and not nearly to scale, I realize) estimation of what this integrated system could look like. The blue line is the current O-Train, the red line is Ottawa's current east-west line, and the green line is Williams' proposed Bank Street line, which I've made the executive decision to connect to the Downtown East station (which would likely be between Metcalfe and O'Connor streets downtown). It does connect the "red line" with the "green line" quite nicely, bringing people from downtown to Lansdowne--as well as Billings Bridge, the Glebe, and other destinations--comfortably and quickly. The inclusion of a Sunnyside Station, which would actually be fairly close to the O-Train's Carleton University station, also brings those lines together.

As it stands right now, there is nothing of significance, public transit-wise, for Bank Street. In the city's Transportation Master Plan update released in 2008 (.PDF, network map on page 1), a small portion runs along Bank Street near Greenboro Station, but other than that, Bank is reserved for local bus routes, personal automobiles, and human-powered forms of transportation.

So, can we have light rail on Bank Street? Well, we probably could, and it would certainly go a long way in solving the transportation problems around the Lansdowne Park redevelopment. But it wouldn't be cheap, and it wouldn't be easy. The cost of tunneling where necessary, and to join up with the Downtown East station, immediately raises questions of cost. Actually building the line would be hard, given that Bank Street is pretty much always busy as it is. And finding the political will to push for this kind of project won't be easy: Since Bank Street isn't really identified as a target zone for rapid transit currently, changing the master plan to put a priority on it would take some real negotiating and gesturing--especially since doing so would likely delay the expansion of light rail further east, west, or south into suburbs like Orleans, Kanata, Barrhaven, and Riverside South.

A terrific idea which would most certainly connect Lansdowne to our current and future public transit systems, but not one without significant hurdles to get over.

NCC willing to budge... no, not on the Parkway

View across the Rideau Canal towards Lansdowne Park. Image © City of Ottawa.

According to reports, the National Capital Commission (NCC) would be willing to re-route the Queen Elizabeth Driveway, its scenic roadway along the Rideau Canal, in order to accommodate redevelopment plans for Lansdowne Park.

The move could be mutually beneficial: It allows Lansdowne Park some frontage on the Canal, enabling scenic pools, ponds, or fountains to be built off of it (ideas that have been bandied about in discussing the redevelopment plans), but it also offers the NCC more space to run their roadway instead of having to squeeze it between the park and the Canal. From the Ottawa Citizen:

[NCC's Executive Director of Capital Planning François] Lapointe said the area between Lansdowne and the Rideau Canal is "not that comfortable. It's very narrow.

"If we want to create a new experience, a new meeting place and activity space, it's clear we'll need to create a more comfortable zone in that area. That may include pushing the parkway further away from the canal."

The NCC's willingness to compromise, though, is also relevant to the city's transit planning. Although the city's current plan calls for building the rail lines right along the current Transitway, and thus along the NCC-owned Ottawa River Parkway, the NCC has been reticent to give their blessing to the idea. An environmental assessment is currently underway, examining a few different options for the western portion of the transit plan: the Parkway, Carling Avenue, and Byron Avenue, with perhaps still other possibilities.

While the city might pencil the Parkway as its preferred route--due in large part to the ease of installation and the lower price point--the NCC has other factors which they'll hold in higher priority. And while there are real benefits to moving around the Queen Elizabeth Driveway, there are few (if any) positive side effects to the NCC giving prime riverside land to the City for rail development.

It remains positive, though, that the NCC is willing to negotiate and compromise with city planners in order to find mutually beneficial solutions to these problems. Once the western corridor EA is released, we'll certainly hear more debate about these different options.

Lansdowne transportation planning hits a snag

Planning for the transportation needs of a revitalized Lansdowne Park has hit a snag, with the firm who was originally hired by the city to work on a study pulling out due to conflict-of-interest concerns.

From the Ottawa Citizen:

Critics of the Lansdowne Live redevelopment plan had raised concerns about the city's intention to hire the consultants, who had worked with the group seeking to redevelop the property, to do a more thorough study of how a redeveloped Lansdowne should fit into the transportation network in the Glebe and surrounding area.

The move mean that the city now has a short window of time to find another consultant, and have that organization complete their assessment of the transit needs of the site. It also means that we run the risk of allowing transit accessibility to be put on the back-burner while the site plan goes through, which would pose challenges to the success of what whatever football and soccer team may use the space, as well as the Ottawa 67s, and other current tenants, like the city's farmer's market.

It all comes down to one question: How can public transit dovetail with the Lansdowne Live plan to serve the needs of citizens?

Feel free to offer your thoughts in the comments.

UPDATE: Limited injunction on picketers at World Juniors

From CBC.ca:

The City of Ottawa is going to court to try to stop striking transit workers from picketing one of the venues for the world junior hockey championship when the tournament starts on Friday.

The city's lawyers will be seeking an injunction to block picketing by the Amalgamated Transit Union, and have a court hearing on the matter scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday, said a memo from city solicitor Rick O'Connor to city council Tuesday.

The article was also in the Ottawa Citizen and the Ottawa Sun. More information on the results of the court appearance will be posted when it becomes available.

UPDATE: CBC.ca has reported that rather than fully allow or disallow picketers at the world junior hockey championships, the two sides were able to come to a compromise:

A small number of pickets with the union representing transit workers will be allowed, and only in specific areas, outside one of the venues for the world junior hockey championship as the tournament opens in Ottawa this Friday.

As a transit strike was in its 15th day Wednesday, Justice Charles Hackland of the Ontario Superior Court ruled that a total of 80 pickets will be allowed at the city-owned Ottawa Civic Centre Arena, one of two venues for the tournament Dec. 26 to Jan. 5:

• Ten pickets at each of the four entrances of the city-owned Ottawa Civic Arena.
• Ten pickets at each of the four entrances of Lansdowne Park, site of the arena.

The pickets are not allowed to block vehicle or pedestrian traffic, and must be set up for information purposes only.

I want to know why they can't come to a compromise on the more important issue. You know, the underlying strike.

Ottawa's outdoor stadium debate

It may not deal directly with public transit in Ottawa, but the ongoing debate around an outdoor stadium is certainly affected by, and going to affect, public transit in Ottawa. There are two competing bids: The first to be announced was that of Eugene Melnyk, who is in the process of pitching for a Major League of Soccer (MLS) franchise to go into a to-be-built, "soccer-first" stadium on vacant land near the Scotiabank Place in Kanata. The second, announced on Friday, Oct. 17, is that of Jeff Hunt and the ownership group which was given a conditional Canadian Football League (CFL) franchise, pending a suitable football stadium in the city, to reinvigorate Lansdowne Park and the surrounding area. Both bids have pros, and both have cons, as well.

Ideally, should Melnyk be awarded an MLS franchise, that squad's stadium could accomodate any future CFL team, because quite frankly two world-class outdoor stadiums in this city would be superfluous. If Melnyk weren't to win an MLS franchise, his plans for a stadium would go by the wayside, and the city would likely proceed in consultation with the Hunt bid.

Immediately, given the city's planning policy directions to intensify development in the city's core, the Hunt bid should have a leg up on the Melnyk bid. However, the picture is not so clear. Here is a synopsis of the two bids, including the goals of each one, and the pros and cons associated with them.

Bring The World to Ottawa (the Melnyk bid)

(Click image for larger version; click here for official website photo gallery)

Eugene Melnyk's bid includes, obviously, a world-class soccer stadium which, as Melnyk said in a press release, "needs to be a sophisticated hosting venue providing our community with the ability to attract major international sporting events, outdoor concerts and festivals to the nation’s capital." To that end, the stadium would include an outdoor stage in the south-west end of the pitch, and seating around the other three sides. Parking for the stadium would, in all likelihood, piggyback on existing parking lots already present for Scotiabank Place, although it would be a bit of a hike and most spots would require crossing Palladium Drive to reach the soccer stadium. Given the incredible growth in Kanata as a result of Scotiabank Place's construction, it would be reasonable to assume further development as a result of a second professional sports facility in the immediate area. Seating would be designed to be between 20,000 and 30,000.

Pros:

1. More than 7,000 parking spots nearby
2. Not occupying public space
3. "Synergy" with neighbouring Scotiabank Place / Ottawa Senators
4. Solid management reputation of Eugene Melnyk, who would be owner of the soccer team
5. Twenty-six luxury suites
6. Natural grass field measuring 65m by 105m designed to MLS and FIFA specifications but convertible to football and rugby specs
7. Will incorporate Scotiabank Place into a professional-sports area, possibly encouraging intensified development in the area.

Cons:

1. Not in the City of Ottawa's core
2. Requires significant automotive commuting or transit infrastructure
3. Little entertainment/dining in the immediate area (i.e. restaurants, bars, shops)
4. Not walking distance from existing high-density, multi-use residential/commercial land
5. City of Ottawa would give up ownership of land

Lansdowne Live! (the Hunt bid)

(Click image for larger version; click here for official website photo gallery)

The bid from Jeff Hunt, in cooperation with business leaders Bill Shenkman, Roger Greenberg, and John Ruddy, focuses on a world-class football stadium, convertible to rugby or soccer and concert venue, with surrounding re-development. Although the stadium itself is a large part, it would be surrounded with public soccer pitches, a skateboard park, an ultimate frisbee field, ponds, greenery, and a state-of-the-art public aquarium with walk-through plexiglass tunnels, and some retail and residential development (all in place of parking lots currently surrounding Frank Clair Stadium). As for the stadium, it would call for virtually complete retrofitting or rebuilding of the current stadium, focussing on increasing comfort in dressing rooms and player/performer accomodations, concessions, washrooms, and restaurants in the stadium. The field itself would be designed for football, but could be converted to soccer or other sports. Expandable end zones designed for an 'intimate experience' and permission from the CFL to consider natural grass turf would mean that an MLS franchise could, hypothetically, also use the stadium. Seating estimates are pegged at 24,000 to 25,000.

Pros:

1. Centrally located and easily accessible
2. Includes plans to revitalize currently underused city-owned public space
3. "Synergy" with neighbouring Civic Centre / Ottawa 67s
4. Solid management reputation of Jeff Hunt, who would be Managing Partner and Governor of the football team
5. Fifty luxury suites
6. Includes renovation of Civic Centre
7. Converts single-use parking lots into multi-use development
8. Channels money currently used for maintenance of dilapidated stadium into investment towards new stadium
9. City would retain ownership of land and stadium and would collect income from leases

Cons:

1. Limited parking, and necessity to build garages
2. Concerns of eliminated/reduced public and green space
3. Includes privatisation of some public space
4. Somewhat dependent on re-introducing a franchise which has failed twice in a decade
5. City would be responsible for rebuidling stadium, although ownership group would pay for maintenance