Laurentian High School redevelopment | Proposed

[reidjr]

Does anyone have a update on this project.

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by reidjr

Does anyone have a update on this project.

The only thing I know is that there's gonna be a Super Walmart there. As a result, I will never, ever visit this area again and would not even considering buying real estate in the surrounding neighbourhood. The traffic around Baseline/Clyde/Merivale is already terrible on the weekends and this is basically going to double it.

[reidjr]

Originally Posted by O-Town Hockey

The only thing I know is that there's gonna be a Super Walmart there. As a result, I will never, ever visit this area again and would not even considering buying real estate in the surrounding neighbourhood. The traffic around Baseline/Clyde/Merivale is already terrible on the weekends and this is basically going to double it.

I hope its not a walmart super centre.

[DEVPLAN]

Originally Posted by O-Town Hockey

The only thing I know is that there's gonna be a Super Walmart there. As a result, I will never, ever visit this area again and would not even considering buying real estate in the surrounding neighbourhood. The traffic around Baseline/Clyde/Merivale is already terrible on the weekends and this is basically going to double it.

It is my understanding that approximately $1.8 million in road works at the the intersection of Clyde and Baseline will begin later this year in order to fix the exisiting problems and increase capacity for the new development. Although the level of service will not get any worse I don't believe the intersection will ever have the same level of service it did when the community was considered a suburb. This development is only the tip of the iceburg. Wait until the triangle lands across the street are developed. Intensification was the vision of the Council that approved the current OP. But yet they continue to fight intensifacation all over the City.

[TransitZilla]

Traffic is a fact of life in the city... that's just the way it is. The only way going forward to increase capacity for moving people on the road network is through transit. That's why Baseline is planned to have a dedicated transitway running down the middle of it.

[waterloowarrior]

Site plan application page on city's website says a draft report has been sent to the applicant and councillor. So if all is well and the site plan is approved the next big stage should be getting the building permit. However there may be things they have to do first like the roadworks devplan mentioned and demolition/environtmental cleanup (haven't been by there recently, not sure if it's still up)

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by bradnixon

Traffic is a fact of life in the city... that's just the way it is. The only way going forward to increase capacity for moving people on the road network is through transit. That's why Baseline is planned to have a dedicated transitway running down the middle of it.

Down the middle? I though it was bus-only curb lanes and limited stops. (I agree, a rapid bus on the Baseline corridor should be implemented now)

[Dado]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

Down the middle? I though it was bus-only curb lanes and limited stops. (I agree, a rapid bus on the Baseline corridor should be implemented now)

The 2003 TMP (or ORTEP) did call for a median busway on Baseline. Whether that's still the case now, who knows, but exclusive curb lanes are certainly cheaper to implement if you're just taking existing lanes out of general use.

[barrist]

Originally Posted by O-Town Hockey

The only thing I know is that there's gonna be a Super Walmart there. As a result, I will never, ever visit this area again and would not even considering buying real estate in the surrounding neighbourhood. The traffic around Baseline/Clyde/Merivale is already terrible on the weekends and this is basically going to double it.

Whats your source on this may i ask? i didn't know they announced anything yet.

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by barrist

Whats your source on this may i ask? i didn't know they announced anything yet.

Maybe it's not true, but I heard it from a family friend that works at Walmart. They've been notified that there will be multiple manager positions opening up for the new store and have been told it will be at this site.

[barrist]

Brutal!

I guess it was inevitable. Smart Centres pretty much anchors all its developments with Walmarts don't they?

[waterloowarrior]

Here's an update on the traffic study
http://ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycou...%20Survey%20-%201357%20Baseline%20Rd.htm

[Lakche]

I heard on the CTV Ottawa news last night at 11 that a Wal-Mart is definitely opening at this location.

I can't seem to find an article on CTV's website to back it up though...

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Dado

The 2003 TMP (or ORTEP) did call for a median busway on Baseline. Whether that's still the case now, who knows, but exclusive curb lanes are certainly cheaper to implement if you're just taking existing lanes out of general use.

Weren't curb bus lanes in the proposal for this site? This then poses another question. Is this a temporary measure until the Baseline Transitway is actually built? Obviously, you can't build a centre road Transitway for 1 block and then expect the buses to remerge into traffic and move over to the right lane. There would be no advantage to doing this.

The comments about centre road Transitways starts making me think that this is also a temporary measure and that one day they have LRT in mind where a centre road allignment makes perfect sense. Why is it that Ottawa seems to have adopted this policy of always building Transitways first and then at great expense and disruption, convert them to LRT?

[barrist]

http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100519/OTT_WalMart_100519/20100519/?hub=OttawaHome

Wal-Mart goes green at new location in west end

odd how it doesn't explain how it's going to be "green"???

[waterloowarrior]

wrong thread

[RTWAP]

Originally Posted by Lakche

I heard on the CTV Ottawa news last night at 11 that a Wal-Mart is definitely opening at this location.

I can't seem to find an article on CTV's website to back it up though...

Also, there are large signs up at the site announcing a new Walmart will be opening there in January 2011.

[Dado]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Weren't curb bus lanes in the proposal for this site?

It would certainly appear so from the drawings:



I would note that the bus lane depicted here is an additional lane; currently there are only two through general traffic lanes. It looks like they'll be taking the right turn lane and making a bus lane out of it by extending it eastwards some unknown distance, and then adding a replacement right turn lane to the north against the property. That fact changes the economics a bit since it's not just a matter of "stealing" a general traffic lane - they're having to move curbs and sidewalks and all the rest.

Just what pedestrians trying to cross Baseline need: another lane (or two, depending on what happens on the other side) to cross without any additional refuge.

This then poses another question. Is this a temporary measure until the Baseline Transitway is actually built? Obviously, you can't build a centre road Transitway for 1 block and then expect the buses to remerge into traffic and move over to the right lane. There would be no advantage to doing this.

Without knowing what the ultimate plan is for Baseline (median busway or curb bus lanes) I can't answer the temporary measure question, but it does seem at least somewhat odd to add a lane as a temporary measure... which makes me think that the bus lanes are the final plan for BRT in this corridor.

Median busways are a bit difficult to phase in; they either get done all in one shot or at least in increments between places where the buses all leave the busway (e.g. at Baseline Station).

The comments about centre road Transitways starts making me think that this is also a temporary measure and that one day they have LRT in mind where a centre road allignment makes perfect sense. Why is it that Ottawa seems to have adopted this policy of always building Transitways first and then at great expense and disruption, convert them to LRT?

If my guess on the curb bus lanes being the final BRT configuration is correct, then a future LRT in the median - which isn't in the TMP, btw - would entail a complete reconstruction of the entire street in addition to the partial reconstruction for curb bus lanes. In all likelihood the median 'transitway' (technically not a correct term since a transitway is supposed to be grade-separated) would be a rails-in-concrete arrangement to allow both rail and buses (and emergency vehicles) to use it.

[waterloowarrior]

Work begins on Laurentian Place development
Posted May 25, 2010
BY PHIL AMBROZIAK
http://www.emcbarrhaven.ca/20100520/news/Work+begins+on+Laurentian+Place+development



EMC News – The first step toward improving the future of the Clyde, Baseline and Merivale “triangle” was officially taken May 19.

On that day, city councillors and staff, property owners, members of the local community and other interested parties attended a sod-turning ceremony to mark the beginning of phase one of the Laurentian Place development, located at the former site of Laurentian High School.

“Laurentian High School was built on this site in 1957 and obviously was very instrumental in shaping the development of the community in the early 1960s,” stated Dennis Eberhard, SmartCentres’ vice-president of development.

The first phase of the project includes the development of a large format retail store and two multi-tenant buildings fronting onto Baseline Rd., a pedestrian pathway connection and three access points to the site. Access points consist of a fully signalized, full movement intersection onto Baseline Rd., a right-in only access from Baseline Rd. and a right-in and right-out only access from Clyde Ave. Prior to the ceremony, it was confirmed by

SmartCentres that Wal-Mart Canada would be their tenant in the single large form store planned for the property.

[Richard Eade]

My understanding is that the buses will be running in the outside curb lanes. The outside lanes of Heron Road will be re-purposed from general traffic lanes to Bus-only lanes between Data Centre Road (Bronson on the south side) and Prince of Wales Drive. This is in the works now, I believe.

Baseline, between Prince of Wales and Navaho, will get new lanes added but I don't know the timing of those.

As for the short segment of Bus-only lanes shown in the site plan, I would guess that it is only across the front of that property. The Google Earth view of the area still shows the Laurentian High School (LHS) http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=45.362832,-75.737805&spn=0.002246,0.009602&z=17 and in that view, there is a widening of Baseline for a right turn onto the property. That turn lane starts at the eastern edge of the LHS property. So we will likely pick up about 630 metres of Bus-only lane along the north side of Baseline from the Scout Shoppe almost to Henry Farm Drive.

Recall that they added a short length of Bus-only lane along the north side of Baseline where the bus turns west from the new intersection at Constellation. I have the feeling that the Bus-only lanes along Baseline will be built piece-meal until, like the Transitway, it is missing only a few crucial segments.

Of course, it is possible that since Baseline was scheduled for a re-build (delayed because of this construction) that they will take this opportunity to move back the north side curb to stretch the lane all the way to Merivale; but wouldn't they need to do an EA to make such a large change as adding a lane?