Category: LRT

Bayview, Bayview Otrain, Bayview-Carling CDP, condos, LeBreton Flats, LRT, O-Train, Preston street2 Comments

A stadium for Ottawa

Westsideaction

Lansdowne Live? Scotiabank Place? LeBreton – Bayview? I am not a fan of a new stadium at Lansdowne Park. It is not accessible enough – the neighborhood streets are narrow, local-style shopping and residential streets. It is not on the Qway nor the transitway. Open air concerts and mass public events are just not compatible enough with the residential area. A major park, including residential development (yes, expensive condos) to help pay for it all, is better. A massive city expenditure on a fancy park just for the Glebe, no. I suggest we continue the urban fabric along Bank Street … Continue reading A stadium for Ottawa

garbage, LRT, O-Train, somerset street

O-Train right-of-way filled in

Westsideaction

The pictured premises are on Somerset St at Bayview. Last year a number of trees on the slope down to the OTrain track (out of camera range, but down slope from the cars) mysteriously died after strange milky white and green fluids were dumped off the edge of the parking lot. Hmm, who knows where those came from? I guess it’s all the sweepings of grit off the parking lot that that have filled in this generous area beyond the paved lot, enough room to park two cars [for now]. I suspect that a picture this fall will show an … Continue reading O-Train right-of-way filled in

Bayview-Carling CDP, Carling Ave, Dows Lake, LRT, Ottawa1 Comment

Sir John Carling Bldg – demolish vs conversion

Westsideaction

The Sir John Carling building is a large gray office slab rising out of the eastern edge of the Experimental Farm between Dows Lake / Prince of Wales Drive and Carling Avenue. Built in 1967, it is certainly a more-attractive building than many government cubicle farms. The distinctive brise soleil screens on the exterior (only on the west and south sides, the picture shows the east side without sun screens) were inspired by the trendy architecture of Brasilia, and promoted by the then minister of agriculture (Hees??), if my ageing memory serves me right. The Feds plan to demolish the … Continue reading Sir John Carling Bldg – demolish vs conversion

Bayview, Bayview Otrain, LRT, Ottawa, Transit

Bayview Station – What’s It For?

Westsideaction

The Bayview Station isn’t part of the original bus transitway; it didn’t exist until 2001. It was built because the experimental O-Train service, using the existing rail tracks, needed a transfer point for passengers. From day 1, city planners assumed it was only a transfer station from buses to train. Little or no walk in traffic was expected. Yet anyone frequenting the station notices a continual stream of people walking into the Station. They come from the office and industrial buildings on City Centre Avenue, the residential areas to the southeast and southwest. They have worn paths accross the fields … Continue reading Bayview Station – What’s It For?

cycling in Ottawa, DOTT, Eric Darwin, LRT, Ottawa, Transit1 Comment

DOTT – Tunney’s Pasture Transfer Station

Westsideaction

DOTT refers to the Downtown Ottawa Transit Tunnel project. I sit on the public advisory committee, with a particular interest in the LRT project from Bronson to Tunney’s. Under the current plan, Tunney’s will be the main place for bus users from the west to transfer to the LRT trains which will run roughly along the current transitway alignment to Bayview, LeBreton, and the downtown. Eventually the LRT train service will be extended further west to Lincoln Fields. The City has come up with two concepts for how the bus users will transfer to the LRT trains. Keep in mind … Continue reading DOTT – Tunney’s Pasture Transfer Station

801 Albert, Bayview Otrain, CDP, City Centre, condos, cycling in Ottawa, DOTT, Eric Darwin, LRT, Ottawa, Phoenix DCR Developments2 Comments

For Lack of a CDP – Community Development Plan

Westsideaction

There is a deliberately vague planning environment for the two 30-storey condo towers proposed by Phoenix DCR for 801 Albert Street (the vacant lot beside the City Centre tower and opposite Tom Brown Arena and the Bayview OTrain Station ). The City has signalled that it wants development to be significantly better than the industrial zoning common along the Bayview to Carling rail corridor. Yet it lacks a comprehensive plan for developing the area. A Community Development Plan (CDP) was begun several years ago, and considerable progress was made. The Phoenix development in a number of respects honours the incomplete … Continue reading For Lack of a CDP – Community Development Plan