Mutchmor Public School parking plan still being discussed with city, board says
By Neco Cockburn, OTTAWA CITIZEN October 10, 2013 4:00 PM
OTTAWA — Discussions with the city to find parking for an expanded Mutchmor Public School have turned to the possibility of using spaces on the street, says the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.
Following community opposition to the potential creation of a strip of parking on a field the board owns across the street from the Glebe school, board staff said this past summer that they would try to reach a lease arrangement for parking in a new four-storey, 149-space garage being planned by the city a short distance away.
Jennifer Adams, the board’s director of education, stated in an email Wednesday evening, however, that “the timing of the completion of the parking garage may not align with the timing of the school construction,” and that “staff has been working with the city to access on street parking.”
The city hopes to open the garage in November of 2014, said Capital Coun. David Chernushenko. There was always the possibility that temporary on-street parking for the school would have to be explored for a “bridging” period between the opening of the larger Mutchmor building in September 2014 and the garage a couple of months later, he said.
“If the city can accommodate it for a temporary period and it’s not forcing us to pinch our noses and break with our own policies, then go to it to try and facilitate a solution here. Everybody wants to avoid parking on the field, even temporarily,” Chernushenko said.
The Mutchmor school, at 185 Fifth Ave., west of Bank Street, is being renovated and expanded in preparation for a “switch” in September that’s to see First Avenue Public School move into the building.
The addition of classrooms and a new main office and library means that 24 parking spaces are to be reduced to 14. With board staff intending to provide the same ratio of parking currently available at the First Avenue school, they have stated that a total of about 35 spaces would be needed.
After some parents, students, residents and politicians opposed the possibility that a row of parking would be introduced along the west side of the field across from school, staff announced in June that they planned to discuss a possible lease arrangement for space in the city’s planned parking garage at 170 Second Ave., near Bank Street.
They’d also look into a potential long-term option of acquiring additional land to develop for parking, staff stated in a memo at the time. A decision on parking is needed by April in order for it to be implemented by next summer, the memo stated.
Part of the field has since been hoarded off for construction staging, and in a recent message to parents, the school stated that the contractor has been asked to “avoid any parking on the field as much as possible” during the project.
The Glebe Community Association stated in an update to residents this week that the staging means the community won’t be able to use an ice rink at the field this winter for the first time since 1933.
Despite earlier assurances that the community would be kept in the loop, “OCDSB staff did not previously communicate this information to the community and have not maintained communications with the GCA on any other construction impacts,” the message stated.
Adams confirmed Wednesday that there will be no skating rink for 2013-2014 “in order to ensure a safe playground for students at Mutchmor during construction.” Board staff have met with school councils and community associations to share timelines for the construction project, she stated.
“The District remains committed to working with the community,” Adams wrote.
Next month, a committee that includes representatives of board staff, school councils, community associations and city are to begin working on a “rejuvenation plan” for the playground once the construction project is completed, she stated, and “a skating rink will be considered by this committee during their discussions.”
City staff aim to have a zoning application for the parking garage considered by council’s planning committee in December. The garage would include about 35 bicycle spaces and have a couple of parkettes containing plants and street furniture at either end, on Second and Third avenues, according to a planning rationale document that’s part of the application.
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