NCC Ottawa River South Shore Riverfront Park Plan [Kichi Zībī Mīkan] | In Progress

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by zzptichka

So frustrating. NCC kept the beach and the grassy slope behind it closed the entire summer, without doing or staging anything there. That's some of the busiest places in Ottawa on a warm summer day.

They could've left it open and just moved the fences in October without affecting the parking lot construction. But apparently their logic is if the parking lot is closed then nobody would use the beach

I think they were expecting to start construction but couldn't find anyone for the job? Not entirely sure.

[Uhuniau]

The gutting of the pavillion is well advanced at least, plus some of the more heavily-engineered landscaping elements (the new pathway to the north/east of the beach is more extensive a component of the project than I thought it was.)

[J.OT13]

Presentation and docs on name change.

https://ncc-website-2.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/2-SJAM-Board-Meeting_January-2023-final.pdf

https://ncc-website-2.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/03-2022-C24-Proposal-to-rename-SJAM.pdf

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Presentation and docs on name change.

https://ncc-website-2.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/2-SJAM-Board-Meeting_January-2023-final.pdf

https://ncc-website-2.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/03-2022-C24-Proposal-to-rename-SJAM.pdf

The report lists multiple name changes that I have not heard of before. I guess I have not been paying attention, but I get concerned with names that may be difficult for average citizens to pronounce or spell. I suppose that we will get used to them.

As someone who volunteers with a local historical society, I see little real public engagement. As a historical society, we have to put our heads down. Our comments are not welcome, even if we want reasonable compromise.

[rocketphish]

NCC briefs: Westboro Beach construction behind schedule; Champlain Bridge work to finish early, NCC meeting hears

Blair Crawford, Ottawa Citizen
Published Apr 20, 2023 • 3 minute read



Whether there will be access to Westboro Beach remains up in the air for a second summer as the end date for the National Capital Commission’s rehabilitation of the beach pushes into a third year.

The beach closed in the spring of 2022 when the NCC began rehabilitation of its distinctive pavilion, designed by noted Canadian architect James Strutt, as well as the construction of new bathrooms, a larger parking lot, and additional landscaping. That work was to have been finished by September 2023, but the project is now behind schedule.

“We were impacted in the same way that many others were by supply chain challenges, by the pandemic,” the NCC’s CEO, Tobi Nussbaum, told reporters after Thursday’s board meeting.

“There have been a series of things over the last couple of years that have had an impact on the construction schedule. While we’re still confident that much of the building will be constructed this year, there will be important landscaping and other related parts of the project that will only be done next year.”

But the NCC is trying to figure out a safe way to give the public access to the beach, even as the construction continues.

“We’re looking very hard at the possibility of access to Westboro Beach this year,” Nussbaum said. “Those conversations are continuing and we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to offer some access to the beach itself.”


<snip>

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...e-work-to-finish-early-ncc-meeting-hears

[J.OT13]

Oh well. It's a beach, not something important like a transit line 20k people per day depended on, you know?

[Harley613]

I'm blown away by the scale of this project

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

“We’re looking very hard at the possibility of access to Westboro Beach this year,” Nussbaum said. “Those conversations are continuing and we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to offer some access to the beach itself.”

The People have spoken: during that stretch of summer we had in April, Westboro was hoppin'.

[Uhuniau]

I really hope that the outcrop of sedimentary rock between the pavillion and the ruins is going to be re-exposed. All that gravelly mess is temporary, right?

Also wow the water is high.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

I really hope that the outcrop of sedimentary rock between the pavillion and the ruins is going to be re-exposed. All that gravelly mess is temporary, right?

Also wow the water is high.

Site plan from April 2022.




https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/westboro-beach-redevelopment-plan-2022-1.6413395

[SidetrackedSue]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Also wow the water is high.

Harley, did you do a fly by in 2019?

I agree the water looks high in this year's pictures but in 2019, although it is hard to judge since the patio seems to be gone, the water was within inches of breaching the patio, so would have been at least level with the land next to the pavilion.

(My photos from 2019 from the beach toward the pavilion show the water up to the edge of the patio and another of the water over the bottom step of the stairs down to the beach from the patio (which IIRC was between the far left and middle pavilions.)

Edited to add: further along and also part of this project, the underpass at the end of Churchill was flooded when Harley's photos were posted. This is an ongoing concern of the neighbourhood that the underpass will not be usable in the spring even in low flooding years.

[Uhuniau]

yeah, 2019 was a corker of a spring melt. You could have docked a boat at the patio.

[rocketphish]

'Unsupervised' section of Westboro Beach to open this summer

Staff Reporter, Ottawa Citizen
Published May 05, 2023 • Last updated 8 hours ago • 1 minute read



Westboro Beach is back in 2023, sort of.

The National Capital Commission announced Friday that an “unsupervised” section of Westboro beach will be open to the public this summer.

“Swimming is at your own risk. No lifeguards will be on duty and no water testing will be done this summer,” the agency announced via Twitter.

Beach access will be via the Lanark Avenue underpass and parking is available at the corner of Lanark and Kirchoffer Avenue.

There will be portable bathrooms and garbage bins on site.

The beach closed in the spring of 2022 when the NCC began rehabilitation of its distinctive pavilion, designed by noted Canadian architect James Strutt, as well as the construction of new bathrooms, a larger parking lot and additional landscaping. That work was to have been finished by September 2023, but the project is now behind schedule.

The work on the project slowed down because of supply chain breakdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NCC chief executive Tobi Nussbaum said following an NCC board meeting last month.

“While we’re still confident that much of the building will be constructed this year, there will be important landscaping and other related parts of the project that will only be done next year,” he said.

He said then that the commission was trying to figure out a safe way to give the public access to the beach, even as the construction continues.

For more information on the Westboro redevelopment project go to https://ncc-ccn.gc.ca/projects/westboro-beach-area-redevelopment-project

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...on-of-westboro-beach-to-open-this-summer

[Kitchissippi]

That pedestrian parkway underpass at Churchill is one slow moving project. I don’t understand how putting a couple box culverts would take about two years.

[zzptichka]

The entire beach was fenced off last summer even though nothing was happening construction-wise, and it was basically empty.
Good to see they listened.
Now if they could set up a bike/ped bypass. It's awful right now.

[SidetrackedSue]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

That pedestrian parkway underpass at Churchill is one slow moving project. I don’t understand how putting a couple box culverts would take about two years.

It is flooding every year. The underpass is full of water again this spring like it was last spring.

They ended up changing the drainage but this year we aren't seeing anything different at the underpass. Selby Plain didn't flood as badly this year as 2019 or 2017 and the neighbourhood didn't flood at all. Not sure if that's because of the lower peak (about 30cm lower) or if the improved drains are working better.

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

That pedestrian parkway underpass at Churchill is one slow moving project. I don’t understand how putting a couple box culverts would take about two years.

It's part of the LRT works, and probably not their biggest priority.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by Catenary

It's part of the LRT works, and probably not their biggest priority.

Also, it was less "installing box culverts" and more "relocation of an entire stretch of parkway".

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Also, it was less "installing box culverts" and more "relocation of an entire stretch of parkway".

In that particular spot, the parkway alignment isn't changing. They built a temporary bypass around the site, but the box culverts go under where the road was before.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by Catenary

In that particular spot, the parkway alignment isn't changing. They built a temporary bypass around the site, but the box culverts go under where the road was before.

Didn't they also uppify the roadbed, though?