Alayne McGregor
Updated September 17
The controversy over the new hospital site in the Experimental Farm has reached the federal election campaign, with widely different views among Ottawa Centre candidates.
It has even inspired a daily picket line at one candidate’s campaign office, and an online petition calling for an investigation into the site decision which has garnered more than 4700 signatures.
At the city level, the debate will come to a head on Friday, October 1, when Ottawa’s Planning Committee and Built Heritage Subcommittee are scheduled to consider the proposed hospital site plan. Citizens can present their comments at that meeting, but not at City Council on October 13. To register to speak, email Éric Pelot at eric.pelot@ottawa.ca .
The National Capital Commission (NCC) Board is expected to consider the hospital plan in a public meeting on Tuesday, October 5. To speak at that meeting, email the NCC at info@ncc-ccn.ca, or call 613-239-5000.
The new site near Preston and Carling will replace the current Civic Hospital campus. The proposed plan has proven controversial because of large amounts of car parking, poor transit access, and the destruction of trees and greenspace.
This site was a third choice. The hospital’s first choice, also on the Farm, was rejected because it was on prime agricultural research land. The NCC then examined 12 sites in 2016, with more than 7000 people participating in the consultation. It ended up recommending Tunney’s Pasture. The hospital board immediately rejected Tunney’s because of what it considered poor automobile connections to the Queensway, and because of the cost of demolishing existing buildings at Tunney’s.
Within a week, behind-doors discussions between the city, province, and federal government resulted in an endorsement of the current site – including by then-MPP Yasir Naqvi.
Candidates’ positions differ widely
Ottawa Centre candidates in the current election have released starkly different positions on this issue.
Angella MacEwen (NDP) called for a public inquiry into the 2016 hospital site decision. She also condemned the idea of “an airport-sized, four-storey parking garage,” and called for the garage to be built underground.
Angela Keller-Herzog (Green) called for a new master site plan for the hospital, which would respect a 40 percent tree canopy rule and would integrate with public transit – “not a replay of the Chateau Laurier saga, a much better plan.”
Carol Clemenhagen (Conservative) posted on Facebook that “Taxpayers have right to know project impacts. Planners’ job is to address concerns. Timely construction now is a health care priority.”
Naqvi (Liberal) promised to introduce a law to protect the Experimental Farm, forever. He also tweeted that it was important to continue meeting with community partners and people of all views to address concerns with the site plan.
Naqvi’s support of the site has raised the ire of community group Reimagine Ottawa, which is picketing his campaign office Monday to Friday from 8 to 9 a.m. and Saturdays from 4 to 5 p.m. The community group is also running the online petition on change.org opposing the choice of the Experimental Farm and calling for an inquiry.
Virtual Town hall compares hospital footprints
On September 1, Ottawa Centre MPP Joel Harden held a virtual town hall about the plan. At that meeting, architect Toon Dreessen compared the proposed 16ha, 640-bed new Civic Hospital campus to similar hospitals elsewhere.
The current Civic site (which will be reused for long-term care after the move) is about 9.5ha. In Vancouver, St. Paul’s Hospital is being rebuilt on a 7.5ha site that will not only hold the 548-bed hospital but also a hotel, retail, offices, and rental housing, with underground parking. In Toronto, Bridgepoint Active Healthcare runs a 404-bed hospital on a 4.25ha site. Both the Humber River Hospital in Toronto (722 beds) and the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal (almost 1400 beds) are on sites much smaller than 16ha.
For only a hospital and a parking garage, he said, “I think it’s really unfortunate that we’re making such an inefficient use of the land.” He also warned that, because the hospital will be built as a public-private partnership (P3), “what we’ve seen [in the plan images] isn’t necessarily what we’ll get.”
Friends of the Farm raise major concerns
The Friends of the Central Experimental Farm has also expressed “major concerns” about the plan and its effect on the rest of the Farm, including the fact that the site is much larger than originally indicated and includes “a portion of the Farm’s historic core.”
More than half the site will be hard-surfaced, meaning “a mostly permeable treed area will be turned into a mostly impervious landscape, with its adverse effects on storm water, air quality and the heating/cooling of outdoor space.” And large proposed buildings and servicing equipment will be placed close to the boundaries with the Farm, adding noise, light, and shadows, and “a radically altered landscape.”
The Friends were also concerned about the many trees, shrubs, and hedges, including heritage trees, that would be removed, and how the effects of construction on the farm would be mitigated.
More info: the Friends of the Farm Guide to citizens’ responses.
The proposed site plan for the new hospital can be seen at engage.ottawa.ca/the-ottawa-hospital-master-plan
Updated September 17 to include information on how to vote at the Ottawa Planning Committee meeting, and the date and contact information for the NCC Board meeting.