[Orleans] 850 Champlain Street | Mixed-use development | U/C

[orleans_man]

Updated development application, looks quite different from the orginal submission. Greater emphasis on commercial/office development.

20 year Concept Plan:
http://webcast.ottawa.ca/plan/All_Im...ept%20Plan.PDF

Planning Rationale of subdivision for Minto's Champlain Town Centre site.
http://webcast.ottawa.ca/plan/All_Im...0RATIONALE.PDF

[c_speed3108]

Originally Posted by orleans_man

Updated development application, looks quite different from the orginal submission. Greater emphasis on commercial/office development.

20 year Concept Plan:
http://webcast.ottawa.ca/plan/All_Im...ept%20Plan.PDF

Planning Rationale of subdivision for Minto's Champlain Town Centre site.
http://webcast.ottawa.ca/plan/All_Im...0RATIONALE.PDF

If we have hope of getting people in the suburbs onto transit, the park and ride needs to be made larger not smaller. It is impossible in the suburban area to operate efficient local transit at high enough frequencies.

Furthermore, if the intention with the new LRT is to remove express buses (a good idea in my opinion) park and rides become even more critical.

[waterloowarrior]

That part of the concept plan is on City land, not Minto's, so it's more for illustration of what could be and isn't binding on the city. But I think they are on the right track. In 20 years some of the park and ride lots will be replaced by paid parking garages and the city will start to develop parts of some park and rides like Baseline and Greenboro.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

That part of the concept plan is on City land, not Minto's, so it's more for illustration of what could be and isn't binding on the city. But I think they are on the right track. In 20 years some of the park and ride lots will be replaced by paid parking garages and the city will start to develop parts of some park and rides like Baseline and Greenboro.

I can see the logic in redeveloping Baseline P&R, or any other inside the greenbelt, but the suburban ones need to stay and unless the commute downtown starts consistently taking an hour and a half (at which point I would charge say 4$ a day or 50$ a month), charging for Park and Ride won't work.

The only way we could redevelop P&Rs in the burbs is if we build underground P&R at the same site.

[1overcosc]

YES! A mixed-use pedestrian-friendly transit-oriented dense development at the Orleans Town Centre. Has been on my Ottawa dream-list for a while now.

J.OT generally I agree that suburban areas need park & rides, but I don't think the town centres are the right places to put them, it's a waste of space in area that's supposed to be high density. They should be further on the periphery. In the case of Orleans I think we should significantly expand Trim P&R and have that be the main park & ride.

[eternallyme]

Maybe a first stage towards a Place d'Orleans Redevelopment?

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I can see the logic in redeveloping Baseline P&R, or any other inside the greenbelt, but the suburban ones need to stay and unless the commute downtown starts consistently taking an hour and a half (at which point I would charge say 4$ a day or 50$ a month), charging for Park and Ride won't work.

The only way we could redevelop P&Rs in the burbs is if we build underground P&R at the same site.

I agree, suburban P&R's need to be bigger. That is especially true near the major entrance points - for example, Trim should become over 2,000 cars easily.

Place d'Orleans P&R, however, should be consolidated into a garage to minimize space in order to accommodate the urbanization of the area. And if the west LRT cannot get off the ground, an Orleans extension looks very attractive as mentioned before...having a major development at the Place d'Orleans site would boost ridership big time and be quite popular with businesses looking for a cheaper alternative yet a fairly urban setting after redevelopment

[Postmaster]

I used to live on Champlain and later Orleans Woods. I would run around that field and the various ditches here and there. One of them had an old rusty barrel that is no doubt gone by now. It's interesting that they will finally do something with it, although i suspect they never did because of contamination or some such? Never understood why the land never got developed.

[waterloowarrior]

Bumped up to planning committee by the local councillor... recommended for approval
http://app05.ottawa.ca/sirepub/mtgvi...&itemid=312190

[DEWLine]

Noticed in the proposal that "hotel" was on the list for possible usages at this site.

Does anyone here remember the old Normandie Motor Hotel that used to be where the Park and Ride is now?

[hwy418]

Originally Posted by DEWLine

Noticed in the proposal that "hotel" was on the list for possible usages at this site.

Does anyone here remember the old Normandie Motor Hotel that used to be where the Park and Ride is now?

For sure! And the Texaco gas station attached to it.

[Norman Bates]

Originally Posted by DEWLine

Noticed in the proposal that "hotel" was on the list for possible usages at this site.

Does anyone here remember the old Normandie Motor Hotel that used to be where the Park and Ride is now?

Yep. I remember drinking an IPA or a Red Cap there before it became the Park and Ride.

I'm sure it was quite the place in its heyday, but when I knew it in the early '80s it had a bit of a run down creepy feeling with its faux lighthouse and all.

But there was always the Lemay Hotel down the road at Montreal Road and the Queensway if you wanted to put on the ritz.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by DEWLine

Noticed in the proposal that "hotel" was on the list for possible usages at this site.

Does anyone here remember the old Normandie Motor Hotel that used to be where the Park and Ride is now?

Yes I do. I believe there was also a bowling alley in the basement of the Normandie.

[DEWLine]

So I've been reading in that book the Queenswood Heights Community Association just published. I was surprised by that bowling alley revelation.

Do you suppose that Orléans could support two such venues? At this location, in addition to the one in Taylor Creek Business Park?

[DEWLine]

As to the faux lighthouse...it had a charm of its own, for all that it was out of place so far inland from the river.

[drawarc]

Here's a pic of the area from 1982. Lots of changes since than:
https://flic.kr/p/8rypBB

More old Orleans photos:https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_we...57624706913272

[1overcosc]

When was the now-174 twinned out to Orleans? I thought that would have happened by 1982 but apparently not.

[Norman Bates]

The 417 went down to two lanes just after the Montreal road overpass when I went to the Place d'Orleans opening ceremonies in 1979. I recall that the weather was warm enough that day and that there was no snow on the ground.

They gave away free coffee cups as a promotion that day. I recall them saying 'like a good neighbour, Place d'Orleans is there' and they had a line drawing of a guy leaning over a fence.

There was really nothing there. A Dominion grocery store and just a little strip of a mall.

The next time I was there in 1982. The 417 was four lanes to Jeanne d'Arc where there was traffic lights and a level crossing. The overpass that's there today wasn't built until 1984 or so. (Incidentally, the construction of that overpass has a story of its own.) And the 417 tapered down to two lanes between Jeanne d'Arc and where Orleans boulevard is today. The mall was larger then. A Woolco was now the other anchor to Dominion and there was a five screen cinema.

The number 99, which originally launched in the fall of 1978 as a crosstown route between Shoppers' Cities East and West, was now in 1982 travelling between Bayshore and Place d'Orleans. When the 99 arrived at Place d'Orleans it re-signed to the number 30 and did a local route up in what was called Queenswood Heights. Travelling up the atrocious hill in a one speed with locking torque converter, four cylinder bus was no mean feat. The number 30 also travelled the length of Tenth Line Road, which was a two lane on the absolute edge of wilderness that ran between Innes (another cow path at the time) and St. Joseph.

In the photos you can see a structure with an orange metal roof. That was the Home Hardware. A real country kind of hardware store with no standardized inventory and pieces of this and that probably going back to Arthur Meighen's last government. Nothing around today can compare, unless if a bomb exploded in Preston Hardware and they continued to operate as though nothing happened.

[Luker]

Originally Posted by Norman Bates

The 417 went down to two lanes just after the Montreal road overpass when I went to the Place d'Orleans opening ceremonies in 1979. I recall that the weather was warm enough that day and that there was no snow on the ground.

They gave away free coffee cups as a promotion that day. I recall them saying 'like a good neighbour, Place d'Orleans is there' and they had a line drawing of a guy leaning over a fence.

There was really nothing there. A Dominion grocery store and just a little strip of a mall.

The next time I was there in 1982. The 417 was four lanes to Jeanne d'Arc where there was traffic lights and a level crossing. The overpass that's there today wasn't built until 1984 or so. (Incidentally, the construction of that overpass has a story of its own.) And the 417 tapered down to two lanes between Jeanne d'Arc and where Orleans boulevard is today. The mall was larger then. A Woolco was now the other anchor to Dominion and there was a five screen cinema.

The number 99, which originally launched in the fall of 1978 as a crosstown route between Shoppers' Cities East and West, was now in 1982 travelling between Bayshore and Place d'Orleans. When the 99 arrived at Place d'Orleans it re-signed to the number 30 and did a local route up in what was called Queenswood Heights. Travelling up the atrocious hill in a one speed with locking torque converter, four cylinder bus was no mean feat. The number 30 also travelled the length of Tenth Line Road, which was a two lane on the absolute edge of wilderness that ran between Innes (another cow path at the time) and St. Joseph.

In the photos you can see a structure with an orange metal roof. That was the Home Hardware. A real country kind of hardware store with no standardized inventory and pieces of this and that probably going back to Arthur Meighen's last government. Nothing around today can compare, unless if a bomb exploded in Preston Hardware and they continued to operate as though nothing happened.

Epic post

[DEWLine]

That Home Hardware site's changed hands a few times. A card game shop, followed by a non-profit job-search assistance agency and Youth Services Ottawa. The building is empty nowadays.

As for Home Hardware? They moved to Fallingbrook Mall, moved out and then moved back to Charlemagne Plaza right across the street to the south.