New Ottawa Civic Hospital [930 Carling Ave + 520 Preston St] | U/C

[eemy]

I also have a concern about opening up so much land for development. There are already several large tracts of land slated for development or redevelopment within the Greenbelt. Ottawa doesn't *need* this land.

Just look at what the Ottawa Hospital is proposing. They can only get away with their proposal because they're assuming the CEF is open for consideration, which is shouldn't be. If it never existed and if there was a preexisting neighbourhood there, the hospital wouldn't be proposing acres of parking lots and 90 acres wouldn't be a prerequisite. They would build the hospital within the constraints of the city, like they do in every other city in the world.

In my view, the CEF is irreplaceable, so you have to have a very good reason to make its land available for redevelopment. And it should be studied carefully and the public should be consulted. You chop off a bit now for the hospital, and I guarantee that some other agency or institution will be lining up to do the same, because building on vacant greenfields in the middle of the city will always be more attractive than figuring out what to do with existing sites. How is that going to impact the development potential of, say, Lebreton Flats? If I were the YMCA, I know what my first choice would be.