Waterfront Development Opportunities Past, Present and Future

[Schattenjager]

Start using the Ottawa River 15
By Ron Corbett ,Ottawa Sun

In April 1949, the man hired by the federal government to turn Ottawa into a “beautiful” capital city had this to say to Parliament:

“The most effective improvement will be a Central Park at Chaudiere Falls. The master plan is a long-range program upon which the capital will grow, and the falls will always remain the main feature of the Ottawa setting.”

Well, Jacques Greber had the long-range part right.

Sadly, just about everything else in his master plan (with the notable exception of the Green Belt) never saw the light of day, including the one thing the acclaimed urban designer always insisted was crucial to turning Ottawa into a great city.

Start using your rivers.

To the French-born Greber, who had never seen anything as majestic and wild as the Ottawa River before he came across the pond, this was a classic no-brainer.

“You have this wonder of nature and you’re not using it?” Greber must have thought. “Come here so I can slap you in the head.”

Today, sixty-four years after Greber’s report, another attempt is underway to start using Ottawa’s rivers. This campaign is called Waterfront Ottawa and is being spearheaded by the Municipal Taxpayer Advocacy Group (MTAG.)

Well-known architect and urban designer Mark Brandt is helping with the campaign. He is an expert on the stretch of Ottawa River that flows through the nation’s capital. He helped the National Capital Commission draft its master plan for the area.

“Chaudiere Falls, Victoria Island, these are national treasures,” says Brandt. “When you’re standing on the tip of Victoria Island, staring up at Parliament Hill, the beauty of that scene, it’s actually hard to describe.

“Certainly it blows Granville Island out of the water.”

It’s no coincidence Brandt mentions Granville Island — or that it’s been on his mind recently.

Granville Island in downtown Vancouver was once a run-down, seen-better-days industrial and manufacturing area, much like Chaudiere and Victoria Islands.

Granville Island is today one of the top tourist attractions in Vancouver. In 2004 it was named one of the world’s “great places” by the Project for Public Spaces.

Granville is mentioned by MTAG as something the city should aspire to, along with River Walk in San Antonio, Texas, and the harbour front in Toronto, which has been revitalized in the past 10 years, ever since that city started a Waterfront Toronto campaign.

Brandt says these are worthwhile goals. Although he thinks we can do better.

“We can one up all of them, I would think. San Antonio certainly,” he says. “We have an absolutely remarkable river and a remarkable opportunity at the moment.”

The remarkable opportunity hasn’t changed from what Greber saw when he first arrived in Ottawa in the 1930s.

We tend to forget — because our rivers have been abandoned and neglected for so long — what outsiders see immediately when they come here. (We should all line up to get our heads slapped.)

The Chaudiere Falls used to scare people it was so damn wild and majestic. Before it was dammed and tamed it was the second largest waterfall in Canada by volume.

That’s right. Only Niagara Falls had more water tumbling over it. Is it any wonder people travelling down the river used to stop at the falls and make offerings to the Gods, just to make sure they didn’t drown the next day?

Just downriver from the Chaudiere is another set of falls, where the Rideau River tumbles into the Ottawa. And the cliffs of Parliament Hill. The bays and inlets of the Gatineau River.

We are a northern city, built where three rivers meet — a place of rare, natural beauty — yet one of the first things we did as a city was turn our backs on the rivers.

It drove Greber nuts.

“The restoration of the Chaudiere Islands ... is of greatest importance,” he once wrote. “(It) will appeal, not only to local citizens, but to all Canadians who take pride in their country.”

He’s right. And MTAG is right when it says it is time all the various stakeholders — the city, province, feds, NCC, Algonquins, private sector — got together, stopped dithering, and as Brandt so eloquently puts it, “blow out of the water” places like Granville Island and River Walk.

http://www.ottawasun.com/2013/04/07/...e-ottawa-river

[acottawa]

New (I think) info on SJAM park.

Apologies if this has already been posted on another thread.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/ncc-ccn/docu...20180124163256

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by acottawa

New (I think) info on SJAM park.

Apologies if this has already been posted on another thread.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/ncc-ccn/docu...20180124163256

Good find!

The "Sir John A. Macdonald Riverfront Park"... I didn't know this park had a name.

[rocketphish]

NCC, RendezVous have agreement in principle on LeBreton Flats

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: January 25, 2018 | Last Updated: January 25, 2018 11:48 AM EST

<snip>

NCC advances plans for Ottawa River shorelines

The agency presented draft plans for the north and south shores of the Ottawa River.

The plan for nine kilometres of shoreline on the southwest side of the river, between LeBreton Flats and Mud Lake, has ideas to enhance the waterfront experience, environment, cultural experience and connectivity. They include boardwalks, lookouts, trails and beaches. There are also proposals to reduce the number of conflicts between people and pesky Canadian Geese.

The draft plan for the Sir John A. Macdonald riverfront park can be found on the NCC’s website, along with a survey.

The agency also continues developing a plan for a smaller stretch of the north shore. The board will receive the final north shore plan in April.

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...lebreton-flats

[SkeggsEggs]

Interesting! If only more of the photos worked

[citydwlr]

National Capital Commission seeking feedback on draft plan for Sir John A. Macdonald Riverfront Park

The survey can be found here:
https://www.questionpro.com/a/TakeSu...nguageSelected

* Just noticed this information is in the article that Rocketphish posted earlier... Moderator(s), feel free to delete this post.

[AndyMEng]

Originally Posted by citydwlr

National Capital Commission seeking feedback on draft plan for Sir John A. Macdonald Riverfront Park

The survey can be found here:
https://www.questionpro.com/a/TakeSu...nguageSelected

* Just noticed this information is in the article that Rocketphish posted earlier... Moderator(s), feel free to delete this post.

I completed the survey and pointed out the ridiculous wooden footbridge at the west end of the (bike path) that if implemented is dangerous and uncomfortable for bikers. Not to mention the angled corners that become pinch points for bikers and pedestrians, especially since most cyclists here are commuters.

The remaining ideas are great, but there's ZERO mention of the SJAM parkway. SO they'll just gloss over it and make no mention? Why?

The westbound (north side) of the parkway should be rebuilt, directly adjacent to the eastbound (south side), thus minimizing the ridiculous median that only benefits the landscaping contractor for fees. If NIMBY's weren't so strong here, I'd have the entire parkway rebuilt right up to the southern property line.

[Jayday23]

an urban beach... somewhere near nepean bay... would have been nice

[J.OT13]

We've had many debates on the forum about potential waterfront developments and the mistakes of the past.

I thought it might be time to create a dedicated thread for this long standing debate.

[J.OT13]

Although the Parkway system, mostly built during the City Beautiful movement and the era of cars, cuts off a large portion of our waterfront, I'm not too annoyed with them. They provide greenspace and plenty of pathways for cycling and walking. They were built in a time that such parkways were considered good urban planning. Not to say that we shouldn't revisit some of them, but we should or could have focused on different areas.

Lansdowne to me was a major lost opportunity. Such an important entertainment area in our city should have access to the Rideau Canal. A pedestrian bridge with access to Pig Island, removing the Queen E. Parkway between Bank and Princess Patricia Way or just giving pedestrians safe crossings and maybe a few docks for small watercrafts.

The NCC is slowly upgrading the public realm along the Sir John A. Parkway, which is great. I'm very happy with what they've done and planned so far.

Zibi is of course our greatest chance to have a true waterfront community. Such an amazing project. One that will truly change the face of Ottawa.

[JayBuoy]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Although the Parkway system, mostly built during the City Beautiful movement and the era of cars, cuts off a large portion of our waterfront, I'm not too annoyed with them. They provide greenspace and plenty of pathways for cycling and walking. They were built in a time that such parkways were considered good urban planning. Not to say that we shouldn't revisit some of them, but we should or could have focused on different areas.

Lansdowne to me was a major lost opportunity. Such an important entertainment area in our city should have access to the Rideau Canal. A pedestrian bridge with access to Pig Island, removing the Queen E. Parkway between Bank and Princess Patricia Way or just giving pedestrians safe crossings and maybe a few docks for small watercrafts.

The NCC is slowly upgrading the public realm along the Sir John A. Parkway, which is great. I'm very happy with what they've done and planned so far.

Zibi is of course our greatest chance to have a true waterfront community. Such an amazing project. One that will truly change the face of Ottawa.

Not to debate the intentions of the parkways, but I don't think they offer much in the way of accessible greenspace. Whenever I have guests in the city, we walk by the canal for them to see... then walk to the Rideau River or Major's Hill to linger. I actually find the traffic on the parkways so loud that I often struggle to even hold a conversation. Meanwhile the Rideau river is very peaceful, almost bucolic. It's a model of how we could rework our waterfront spaces.

On a bit of an unrelated note, I would love to see the parking lots behind major's hill park turned into something other than parking. They have excellent views, and with a bit of landscaping could be a really nice destination.

[Richard Eade]

For all those who keep harping about how the Greber-era river-side parkways have “cut off the river”, I challenge them to walk along the west side of the Rideau River, heading north from Strathcona Park.

I think that they will find that old sections of town, that allowed private ownership right up to the river are FAR more restrictive than having to cross a few lanes of traffic. And, to cross those lanes, you only have to look in one direction at a time! Or, it is also permitted to cross at a signal light or go through one of the underpasses.

Let’s also look at, say, Colonel By Drive. I expect that those complaining about that road being there would prefer to still have the heavy rail lines taking up the entire corridor. I’m sure that they must have been much less restrictive to people crossing or walking/biking along them.

Some people here insist that anything that is a new idea (and I’m thinking about a Bank Street Subway) be tagged as “Fantasy”. Well, I can tell you that there are a lot of fantasy ideas floating around. The idea, for instance, that, had we let private industry take over (or keep control of) the shorelines, there would be more public access now.

Were the implementations of those roadways perfect? Of course not. Even the NCC’s re-designed section ‘over’ a section of the LRT western branch (which doesn’t actually run OVER the LRT anymore) does not maximize the parkland on the water’s side. In order to slow traffic, the road is laid out with large serpentine curves, breaking up the area. It would have been much better, in my opinion, for the NCC to have moved the lanes away from the river and made them much narrower – adding sharper ‘zig-zags’, if needed.

I think that more people really need to re-evaluate why there is as much access to the rivers and canal as there is now.

And, yes, Lansdowne was a failure on several issues. But it also had some wins.

[OTSkyline]

The parkways, avenues, and trails in OTtawa all follow these waterways, but there are no real destinations to actually stop and enjoy these places (waterfront bistros, bars, cafes, playgrounds, waterparks, basketball/tennis courts, buskers, etc..) - except sort of at Lansdowne.

Even a plaza next to the canal or river would be nice. Pavers, seating, shade, flowers, perhaps even music playing on outdoor speakers. Something like the Chicago Riverwalk.. You wouldn't know Ottawa is a waterfront city because the city doesn't embrace it.

[J.OT13]

That was basically the Rendez-Vous Lebreton plan, with the O-Train covered, shops sharing a wall with the rail tunnel and plazas along the aqueduct.

I generally like the NCCs new plan for LeBreton, but I'm concerned with how the O-Train Line will fit in as a possible eyesore (chain link fencing, impede on mobility).

[J.OT13]

I wish we could do something similar to the Chicago example along the entire O-Train Line facing the aqueduct.

[lrt's friend]

Ottawa's urban fabric developed around the Rideau Canal because that is what founded the city. It was its reason for being. Necessarily, that created problems because the nearby Ottawa riverfront was all cliffs. The city had to face away from it. Why did the canal corridor not become more urban? It had restricted land use since the days of Colonel By. It was built as a military canal, so restrictions existed all along. It could have turned out much worse, because we could have had rail lines on both sides of the canal or the canal abandoned and filled in. The other pocket of urban fabric developed around Chaudiere Falls but water power made it industrial.

Many cities have had problems making their waterfronts people places. It is still a work in progress in Toronto.

The picture of Chicago and we should consider also Millennium Park are the result of a lot of work and money and they succeed with nearby density. Look at those high rises. Remember Chicago is almost 10 times the size of Ottawa as well. Ottawa lacks density next to our waterways and it will take a long time to correct that.

As others have pointed out, Zibi is our biggest hope and then Lebreton, if we can get it off the ground. But if we build our density 500m from the water, as we are often doing in Westboro and Hintonburg, that is too far to create a lively pedestrian waterfront. Even a block or two of nothing interesting, is a barrier for pedestrians.

We have a lot of work to create an interesting riverfront that is beyond walking and biking trails and roads.

[J.OT13]

I'm hoping to see the removal of Freiman Lane between Laurier and Elgin in the near future in order to better link the NAC and Confederation Park to the canal. Freiman could remain flexible space for delivery trucks and those who need to use the accessible entrance of the NAC.

I wish we could open up some cafés and restaurants at the base of old Union, though that might not be possible as long as the Senate occupies the building.

[OTSkyline]

Looking at it now, the canal downtown is bordered on both sides by unfriendly private institutions or buildings, restricting public access or limiting the opportunities (Senate, NAC, DND, etc).

A couple of ideas;
-Agreed removal of Freiman Lane in Confederation Park could be an opportunity to restore access that point
-The NAC should should operate a large and lively restaurant/patio on the backside -facing the canal (what a view from that spot!)
-We should add water activities around these spots. There are paddleboat and kayak rentals at Dow's Lake and Paddleboard rentals on the river (at Billings Bridge) but why can't we have some of these in the downtown portion? This would help liven up our downtown stretch of the canal. Let's face it, the paddle boating at Dow's Lake si nice, but the lake is large and rental rates are $$$, so most people barely make it out of the lake then have to turn around to return to the drop-off point.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by OTSkyline

Looking at it now, the canal downtown is bordered on both sides by unfriendly private institutions or buildings, restricting public access or limiting the opportunities (Senate, NAC, DND, etc).

A couple of ideas;
-Agreed removal of Freiman Lane in Confederation Park could be an opportunity to restore access that point
-The NAC should should operate a large and lively restaurant/patio on the backside -facing the canal (what a view from that spot!)
-We should add water activities around these spots. There are paddleboat and kayak rentals at Dow's Lake and Paddleboard rentals on the river (at Billings Bridge) but why can't we have some of these in the downtown portion? This would help liven up our downtown stretch of the canal. Let's face it, the paddle boating at Dow's Lake si nice, but the lake is large and rental rates are $$$, so most people barely make it out of the lake then have to turn around to return to the drop-off point.

The NAC does have a restaurant and patio on the Canal (formerly Le Café, now called 1 Elgin) below Freiman Lane.


https://www.facebook.com/pg/1elginrestaurant/posts/

Would be nice to have more paddle boat/kayak/canoe rentals, or at least parking/launching spots near downtown. I know there are lots of spots reserved for parking larger boats, but space should be reserved for more affordable options.

[phil235]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

The picture of Chicago and we should consider also Millennium Park are the result of a lot of work and money and they succeed with nearby density. Look at those high rises. Remember Chicago is almost 10 times the size of Ottawa as well. Ottawa lacks density next to our waterways and it will take a long time to correct that.

As others have pointed out, Zibi is our biggest hope and then Lebreton, if we can get it off the ground. But if we build our density 500m from the water, as we are often doing in Westboro and Hintonburg, that is too far to create a lively pedestrian waterfront. Even a block or two of nothing interesting, is a barrier for pedestrians.

We have a lot of work to create an interesting riverfront that is beyond walking and biking trails and roads.

Chicago also has a massive, multi-lane pseudo-highway running along most of its waterfront. That's a bigger barrier to the waterfront than we have.

I think that you are right about getting the density closer to the water. Even if the distance is short, non-interesting blocks create a psychological barrier between the water and the city. Chicago has parks along most of the waterfront, but what it does well is allowing density right up to the parks to give more people quick access. That would work here. And anywhere we don't have big parks (Zibi, Lebreton, Bayview), we should be getting development close to the water while maintaining a decent public right of way for restaurants, squares, playgrounds etc.