Ideas raised for future of Carlington Park
Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: May 18, 2015, Last Updated: May 18, 2015 6:37 PM EDT
A proposal to open a new snow tube park on Carlington Hill might never become a reality, but the suggestion alone appears to be prompting a discussion about the sizable park’s future use.
Camp Fortune, which operates a ski hill near Chelsea, Que., wanted to open a tubing park on the same central Ottawa hill where many people have tobogganed for years. The company anticipated welcoming 20,000 to 30,000 visitors over the course of a season, which would last from mid-December to mid-March.
The company has a spare 150-metre conveyor lift — similar to a moving sidewalk at an airport — that it wanted to install on the hill, which was formerly used as a small, private ski hill.
But, according to Peter Sudermann, Camp Fortune’s vice-president, it appears now that there are “too many loopholes to try to jump through.”
“Initially, it sounded good … but everything we needed to make it work was either not allowed by the city or just not available,” he told the Citizen.
Camp Fortune wanted to park cars on the baseball diamonds at the base of the park’s long, sloping hill, but the city said no (those are some of the city’s best tournament diamonds and winter parking would “impact their condition,” Dan Chenier, the city’s top park official, wrote in an email).
It also wanted access to city water, via a nearby fire hydrant, for about two weeks at the start of the season to make snow. The city said no to that suggestion as well because it doesn’t allow fire hydrants to be used for recreation services.
And the city turned down a request to use a nearby municipal garage to store some equipment.
Sudermann says the city’s response “made the whole project look kind of unrealistic, so I don’t know how much we’re going to be pursuing it.”
River Coun. Riley Brockington, who has met with Sudermann to discuss the idea, said the city hasn’t necessarily dismissed the idea completely. But it also can’t hand over exclusive use of a public park to a private company without first proceeding through the proper process.
“I think the city simply gave them a reality check,” he said.
Yet Brockington also acknowledged that the idea could kick-start a wider discussion about what the community wants to do with the 22-acre park.
“Maybe we could have something there that we haven’t even considered, or maybe we like it just the way it is and we don’t want any changes. But I’m going to at least ask the community to have a discussion with me and consider various possibilities,” he said.
A designated bike park has also been proposed.
The Ottawa Mountain Bike Association has shown some interest in building a new facility of off-road features for cyclists of varying skill levels and disciplines, though a representative from the group said the plan is only in the initial stages.
The National Capital Commission’s Experimental Farm Pathway currently runs through the south part of the park, but OMBA doesn’t condone mountain biking or trail building in other areas.
After potentially securing some city land, the group would take the lead on designing and constructing the new bike park, largely with volunteers. Maintenance and ongoing management would also be done mainly by volunteers, minimizing future costs to the city, the group says.
And development of the new park — which would be free to use — would be done in phases, according to availability of cash and human resources.
A third group, the Carlington Community Garden, is at the preliminary stages of exploring new sites and has also considered the park as one possibility.
Carlington Park is the largest green space in the neighbourhood and is especially popular with dog walkers.
But, given the high concentration of lower-income housing nearby, some say any future use of the park needs to consider those residents in the equation.
“We’d like to see that park be an asset for residents in Carlington,” said Sarah Dalle, president of the Carlington Community Association.
Brockington said he will look to the community for direction and may organize a public meeting in the fall to get input from the community about the park and possible future uses of the hill.
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