Residents of Little Italy are passionate about soccer. Thousands of children have learned to play soccer on the two soccer pitches in Plouffe Park, where local soccer clubs have operated camps for decades.
A child just needs shoes and a ball to play soccer. For lower-income families, it’s an affordable sport for their children. Those without a vehicle find it challenging to travel outside Little Italy to play soccer. Families become friends standing on the sidelines at Plouffe Park watching their children play. Soccer also leads to part-time jobs for our youth as coaches and referees with local soccer clubs.
The same goes for the newly revitalized basketball court in the park. Youth just need shoes and a ball to play basketball. This court fuels the dreams of our youth to play professionally. With new lighting, thanks to former councillor Diane Holmes, and no neighbours to complain, youth can play until 11 p.m. – and they do.
In winter, Plouffe Park hosts a full-size skating rink and children’s skate “puddle” flooded by community volunteers. The Plant Recreation Centre (PRC) was built to include a skate room and the water hose bib for flooding ice. These rinks are magical to skate at night, especially with the new energy-efficient lighting. Free skates and equipment are available in the skate room, thanks to the Plant Pool Recreation Association. This is another affordable sport available to families.
Locating the soccer pitches, the basketball court, and the rinks in the park immediately adjacent to the PRC was smart. In an emergency, PRC staff members are trained in First Aid/CPR and the defibrillator. The PRC is air-conditioned in case of heat stroke and has family washroom facilities. Parents/caregivers are able to watch one child play soccer or basketball while entertaining the younger siblings on the nearby play structures at the same time.
The city’s plan to sell Plouffe Park for the development of a school is a bad knee-jerk reaction and will be costly. It’s understood that another school may be needed for the thousands of new residents planned for the Ottawa Community Housing (OCH) towers to be built on this property. The school was supposed to be built on the OCH property on Gladstone Avenue.
OCH is now refusing to allow the school be built on its property. Apparently, this school needs to be built in Somerset Ward, and the city is proposing the school be built on the Plouffe Park soccer pitches.
The city’s concept plan does show the soccer pitches, basketball court, and rinks relocated, at an unknown later date, to another location farther away from the PRC. This plan does propose that the city build a small fieldhouse next to the relocated basketball court at an unknown later date.
However, city fieldhouses built next to sports fields are not staffed so no First Aid/CPR, and doors are locked so no bathroom access. This fieldhouse would need to include a skate room, water hose bib, and washroom at a cost to the city. The new soccer pitches and basketball court will also need outdoor lighting at the cost to the city. All these features are already available at the PRC, which is why it was efficient and cost-effective to build Plouffe Park next door.
The loss of Plouffe Park with its soccer pitches, basketball court, and rinks for an indefinite period will rob the community of affordable sports. What will be the effect on our children, youth, and families without this access for an indefinite period of time?
Will Little Italy lose its passion for soccer?
Check out the concept plan at: engage.ottawa.ca/1010-somerset Please tell the city planners and your city councillor what you think of this bad idea to sell Plouffe Park.
Send emails to 1010somerset@ottawa.ca and Ariel.Troster@ottawa.ca
Lorrie Marlow
Plant Pool Recreation Association
Recreation Association of Hintonburg