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Church opposes city's preferred western LRT route
Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: January 16, 2015, Last Updated: January 16, 2015 8:39 AM EST
An Ottawa church has come out against the city’s preferred option for the western LRT extension, saying the current routing through its Cleary Avenue property is “unacceptable.”
First Unitarian Congregation owns a 2.4-hectare parcel of land adjacent to where the proposed Cleary station would be located. In addition to the church, the property contains a seniors’ residence and daycare, both of which are also opposed to the city’s plan.
The new station is part of Phase 2 of light-rail construction, an ambitious $3-billion plan for 19 new stations and an additional 35 kilometres of track by 2023.
According to Blair Erskine, who chairs First Unitarian’s campus planning committee, the city has provided the congregation with a recent drawing that shows the proposed route cutting through its property.
The underground tunnel west of Cleary station would run beneath a parking lot and curve south to meet Richmond Road.
In a letter to Mayor Jim Watson, First Unitarian highlights four major concerns:
- Traffic congestion: Cleary is a small street that ends at the church property. It provides the only road access to the church campus, as well as the Continental condo building on the northwest corner of Cleary and Richmond Road. The city has also approved the construction of two additional towers on the property at the northeast corner of Cleary and Richmond and the letter says access to those buildings would likely be off Cleary as well. The congregation is concerned all of this combined will create significant traffic congestion and an increased risk of accidents.
“We feel that would just be unlivable traffic congestion,” Erskine said. There are also concerns about people dropping off or picking up people at the station and parking illegally on church property, he said.
- Noise and vibrations: Unitarian House worries its 134 residents, many of whom are in their 90s, will be constantly disrupted by noise and inconvenience during construction. There are also fears about ongoing noise due to vibration from operating trains.
“They can’t tell us this LRT is not going to affect us, and that’s what they’re trying to do is gloss over any disruptions to our lives,” said Unitarian House executive director Christina O’Neil.
- Loss of parking: The construction phase would require the removal of a parking lot adjacent to Unitarian House and another lot used by the church for 18 to 24 months, exacerbating current problems with parking on the property.
- Asset loss: The LRT route would travel underground beneath an area the church has designated for future development, perhaps along the lines of housing for adults living with mental health conditions.
“It will not be possible to build this type of construction over the LRT, denying the realization of this asset,” says the letter, which is signed by Maury Prevost, First Unitarian’s board president.
“For all of these reasons, the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa finds the current plan and proposed routing of the LRT through our property unacceptable,” concludes the letter, which was also sent to several city councillors and NCC boss Mark Kristmanson.
Despite its opposition to the city’s current plan, the church says it’s generally supportive of LRT and says that users of its property would “greatly benefit from a station within walking distance.”
What happens west of Dominion station remains an open and controversial question.
The city’s preferred route is to run trains along 1.2 kilometres of NCC land on the south side of the four-lane Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, but the NCC is not pleased with this idea because it fears for the loss of mature trees, impeded access to the river and restricted views from the shoreline.
Last fall the NCC asked the city to include the Rochester Field-Richmond Road alignment in its ongoing environmental assessment for the construction of the western light-rail corridor or else consider a “completely buried” tunnel under the parkway to “protect this important national asset.”
In other words, the NCC did not completely slam the door on the city’s preferred route along the Ottawa River, but the commission is clearly not convinced of the city’s plan.
The disagreement caused some friction between Mayor Jim Watson and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, who met at the end of November and agreed to work toward a solution for 100 days.
Solving what to do in the gap between Dominion station and Lincoln Fields is “not an easy thing,” Erskine said.
“The situation is such that somebody is going to be unhappy regardless of where it goes,” he said.
Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper said Thursday he understands the church’s frustration and opposition to the city’s preferred route, but he noted it was a unanimous decision made in 2013 when the transportation master plan was approved by council.
“The city had a consultation about it and this is the route that they chose,” Leiper said. “Currently we’re in discussion with the NCC about getting to a ‘yes’ with respect to the current route, and it’s difficult to see an opportunity right now to try to reverse course.”
If the city and NCC can reach an agreement about using the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, Leiper said, he hopes those discussions will also provide an opportunity to re-raise the church’s concerns and address them then.
The issues raised by the congregation will be addressed in the environmental assessment study underway, the city said in a statement.
However, the extent of the impacts remains unclear as “we are still working with the National Capital Commission on an alignment,” said the statement, which was attributed to Vivi Chi, manager of transportation planning.
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http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/church-opposes-citys-preferred-western-lrt-route
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