Robert Fox
The city is seeking input on the concept plan for 1010 Somerset Street and adjacent public lands. Unfortunately, the online feedback form makes it difficult to communicate the depth of my opposition to the cannibalization of Plouffe Park.
Plouffe Park offers one of the few green spaces between Dow’s Lake and the riverfront, and one of the very few outdoor recreation spaces in the neighbourhood. Its grass is poorly maintained so it probably isn’t used as intensely as it might be, but it remains a vital open green space that contributes greatly to the quality of life in this neighbourhood. Its location directly on Preston Street and immediately adjacent to the Plant Recreation Centre is a huge asset, offering culturally significant street views of soccer games and other pursuits that contribute to our health and quality of life.
To sacrifice this park for a building with the promise there will be a replacement park within the decade is indefensible. We need more park and open space – for both active recreation and for shade, for rest, for picnics, for reading, for family celebrations – not less.
And as the Gladstone Village is developed, the demand for that space will increase exponentially. To tuck the open space back within the new development, unseen from Preston Street and cut off from the current under-served residents of the neighbourhood, would be an affront and a provocation.
I welcome a new French-language school, but I see no compelling reason it has to be accommodated on what is now Plouffe Park. I would have thought a location on Gladstone, closer to the Corso Italia transit station, or further along Somerset would be more appropriate. Alternately, it could be tucked into Gladstone Village, located adjacent to the LRT track and the active transportation links that border it.
I also welcome an Indigenous cultural element to the concept plan – though again I’m not clear, why here specifically? I would have thought something closer to the Ottawa River and to Ādisōke might be preferable, if the target population is dispersed across the city. So I’d want to know whether this idea arose from consultations with authentic Indigenous leaders and organizations – or if rather it’s the product of a planning process which is trying to jam onto this site the full wish list of outstanding needs, shortfalls, and deficits the city is trying to address.
The concept of incorporating other arts, recreation, and cultural facilities on the site is also exciting. But, again, the priority is to meet the needs of the dramatically and historically under-served local residents (and the large numbers who will be relatively densely housed who will soon join us), rather than trying to shoe-horn onto this site region-wide facilities that cannot easily be accommodated.
While I have no objection to private businesses that serve local residents in the mix, I do not support the accommodation of significant private or commercial enterprises within this concept plan. There is available commercial space along Preston and Somerset (and potentially within the City Centre redevelopment and the Canada Lands) and I believe we should be supporting the viability of these businesses and adjacent commercial properties, rather than using this site for uses other than housing, green space, and recreation.
It’s crucial that the concept plan be amended to reflect the priorities of the community, while contributing to the City’s broader needs and vision. That most definitely includes the preservation – and significant expansion – of Plouffe Park, the value of which is all the more evident as we experience the types of summer heat we can increasingly expect given the impact of climate chaos.