LRT facility site would cost more, but city says it's not throwaway
Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: August 22, 2017 | Last Updated: August 22, 2017 7:24 PM EDT
An alternate location for a proposed LRT maintenance and storage facility west of Moodie Drive will cost up to $15 million more, but the city says it’s not throwaway money since the work will grease the wheels for the future Kanata connection.
As part of the Stage 2 rail expansion, the city has been studying how trains will operate around the new terminus at Moodie Drive in 2023. The preferred location for the station is on the east side of Moodie Drive and until recently the city was leaning toward building a light maintenance and storage facility just north off Moodie Drive.
Bay Coun. Mark Taylor said the city heard “very loudly” from the community about not locating the facility on the east side of Moodie Drive, north of the Abbott facility and near the Crystal Beach neighbourhood.
“I wasn’t a fan of having it on the east side, either,” Taylor said Tuesday, explaining that the previously preferred site would have been beside a school, up against a residential community and would have removed a natural area.
The city is now eyeing a narrow strip of land between Corkstown Road and Highway 417 for the facility, with additional room for two sets of tracks to be part of the eventual LRT extension to Kanata.
The challenge with locating the facility on the west side of Moodie Drive is that the city will have to build an underpass at Moodie on the north side of Highway 417.
That’s expected to add between $10 million and $15 million more to the cost of the Stage 2 design.
“Yes, it’s adding that money to the project now, but since it’s on a line that’s heading to Kanata, we would have to go there eventually anyway,” Taylor said.
For now, the Stage 2 blueprint would stop trains at a station pencilled in just east of Moodie Drive.
A bus rapid transit extension between Moodie Drive and Bayshore Shopping Centre is scheduled to open later this year. It will operate for about three years before the city shuts it down for LRT conversion, reopening the stretch as a train line in 2023.
Although an environmental assessment is ongoing for the eventual Stage 3 to Kanata, the LRT link to the western suburb is in the city’s long-term transit plan.
City rail planners, now armed with a new preferred site for the maintenance and storage facility, have been working to minimize the footprint so the Wesley Clover Parks operations off Corkstown Road, and the organization’s future expansion plans, aren’t negatively impacted.
Wesley Clover runs recreation programs on National Capital Commission land.
The director at Wesley Clover Parks couldn’t be reached for comment, but Taylor said the city is talking with the organization as it develops the LRT plans.
According to Taylor, one idea being considered is having an LRT stop that could serve Wesley Clover operations during major events, but not a full-blown station. If the city is building an underpass and a facility on the west side of Moodie Drive, it might be wise to give rail access to the property, Taylor said.
“Ideally it gets those eventgoers on transit and closer to the site,” Taylor said.
Chris Swail, the city’s director of O-Train planning, said staff continue to talk with the NCC and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation about its LRT intentions around Moodie Drive.
Swail said the city is trying to squeeze as much LRT infrastructure between Corkstown Road and the highway so it doesn’t impact other land, especially the Wesley Clover-operated property.
The city is looking at potentially building a slim facility that would give covered storage to just over 30 LRT vehicles and have an area for light maintenance. (The heavy maintenance on LRT vehicles would still happen at the facility on Belfast Road).
The Rideau Transit Group, which has been confirmed as the LRT maintenance provider in the Stage 2 expansion, is offering insight on facility requirements at Moodie Drive.
Swail said the city is also thinking ahead to the Kanata LRT link with the intention of planning a facility that could hold 90 LRT vehicles.
The city can’t build any old LRT facility because the area is considered a significant part of the capital arrival experience and the NCC wants things to look good.
Swail said the city is considering different design features for the facility, such as a green roof and potentially copying some of the roofs at the Wesley Clover operations.
At the same time, it helps that the LRT maintenance and storage facility would be nestled against the westbound lanes of the highway — the lanes leaving the city.
Meanwhile, the city is already considering how people will get to the Moodie LRT station by foot and bike. Staff gathered feedback on station connections during a public meeting Monday night.
There are still people who would rather see the LRT station built on the west side of Moodie Drive, but Taylor said there isn’t a compelling reason to locate a station farther away from a residential community.
“I heard lots of people talking about different connectivity pieces but I didn’t hear when I was there a reason that jumped out that said we need to have the station on the west side (of Moodie Drive),” Taylor said.
The city is aiming to have a Stage 2 update for the finance and economic development committee on Sept. 5.
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