by P. Marsden-Dole and members of the Seniors Committee of the CCCA
On May 30, the Centretown Citizens Community Association (CCCA) held a public meeting for residents at McNabb Community Centre to present and discuss the draft Centretown Community Design Plan, which will be presented to City Council sometime in the fall. At one point we thought we would be lucky if at least 50 people showed up. But as it happened we enjoyed an over-capacity turnout. This was a firm confirmation of community interest in the changes now underway for Centretown residents.
A new design plan is one element in considering how to implement the City’s intensification policy. George Dark of Urban Strategies Inc, a Toronto firm, was hired by the City to present design ideas around the 2003 City of Ottawa Official Plan which introduced an intensification policy to “grow in, not out.”
Recently, even before the design plan goes to City Council, the council has given building permits to developers to construct new multi-storey, mixed- use building projects, some ranging from 21 to 27 storeys in Centretown. You will likely have come across (but we hope not stumbled into!) the giant holes for some of these projects. The new design plan will not cancel any existing permits. But one hopes it might produce better designs for both new buildings and land use options in the future. In the words of George Dark, the overall plan is to create vertical suburbs with the greenspaces, human streetscapes, and physical security and safety characteristic of our suburbs and the added advantage of new walkways, better public transit, and cycling paths to reduce car traffic.
The Seniors Committee met to identify the most important issues for seniors out of all that was said at the May 30 public meeting. It was agreed that some elements of the CDP would be welcomed. An increased number of wider sidewalks to accommodate more pedestrian and public transit traffic would allow safer passage for less mobile seniors and others who use walkers, canes, and wheelchairs to navigate today’s narrow busy sidewalks.
Slower and lighter road traffic would reduce air and noise pollution. More trees and greenery, including green roofs, would bring the calming effects of more natural beauty into the city centre in addition to reducing the impact of city centre noise, air pollution, stifling summer heat, and heavy rain runoff.
There was some speculation that the small size and high cost of many of the new condo units might reduce the variety of Centretown residents which we enjoy now, with a mix of old single family homes, and rental units in both large old houses and older apartment blocks. We noted that some people who spoke expressed concern that the result of an increased population in the new condo buildings might be a higher transient population and the possibility of distinct residential sectors for various segments of the population – young single workers, seniors, students, families, etc.
This led to the related issue of the increasing cost of living downtown, which might accompany these changes. It costs more to build new houses and commercial premises than to maintain more established buildings. Increased competition for vacant space for building in Centretown has pushed the cost of land up for developers even if (or more likely because) borrowing costs are low. Add to that the increased cost of building materials, new building regulations, and increasing tax assessments on higher value new buildings and for new public infrastructure, and the result is that every good or service sold in the commercial spaces must necessarily go up.
We also took seriously the comments regarding seniors provided by a Centretown Community Health Centre (CCHC) representative, who asked if any consideration had been given to the relationship of intensification and public health. She was looking for confirmation that the CDP might include additional arrangements for active living opportunities for the general Centretown population, for wider adoption of environmentally friendly building materials in the new structures, for additional recreation (physical and social) areas and facilities, and for improved availability of competitively priced groceries in Centretown.