Tribeca | 84.5m | 27 fl x 2 | Completed

[Ryersonian]

We've been ripped off too many times here in Ottawa.

Think positive...We will get the gallery and the towers AND a nice new library!

They are demonstrating the new on-line development review as I write this at PEC this morning.

[waterloowarrior]

Development plans generate parking concerns at Metcalfe and Nepean streets
Thursday, 15 May 2008
By Taylor Turner, centretownnewsonline.ca
Published in : Centretown News, News
Two new highrises approved for Centretown as part of Ottawa’s bid for the National Portrait Gallery may soon be added to the list of the city’s tallest buildings.

Although the 20- and 24-storey towers initially violated zoning regulations for the proposed site at Metcalfe and Nepean streets, City Council in April voted in favour of a rezoning plan that would allow the buildings.

The buildings are nearly twice as high as zoning typically allows in the area.The proposed development site is currently a parking lot that is located just steps from the Bell building and other business complexes in the area.

Somerset Ward Coun. Diane Holmes says people living or working in the area will “not be happy” with the development plans.

Although Holmes acknowledges that most people support the idea of having the gallery located in the nation’s capital, she says the height of the towers will be a problem.

“Nepean Street will be shady, dark and windy,” she said. “It’ll just be a wind tunnel like the Bell Canada building.”

Place Bell, on Elgin Street, is 27 storeys high, just three floors higher than the taller of the two buildings in the gallery plan.

However, for some the height of the buildings isn’t the issue, as the lot has become a convenient location for many people who work in the area to park their car on a daily basis.

“There are a lot of tall buildings downtown so a lot of streets are like wind tunnels,” says a worker, who didn’t want to be named, in the building directly across from the proposed site. “But what are all the people who park here every day going to do if the lot is gone?”

Mike Johnson is one of the people who parks his car in the lot at Metcalfe and Nepean where the development will take place. He works in the Bell building and often uses the space, owned by Shamrock Parking, when he’s in a rush to get to work. Johnson says he will miss the parking strictly for the convenience factor.

“It is expensive to park here,” he says. “But it is convenient when I’m in a total rush. It’s definitely handy.”

Johnson echoes Holmes about the importance of having the gallery in Ottawa but emphasized the importance of choosing an appropriate location.

“I definitely think it should be in Ottawa,” he says. “But this is a business area, not a tourist area. If you don’t work in the area you generally don’t walk by here.”

Two people will be out of a job should the development go ahead.

“Losing my job is going to be tough,” says one, who would identify herself only as Jeannine. She has been taking tickets at the lot for 36 years. “All the other people who have been parking here everyday forever . . . they seem like family and now they’re going to have to find somewhere else to park.”

She says the portrait gallery would seem “out of place” in the area and should be located further downtown where other popular tourist attractions like the Byward Market and Parliament Hill are located.

Her coworker, Alex Chin, has worked for Shamrock for well over 30, has already come to terms with the fact that he may soon be looking for another job.

“It’s the government’s decision,” he says. “This is the capital, so it is good for the capital of Canada to have the national gallery . . . wherever they choose to have it.”

The development proposal, by Claridge Homes, has a stipulation that the buildings must be used as community centre, library, or public health facility if Ottawa does not win the gallery bid.

The call for proposals was announced in November with major Canadian cities from Vancouver to Halifax vying for the opportunity to house the country’s National Portrait Gallery. Ottawa’s biggest competitor is likely Calgary with a bid that is backed by a $165 million with an additional $40 million from the Alberta government.

All bids for the gallery must be submitted by May 16.

sad that people would rather have a parking lot....

[Cre47]

At least it will be an eyesore less for the city downtown, we need to put these into shambles ASAP.

[Mille Sabords]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

sad that people would rather have a parking lot....

Yeah, but the Centretown News is a student newspaper run by Carleton U journalism students. They are probably poking fun at journalism theory with an article like this one. A tear-jerker angle for the classic opinion-splitting: tragic loss of two parking lot attendant jobs, two shattered lives, two families destroyed (because, of course, those two parking lot attendants are the sole breadwinners for their families of 15). (and they're living in abject poverty already). (and customers are rude to them). I'm about to write'em a tango, man.

[harls]

Originally Posted by guy who is too lazy to park elsewhere

“I definitely think it should be in Ottawa,” he says. “But this is a business area, not a tourist area. If you don’t work in the area you generally don’t walk by here.”

yes, that's right. All tourists should be confined to Confederation Boulevard, and be equipped with shock collars should they stray too far away from the designated tourist area. God forbid they discover anything else not mentioned in their handy tourist guide.

(btw, dude, I walk by there on lunch breaks once and a while, and I don't work anywhere near there).

[AuxTown]

Artists and others rallying to keep gallery in Ottawa
From Friday's Globe and Mail

May 16, 2008 at 3:22 AM EDT

Toronto — Artists and politicians will rally in Ottawa today in a campaign to keep a proposed portrait gallery in the nation's capital just as the competition from alternative sites begins in earnest.

Today is the deadline for nine cities to submit proposals to the federal government to host the gallery: Only Ottawa, Edmonton and Calgary are expected to make bids. Ottawa, where the Conservative government cancelled plans to build the gallery in the Wellington Street premises of the former U.S. embassy, is now represented by a site two blocks away on Metcalfe Street. With the blessing of city council, a private developer, Claridge Homes, is proposing to build the gallery there in exchange for extra density in a two-tower condo development.

Calgary, where Mayor Dave Bronconnier signed his city's bid in a ceremony at City Hall yesterday, has opted for a similarly prime location, on the northwest corner of Olympic Plaza. The gallery, located across the square from City Hall, the public library and several arts institutions, would be constructed by the Plenary Group

In Edmonton, Qualico, a large western commercial and residential developer, is suggesting that it will build a three-storey home for the gallery as a "podium" on the 28-storey Epcor office tower it is constructing on the vacant Station Lands at the northwest corner of downtown.

The Ottawa bid has garnered the support of national artists groups, including the Canadian Artists Representation and its provincial affiliates as well as Visual Arts Alberta and Visual Arts Newfoundland and Labrador, who all argue the gallery should remain in the capital. Various Ottawa artists, municipal councillors and MPs will rally at the National Arts Centre today.

Interesting that even that Alberta organization is backing our bid. Hopefully there is a signficant number of people at this rally today so it doesn't look pitifull.

[Cre47]

Recent letter found in the Citizen

It is tempting to agree with the letter-writer's premise that the government doesn't want to encourage the smug, elitist attitude that tends to predominate in Ottawa by locating the portrait gallery here.

The notion that dispersing our national treasures will help make other Canadian cities great is laudable, but to do that, provincial capitals must tell their own histories. The national capital should be charged with conveying Canada's story as a whole.

As far as returning artifacts to their home provinces, perhaps they could be shared between the provinces and the capital when, and if, the capitals have the resources to enable them to be shown. The spectre that there might be 10 separate portrait galleries is somewhat ludicrous. People don't go to St. John's, N.L., to see a portrait gallery, they go to see St. John's period, to experience the unique cultural flavour of that province. If tourists make a serendipitous discovery of a good museum that presents Newfoundland and Labrador history, then they will be the better for the experience.

Keep major national cultural institutions in the capital of Canada, as is done across the globe.

[Mille Sabords]

Good point about provincial capitals telling provincial stories. Hadn't thought of that one, but it's pretty relevant in a country of mini-countries like ours.

[waterloowarrior]

appealed to the OMB
http://www.omb.gov.on.ca/ecs/CaseDetail.aspx?n=PL080590

[Bucolic Urbanity]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

appealed to the OMB
http://www.omb.gov.on.ca/ecs/CaseDetail.aspx?n=PL080590

Anybody know who filed the appeal. Does Ms. Centretown have enough money to lodge an appeal?

[Bucolic Urbanity]

Originally Posted by harls

yes, that's right. All tourists should be confined to Confederation Boulevard, and be equipped with shock collars should they stray too far away from the designated tourist area. God forbid they discover anything else not mentioned in their handy tourist guide.

What a sterile PC trip to Ottawa that would be.

[kcantor]

Originally Posted by Bucolic Urbanity

Anybody know who filed the appeal. Does Ms. Centretown have enough money to lodge an appeal?

just for the record, it wasn't me.

[m0nkyman]

I've met the fellow but I can't remember his name. He's active in the Centretown Citizens Community Association...

[rodionx]

It's probably David Gladstone. He's one of the two people appealing the nearby Ashcroft development. Also, he said he'd appeal the Claridge proposal in the Centretown Buzz...

187 Metcalfe St. (the parking lot south of Place Bell)

As I described last month, Councillor Diane Holmes opposed Claridge’s request for a change to the existing zoning at 187 Metcalfe St. But Claridge won the day by coupling their readiness to make Ottawa’s bid for the National Portrait Gallery conditional on the city doubling the allowable height of two condo towers on the site. Is upzoning an acceptable way to proceed in order to encourage a developer to build a gallery? Personally, I say, “No.”
The approved rezoning of a site, as covered by the Centretown Plan, is independent of whether Claridge wins the gallery competition. But it looks like defenders of Centretown’s plan have little choice but to appeal the rezoning to the Ontario Municipal Board (the deadline is May 14). Sigh!

http://www.centretown.net/news_detail.php?news_id=281

[Luker]

grow some nuts and densify with some 40 storey towers, this is what we need to be an efficent and viable city to live in, its a parking lot of for f**k sakes

[Aylmer]

I like the way you think.

[c_speed3108]

Are we the only city in the world that seems to want density in the suburbs and not downtown....or is it just me?

[waterloowarrior]

UPDATE: Claridge appeals city's Portrait Gallery zoning decision
By Peter Kovessy, Ottawa Business Journal Staff
Mon, Jun 2, 2008 5:00 PM EST

Claridge Homes is among three parties appealing city council's zoning decision to permit the Ottawa developer to build a 20-storey tower and an adjacent 24-storey tower to potentially house the National Portrait Gallery.

Douglas Kelly, a lawyer acting on behalf of Claridge Homes, filed documents with the city last month to appeal the passage of the zoning bylaw to the Ontario Municipal Board. The owners of a neighbouring apartment unit have also filed an appeal, as has Centretown resident David Gladstone, according to documents provided by the city's legal department.

Claridge had originally sought permission to build two 27-storey residential towers at 187 Metcalfe Street, which is located between Lisgar and Nepean Streets and has been used as a parking lot for the past three decades. In late April, city council agreed to a zoning amendment that would permit the slightly shorter towers, even if the city's portrait gallery bid is unsuccessful.

When contacted by the OBJ , a Claridge official said he had no comment on any of the appeals, except to say he had no reason to believe they would affect Ottawa's bid to host the portrait gallery, which was submitted last month along with proposals from Calgary and Edmonton. A message left for Mr. Kelly was not immediately returned.

In his separate appeal, David Gladstone, who is the associate editor of a not-for-profit community newspaper in Centretown, argues the rezoning fails to respect Centretown's Secondary Plan, which he says requires buildings south of Nepean Street, between Elgin and Metcalfe Streets, be substantially less than the height of the buildings in the city's central business district.

While Mr. Gladstone notes he has no objection to a museum, such as the National Portrait Gallery, being located at the site, the third appellant, James Beach of Algonquin Property Management says all land use south of Nepean Street between Elgin and Bank Street should remain primarily residential.

The company made its objection in a February letter to the city's planning department that was written before city council made its April zoning decision but was marked "Notice of Appeal." Algonquin Property Management owns properties to the west, east, south and south-west of 187 Metcalfe, according to the letter.

A spokesperson for Library and Archives Canada refused to comment on what effect, if any, the OMB appeal would have on Ottawa's bid to host the National Portrait Gallery.

Pauline Portelance said that in order to "respect the integrity of the process," the government can not disclose any information on bids, applicant cities or even the members of the selection team until a decision is made this fall.

[ajldub]

Portrait gallery move should require House approval: MP
Last Updated: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 | 5:27 PM ET Comments0Recommend1
CBC News
An Ottawa MP has brought forward a motion that would require the House of Commons to give its approval before Portrait Gallery of Canada could be moved outside the Ottawa area.

Paul Dewar's motion, presented in Parliament Wednesday, states that "in the opinion of the House, the Portrait Gallery of Canada should be located in the National Capital Region and that any proposal to relocate the Portrait Gallery of Canada to a location outside of the National Capital Region must first have the approval of the House."

The gallery was originally to be built in Ottawa, but the government is currently considering bids from developers in several cities across Canada interested in hosting it.

Dewar's bill is similar to a private member's bill brought forward by Senator Jerry Grafstein, which would make it illegal to locate the gallery outside the Ottawa area. The bill is currently working its way through the Senate.

Dewar, of the NDP, said his motion is intended to co-ordinate the actions of the Senate and the House of Commons.

"What it will demonstrate is that both houses take this seriously — that this is an issue that should be put in front of Parliament, and that all parliamentarians should have a say when it comes to national institutions," said Dewar, who represents Ottawa Centre.

Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa have all submitted bids for the gallery.

A selection committee currently looking at the proposals is not expected to reach a decision until fall at the earliest.

[AuxTown]

Those Calgary forumers are going to snap and I can't wait! If this goes through, what's his name from Claridge better have a design ready to go. I want to see something happen on that site soon, hopefully sooner than 150 Elgin .