General Update/Rumour thread [Suburban Ottawa]

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by Tesladom

How about HellHaven?

Accurate for sure, but it doesn't have that nice homonymous ring to it.

[vtecyo]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Accurate for sure, but it doesn't have that nice homonymous ring to it.

Carrhaven has a nice ring to it, although you could say every other Ottawa suburb is also Carrhaven.

[johnnystims]

This hate for Barrhaven is bizarre.

Everytime something is mentioned about it; even if it is good for Ottawa as a whole, all you see is a barrage of hate/mocking for what is a suburb that is becoming a centre of e-commerce, and has a plan to densify its core to be better than what it is now. It's no different than Kanata or Orleans at this point, get a grip.

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by johnnystims

This hate for Barrhaven is bizarre.

Everytime something is mentioned about it; even if it is good for Ottawa as a whole, all you see is a barrage of hate/mocking for what is a suburb that is becoming a centre of e-commerce, and has a plan to densify its core to be better than what it is now. It's no different than Kanata or Orleans at this point, get a grip.

Welcome to the forum!

You're absolutely right, Barrhaven is no different that Kanata or Orleans. They're all distant suburbs that largely started out as farmer's fields, then became acres of treeless new neighbourhoods of cookie-cutter houses on senselessly curvy streets. I think that's why they get readily mocked. In the beginning they lack character as well as retail opportunities, and are often viewed as places where people have to live, rather than want to live, because of the less expensive housing.

In fairness, there are older parts of all those areas that are quite nice, because they've had a chance to gentrify a little and grow a bit of tree canopy. Retail moves in later as well, lessening the need to go into the city for your shopping.

[Stacmon]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Welcome to the forum!

You're absolutely right, Barrhaven is no different that Kanata or Orleans.

...

In fairness, there are older parts of all those areas that are quite nice, because they've had a chance to gentrify a little and grow a bit of tree canopy. Retail moves in later as well, lessening the need to go into the city for your shopping.

This is something I tend to disagree with. The three major suburbs beyond the Greenbelt have similarities to be sure, especially in their newer areas, but there are also some very unique features.

If we take Orleans for instance:

- St. Joseph in the Northwest of Orleans serves as its traditional core and main street, dating back to the 1850s and includes heritage buildings like a beautiful traditional Catholic church. It makes it feel much more like a small town to me than the other two suburbs (like nearby Rockland).
- It is a historically francophone community (before the large expansion in the 1960s and on), is still one third francophone and has a distinctly bilingual character.
- The Ottawa River is a key defining feature in the North, including recreational paths and the nature/Beach at Petrie Island
- For a city that is generally very flat, Orleans and Cumberland are actually quite hilly. This was one of my biggest surprises moving here and I love seeing the Gatineau Hills while going from the South (say shopping along Innes) to our home in the North and driving downhill.
- Stage 2 will bring the O-Train West-East throughout the whole of Orleans and contribute a lot to serving it's North in particular. While the other suburbs are expected to get rail later, Stage 3 isn't quite guaranteed, especially if governments face pressures to delay/cut costs on transit post-pandemic with so much work from home.

If you then move on and look at another of the three, say Kanata, you could come up with a different list of unique features (in Kanata's case an obvious one would be the extensive tech footprint and employment opportunities inside, which make it more of a complete community compared to downtown reliant Orleans).

Some of these lists of unique features will continue to grow as new buildings, neighbourhoods and attractions get built (e.g., the Shenkman Arts Centre, Orleans Health Hub and Petrie's Landing)!

[Marshsparrow]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Welcome to the forum!

You're absolutely right, Barrhaven is no different that Kanata or Orleans. They're all distant suburbs that largely started out as farmer's fields, then became acres of treeless new neighbourhoods of cookie-cutter houses on senselessly curvy streets. I think that's why they get readily mocked. In the beginning they lack character as well as retail opportunities, and are often viewed as places where people have to live, rather than want to live, because of the less expensive housing.

In fairness, there are older parts of all those areas that are quite nice, because they've had a chance to gentrify a little and grow a bit of tree canopy. Retail moves in later as well, lessening the need to go into the city for your shopping.

The key difference is that Kanata actually has a significant employment base in the technology and supporting services sector. Up until recently Barrhaven didn't even have a hotel.

[harls]

If 168 sushi is pinnacle Nepean..

[OTSkyline]

I think Barrhaven got a bit more slack because it's the newest of the 'burbs (compared to Orleans/Kanata) and a bit farther (or longer to get to) from downtown than the other 2 (hence Farrhaven comments)./

I also think it's just the name. If there were other easy nicknames for Orleans & Kanata they'd also be used more frequently, but I don't think I've ever heard any...

[silvergate]

Originally Posted by OTSkyline

I think Barrhaven got a bit more slack because it's the newest of the 'burbs (compared to Orleans/Kanata) and a bit farther (or longer to get to) from downtown than the other 2 (hence Farrhaven comments)./

I also think it's just the name. If there were other easy nicknames for Orleans & Kanata they'd also be used more frequently, but I don't think I've ever heard any...

Boreleans has entered the chat

[acottawa]

Barrhaven was part of Nepean before amalgamation, so a lot of the "institutions" went to the northern part of Nepean. Kanata was its own city.

[Stacmon]

Originally Posted by acottawa

Barrhaven was part of Nepean before amalgamation, so a lot of the "institutions" went to the northern part of Nepean. Kanata was its own city.

Agreed, this was definitely a factor in what is present in each of the three communities. That is something that makes Orleans interesting too, in the sense that it has some older institutions/elements in the Northwest because it used to be a distinct village/community, like the beautiful Catholic church I mentioned, while also having others in its Eastern half belonging to the former City of Cumberland (the part of Cumberland in Orleans dwarfed Cumberland village population wise and they needed a place to put institutions too, like the Cumberland Library). Orleans Town Centre/Centrum and much of Place D'Orleans mall are also in the Cumberland portion of Orleans, with all that space being a "downtown" for the whole Orleans community, along with the existing St. Joseph between Jeanne D'Arc and the mall!

[johnnystims]

Originally Posted by Marshsparrow

The key difference is that Kanata actually has a significant employment base in the technology and supporting services sector. Up until recently Barrhaven didn't even have a hotel.

And yet, this would be the third distribution e-commerce development planned and coming in the area, with two hotels coming up. It's becoming an important area for e-commerce - yet all the negativity for what? This is good news for our city as a whole.

You think these hubs would do better downtown lol? It's irrational hate at this point, all 3 major suburbs are making plans to do better, and it may not be perfect but the constant groaning and hate for something that isn't even a bad thing is hilarious to me.

My point stands, it is no different than Kanata or Orleans at this point with what is planned.

[Marshsparrow]

Originally Posted by johnnystims

And yet, this would be the third distribution e-commerce development planned and coming in the area, with two hotels coming up. It's becoming an important area for e-commerce - yet all the negativity for what? This is good news for our city as a whole.

You think these hubs would do better downtown lol? It's irrational hate at this point, all 3 major suburbs are making plans to do better, and it may not be perfect but the constant groaning and hate for something that isn't even a bad thing is hilarious to me.

My point stands, it is no different than Kanata or Orleans at this point with what is planned.

Wow... offend easily? My point was to state the obvious of why Kanata is different than the other burbs. If you think Barrhaven is an employment mecca - great! High paying distribution centre jobs for workers who can't even afford to live in Barrhaven is not a great future prospect.

As a side, Kanata North contributes $13B to Canada's GDP and 33,200 jobs to the local area... Barrhaven has a ways to go before you can claim to be like Kanata!

https://www.kanatanorthba.com/wp-content...ata_North_Technology_Ecosystem_PRINT.pdf

[Stacmon]

Originally Posted by Stacmon

This is something I tend to disagree with. The three major suburbs beyond the Greenbelt have similarities to be sure, especially in their newer areas, but there are also some very unique features.

If we take Orleans for instance:

- St. Joseph in the Northwest of Orleans serves as its traditional core and main street, dating back to the 1850s and includes heritage buildings like a beautiful traditional Catholic church. It makes it feel much more like a small town to me than the other two suburbs (like nearby Rockland).
- It is a historically francophone community (before the large expansion in the 1960s and on), is still one third francophone and has a distinctly bilingual character.
- The Ottawa River is a key defining feature in the North, including recreational paths and the nature/Beach at Petrie Island
- For a city that is generally very flat, Orleans and Cumberland are actually quite hilly. This was one of my biggest surprises moving here and I love seeing the Gatineau Hills while going from the South (say shopping along Innes) to our home in the North and driving downhill.
- Stage 2 will bring the O-Train West-East throughout the whole of Orleans and contribute a lot to serving it's North in particular. While the other suburbs are expected to get rail later, Stage 3 isn't quite guaranteed, especially if governments face pressures to delay/cut costs on transit post-pandemic with so much work from home.

If you then move on and look at another of the three, say Kanata, you could come up with a different list of unique features (in Kanata's case an obvious one would be the extensive tech footprint and employment opportunities inside, which make it more of a complete community compared to downtown reliant Orleans).

Some of these lists of unique features will continue to grow as new buildings, neighbourhoods and attractions get built (e.g., the Shenkman Arts Centre, Orleans Health Hub and Petrie's Landing)!

Given the different views about the individual suburbs and about how much they may have to offer, perhaps residents or people very familiar with them could offer a list similar to what is above. I would appreciate learning more about Kanata and Barrhaven beyond some of the high level things I may have heard about over the years.

[johnnystims]

Originally Posted by Marshsparrow

Wow... offend easily? My point was to state the obvious of why Kanata is different than the other burbs. If you think Barrhaven is an employment mecca - great! High paying distribution centre jobs for workers who can't even afford to live in Barrhaven is not a great future prospect.

As a side, Kanata North contributes $13B to Canada's GDP and 33,200 jobs to the local area... Barrhaven has a ways to go before you can claim to be like Kanata!

https://www.kanatanorthba.com/wp-content...ata_North_Technology_Ecosystem_PRINT.pdf

You act like it's a one off statement, it's clearly obvious there's a bias lol. Kanata is still a suburb and is designed like one. You're right, Ottawa or any of its suburbs shouldn't have companies coming in to make it an e-commerce hub, what a horrible future prospect.

And not livable? Lol. Literally the same situation around the whole city.

[Marshsparrow]

What's funny about Barrhaven is the amount of folks that move there and then complain about the planes or the landfill. Will be the same group that complain about all the e-commerce trucks/gas fumes.

Agree with you about not livable due to affordability issue.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Marshsparrow

What's funny about Barrhaven is the amount of folks that move there and then complain about the planes or the landfill. Will be the same group that complain about all the e-commerce trucks/gas fumes.

Agree with you about not livable due to affordability issue.

E-commerce warehouses will be mostly concentrated off the 416, so not much to complain about. Plans for the "campus" look fairly dense and well designed for what it is.

That said, the City also approve warehouse(s) along PoW just north of Barrhaven. Fierce opposition, but it was was zoned industrial.

For what it's worth, I'm happy with Barrhaven becoming a e-commerce hub (not a fan of e-commerce in general, but if it's going to exist, might as well take advantage of it), as long as it stays separate from residential and the City provides proper alternatives to driving. Better in Barrhaven at the edge of the city than in the city increasing truck traffic all around.

That said, the City should consider high density residential with modestly priced apartments and townhomes near the e-commerce hubs. Developers could take advantage of the CMHC program in the suburbs as well, not just downtown.

[johnnystims]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

E-commerce warehouses will be mostly concentrated off the 416, so not much to complain about. Plans for the "campus" look fairly dense and well designed for what it is.

That said, the City also approve warehouse(s) along PoW just north of Barrhaven. Fierce opposition, but it was was zoned industrial.

For what it's worth, I'm happy with Barrhaven becoming a e-commerce hub (not a fan of e-commerce in general, but if it's going to exist, might as well take advantage of it), as long as it stays separate from residential and the City provides proper alternatives to driving. Better in Barrhaven at the edge of the city than in the city increasing truck traffic all around.

That said, the City should consider high density residential with modestly priced apartments and townhomes near the e-commerce hubs. Developers could take advantage of the CMHC program in the suburbs as well, not just downtown.

Exactly my point. It's good for the city because it's not crammed in a more dense area but it also lets the area have more opportunities to densify itself as it'll create a more useful purpose for Barrhaven. Win-win.

[waterloowarrior]

Is this a new project? 10 new buildings at Dwyer Hill, $746 million?

https://iaac-aeic.gc.ca/050/evaluations/proj/81470
https://www.merx.com/dcc/dcc-cdc/solicit...rvices-Eastern-Ontario-Campus/0000228197

[Williamoforange]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

Is this a new project? 10 new buildings at Dwyer Hill, $746 million?

https://iaac-aeic.gc.ca/050/evaluations/proj/81470
https://www.merx.com/dcc/dcc-cdc/solicit...rvices-Eastern-Ontario-Campus/0000228197

They really did one hell of a u-turn on that base....wonder what scared them off from using the land near trenton for the base?

https://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/...t-task-force-2-unit-move-to-trenton.html