Last July, City Council directed staff and the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG) to come up with a proposal to make Lansdowne more financially sustainable. This proposal, which was only made public on April 27, calls for an additional $330 million in taxpayer funds.  It includes major changes to the site that will significantly affect the City as a whole, as well as having more direct impacts on the Glebe and neighbouring communities. These could be approved in principle by the City in a matter of weeks with no public consultation.  Is this a responsible way to proceed?

 

The biggest proposed changes are:

 

  • Demolition of the current Civic Centre complex/arena and the North Side Stands
  • Building of new North Side Stands (with reduced seating capacity)
  • Building an arena/event centre (5500 seats instead of the current 10,500) to the east of the football/playing field under an enlarged and green, yet mostly inaccessible, berm.  This will reduce the existing usable park area.
  • Constructing 1200 residential units in three high-rise towers (no indication of # of storeys) where the Civic Centre currently stands. For reference, the ICON condo building at Dow’s Lake has 320 units and is 45 storeys tall.  
  • Expansion of retail space (41,000 sq ft. existing to 100,000 new)

 

The proposal will rely significantly on diverting 90% of new property taxes generated from the proposed towers to finance construction of the new North Side stands and arena/event centre.  It assumes that new taxes can be raised to pay for city services if the remaining 10% is not enough to support the 3000 new residents that would call Lansdowne home.

 

It will look something like this: 

There is more to the proposal which you can read here: https://app05.ottawa.ca/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=8652&doctype=AGENDA

 

What can you do?

Time is of the essence – the City’s Finance and Economic Development Committee (known as FEDCO) is expected to give this approval in principle on May 6.  From there it would quickly go to full City Council for approval. After that, the City would immediately begin efforts to implement the plan. There would be consultations but the die will be cast and rezoning the site is set to begin immediately.

 

The issue, and the message to the Mayor and all Councilors is simple: 

 

  • No to hasty approval in principle; 
  • Yes to public consultation.  

 

Decisions on spending $330 million and to making massive changes to this publicly-owned site, should be discussed in public, not behind closed doors. There’s no reason to rush — this is important enough to get it right. The GCA’s position to date is provided in more detail below.

 

Councillor Shawn Menard does not support the current process.  But he is not a member of the FEDCO committee, and has only one vote at Council.  The most effective thing you can do is reach out to people you know who live in other wards especially suburban and rural ones, and ask them to write to their own councillors (providing their address to indicate that they are their constituents).  

 

Here is the full list of councillors and their emails (* indicates FEDCO member).

 

*Mayor – Jim Watson – Jim.Watson@ottawa.ca 

*Ward 1 – Orleans – Matt Luloff –  Matt.Luloff@ottawa.ca 

*Ward 2 – Innes – Laura Dudas – Laura.Dudas@ottawa.ca 

Ward 3 – Barrhaven – Jan Harder – Jan.Harder@ottawa.ca 

*Ward 4 – Kanata North – Cathy Curry – Cathy.Curry@ottawa.ca 

*Ward 5 – West Carleton-March – Eli El-Chantiry – Eli.El-Chantiry@ottawa.ca 

*Ward 6 – Stittsville – Glen Gower –  Glen.Gower@ottawa.ca  

Ward 7 – Bay – Theresa Kavanagh – BayWard@ottawa.ca 

Ward 8 – College – Rick Chiarelli – Rick.Chiarelli@ottawa.ca 

Ward 9 – Knoxdale-Merivale – Keith Egli – Keith.Egli@ottawa.ca  

Ward 10 – Gloucester-Southgate – Diane Deans – Diane.Deans@ottawa.ca 

*Ward 11 – Beacon Hill-Cyrville – Tim Tierney – Tim.Tierney@ottawa.ca 

Ward 12 – Rideau – Vanier – Mathieu Fleury – Mathieu.Fleury@ottawa.ca 

Ward 13 – Rideau-Rockcliffe – Rawlson King – rideaurockcliffeward@ottawa.ca 

Ward 14 – Somerset – Catherine McKenney – Catherine.Mckenney@ottawa.ca 

Ward 15 – Kitchissippi – Jeff Leiper – Jeff.Leiper@pttawa.ca 

Ward 16 – River – Riley Brockington – Riley.Brockington@ottawa.ca 

Ward 17 – Capital – Shawn Menard – capitalward@ottawa.ca 

*Ward 18 – Alta Vista – Jean Cloutier – Jean.Cloutier@ottawa.ca  

Ward 19 – Cumberland – Catherine Kitts – Catherine.Kitts@ottawa.ca 

*Ward 20 – Osgood – George Darouze – George.Darouze@ottawa.ca 

*Ward 21 – Rideau-Goulbourn – Scott Moffatt – Scott.Moffatt@ottawa.ca 

Ward 22 – Gloucester- South – Carol Anne Meehan – Carolanne.Meehan@ottawa.ca 

*Ward 23 – Kanata South – Allan Hubley – Allan.Hubley@ottawa.ca 

 

What is the GCA’s position?

 

At its April 26 board meeting, the GCA passed the following motion: 

 

BE IT RESOLVED that the Glebe Community Association work to have the City’s Finance and Economic Development Committee (FEDCO) receive the forthcoming report for information as a “check-in with Council” on the status of the negotiations with OSEG since the July 2021 motion was passed;

BE IT RESOLVED that the GCA insist that/strongly support the City undertaking meaningful public consultations with Ottawa residents of proposed revitalization plans before any significant decisions to revitalize Lansdowne are made. 

BE IT RESOLVED that the Committee (and eventually Council) hold off on proceeding with any further work (such as rezoning or a request for expression of interest in air rights) and making any decisions that bind the city to these plans until consultations are completed.

BE IT RESOLVED that in the interests of good public decision making, the City address key issues that include, but are not limited to, the following key issues/questions, prior to FEDCO/Council giving approval in principal to any revitalisation plan:

  • What is the long-term vision for Lansdowne, and how will it complement or compete with other planned and existing investments of taxpayer funds in sports/entertainment/park facilities in Ottawa?
  • How does the City justify any reductions to the urban park and public greenspace, particularly with a proposal for such a significant number of new residents to be added to this site? 
  • Will the three high-rise towers contribute or actually take away from the ambience, visitor experience and ability to attract visitors to Lansdowne?  
  • How will selling air rights in the centre of Lansdowne Park affect the ability of the City to manage this public place in the future? How has the land been valued?
  • Would the proposed housing really meet the significant growth challenges of the City, namely affordable and/or family-sized, ground-oriented units? 
  • Does the plan include a transportation/transit plan to get future visitors and roughly 3000 additional residents to and from Lansdowne?  Has it been costed and included in the financial modelling? 
  • The site is not on an LRT line.  Where will new residents in the proposed towers park, and how will added congestion on site restrict the ability of Ottawa residents to visit Lansdowne?
  • How will heritage/cultural assets like the Aberdeen Pavilion and Horticulture building be impacted by this plan?
  • Are reduced capacity sports facilities of the right size for a growing city? What will be the impact on future ticket prices of reduced seating?
  • What are the environmental impacts of this plan? Does this plan contribute or detract from the City’s ability to progress climate change objectives?
  • The Lansdowne Partnership financial plan agreement failed to meet financial objectives even prior to COVID.  What financial transparency and accountability measures are being put in place to improve management and oversight?