Ottawa's Byward Market

[Richard Eade]

From Josh Pringle’s article on CTVNEWS: https://www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/7-...he-plan-to-revitalize-the-byward-market/

Here are the proposed timeframes for the work:

• 70 Clarence Street: 2028 - demolition repair. 2029 and beyond: construction
• York Street Plaza: 2028 – coordination with the demolition at the Clarence Street parking garage and underground infrastructure work on York Street. 2029 and beyond – construction of plaza and streetscape
• 55 ByWard Market Square and streetscaping: 2026 – advance design work. 2028 – shovel-ready (no construction). 2029 and beyond – sequenced after major works at 70 Clarence and the York Street plaza.

Let’s see if I have this right. Staff’s timing is:
Tear down the existing 290-space parking garage in 2028;
Tear up the 51 parking spots in the ‘York Plaza’ in 2028;
Begin building the 70 Clarence Community Hub – MAYBE with 190 underground parking slots – in 2029; and
Begin landscaping ‘York Plaza’ sometime after 2029.

So there will be a reduction of 341 prominent parking spaces, and there MIGHT be 190 returned sometime in the future.

I keep saying that there MIGHT be 190 spaces because, based on this Pringle article (https://www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/ot...3-hour-pay-and-display-ticketing-system/)

Sutcliffe said he would be “pushing for underground parking” to replace the parking garage at 70 Clarence Street.

So, he will be ‘pushing’ for a PARTIAL replacement of the 290 spaces lost. And the cost for those spaces will add $44.2M (or almost a quarter-million per space).

But maybe removing 341 parking spots for years isn’t an issue. From that same article:

“There are over 3,000 parking spaces in and around the ByWard Market,” Coun. Stephanie Plante told CTV Your Morning Ottawa on Thursday.

I’ll admit, I would have trouble finding over 3,000 spots. Whenever I have tried to drive to ‘The Market’, I’ve found that the 70 Clarence structure was the only place to find parking.

Question? Why is the City adding the cost of demolishing 70 Clarence into the underground parking cost? Are they not planning to demolish (and only rehabilitate) if there is no underground parking? I don’t think the existing configuration would be suitable, and they seem to be talking about a new building. Why isn’t the cost of demolition added onto the $71.2M cost for building the new 70 Clarence building? To me, this is SPIN. It makes the building cost look lower, and the parking cost higher – which gives the City a better excuse to cancel the underground parking component.

From my point of view, this plan is a sure way to kill the ByWard Market. Seriously; a “world-class food hall”; a ‘craft’ building; some trees between roads on York Street; and less obvious parking. Does this really “Promote the ByWard Market as an Arts, Culture, and Entertainment District”?