The NCC and the City of Ottawa need to start playing nice
A squabble over who should clear a walking path near Lincoln Fields in winter is just the latest example of needless disagreement.
Randall Denley, Ottawa Citizen
Published Oct 03, 2023 • 3 minute read
It’s difficult to imagine a more typically Ottawa problem than the one that city councillors tried to deal with last week. Their task was seemingly straightforward, an approval of three new apartment buildings within easy walking distance of the Lincoln Fields transit station. It’s exactly the sort of transit-adjacent development the city wants and as a bonus, the project would provide a new facility for a non-profit home for severely disabled adults.
The only hitch was the walking path that connects the new development directly to the transit station. The path is owned by the National Capital Commission, which doesn’t make a habit of clearing walking paths in winter.
Councillors were told that the NCC was not opposed to the city clearing the path, but city staff were concerned. What would that cost? What about legal liability? Would it set a precedent, leading to more demands to make NCC paths useable in winter, at the city’s expense?
This seems like something two reasonable people, sitting in a room together, would be able to resolve before it was time for a coffee break. The NCC could have said, “Wow, we’re the world’s biggest fans of active transportation. We’ll give you that walking path.” Problem solved. Or the city could have said, “The whole concept of this project rests on its proximity to the new LRT line we’re spending a fortune on. Of course we’ll light and clear the pathway.” Problem solved.
Instead, councillors considered potentially delaying the much needed apartments until the pathway issue was resolved, something they might reasonably have expected would be done before the issue came before them.
A simple solution to a simple problem would depend on some level of goodwill and co-operation between our two competing local governments: the one you elected and pay taxes to, and the government agency that owns and controls much of the city, for the greater good of all Canadians.
Disagreements between the NCC and the city have been a little too frequent of late. Some tiny percentage of Ottawans spent months debating the NCC’s decision to close part of the Queen Elizabeth Driveway for much of the summer. The city argued that turning a road into a bicycle path right beside another bicycle path didn’t make a lot of sense. Plus, the road restriction hampered the fire department’s ability to respond to calls. None of that curbed the NCC’s bicycle enthusiasm.
Then there is the unresolved matter of the city’s plan to build a road and transitway through the Mer Bleue portion of the National Capital Greenbelt. The goal is to make it easier for south Orléans residents to connect with the rest of the city, but the NCC is not on board.
Some would see allowing access through the greenbelt as a necessary and reasonable tradeoff for preserving a ring of green space in the centre of the city and pushing development farther out as a consequence.
Solving practical problems, however, is not really the zone of NCC CEO Tobi Nussbaum, a former city councillor. The NCC operates at a much, much higher level. If people don’t like it, well, too bad. It’s not like they aren’t going to re-elect you. As long as the generally indifferent federal government is satisfied, a CEO of the NCC can have a long and happy reign. The only thing that really matters is staying in sync with the values of the federal government, things like greenbelt good, bicycles good, cars bad.
It’s a little more complicated if a person is the mayor of Ottawa. Mark Sutcliffe’s job is to balance competing priorities and try to think of the greater good. He’d be a terrible fit at the NCC.
It’s not that the NCC is wrong on every issue or that the city is right, but they do need to work together. When their priorities align on something as simple as a walking path to a transit station, one would hope that the city and the NCC could find a solution, not just take positions.
Randall Denley is an Ottawa political commentator and author. His latest novel, The Truth about Sarah, was recently released. Contact him at randalldenley1@gmail.com.
https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/de...t-playing-nice
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