New Ottawa Civic Hospital [930 Carling Ave + 520 Preston St] | Site Prep

[UrbOttawa]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I have a feeling they'll just build over the existing trench, killing any possibility of double tracking in that area.

Work to construct a four-storey parkade for the new Ottawa Civic Hospital will include widening the Trillium Line trench that runs through the eastern portion of the site, planning documents show.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...ified-for-work

Looks like they're planning to widen the trench, but it's unclear who foots the bill for it.

[rocketphish]

NCC selects Dream team to set the tone for LeBreton Flats redevelopment

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Jan 20, 2022 • 56 minutes ago • 4 minute read


<snip>


Board approves schematic design for Civic hospital parkade

The latest design of a parkade planned for the new Civic hospital on the Central Experimental Farm received the NCC board’s full support.

The NCC has authority for federal design approvals on the hospital. The parkade is the first construction phase.

The four-storey parkade on the eastern portion of the site will have a green roof accessible to the public.

NCC staff said they would be watching several design elements as the concept was developed in the coming months, including the Trillium Line connection, internal roads and the type of wood used for screening on the parkade.

The board will be asked to approve a developed design in the summer or fall.

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...-redevelopment

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

The DARA Tennis Club, which is currently located in the hospital footprint, will be relocated to the parkade’s roof.

I was curious, so I googled it: http://daratennis.ca

"Update - May 2021: Applications for membership are no longer being accepted, as we have reached our maximum of 250, and have a waitlist of over 50."

So a good portion of the parkland on the roof will be dedicated to a private tennis club with limited membership?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by ponyboycurtis

Please don't say that!

Or rather... they will build over it/right up to it.. and then have to begin an elaborate operation to reverse the process in 10 years when Line 2 shuts down for 3 years to be double tracked.

Ya know.. for all the talk about how reliable Line 2 is... it's been down for a total of 4 ish years out of 20 for upgrades

Well, "upgrades". We barely had any service improvements out of the shut-downs, including Stage 2 that will maintain the 12 minute frequencies. At least we'll get two infill stations out of it. And one more grade separation for VIA.

[J.OT13]

From the NCC's presentation yesterday.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Well, "upgrades". We barely had any service improvements out of the shut-downs, including Stage 2 that will maintain the 12 minute frequencies. At least we'll get two infill stations out of it. And one more grade separation for VIA.

Even that latest frequency gain (from 15 minutes to 12 minutes) was exactly counteracted by an equal slow down in trip times.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Even that latest frequency gain (from 15 minutes to 12 minutes) was exactly counteracted by an equal slow down in trip times.

There you go! Hoping speeds can at least increase with Stage 2, with the Gladstone passing tracks now part of a station, and the Ellwood Diamond now gone.

[AuxTown]

Tennis courts are a great idea for the garage! I don't play much but tennis seems to be really popular in Ottawa these days. I wonder if they could 'dome' it in the winter?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by TransitZilla

I was curious, so I googled it: http://daratennis.ca

"Update - May 2021: Applications for membership are no longer being accepted, as we have reached our maximum of 250, and have a waitlist of over 50."

So a good portion of the parkland on the roof will be dedicated to a private tennis club with limited membership?

Hoping the deal will include some public use of those courts, even if only a few hours a day.

[GeoNerd]

More renders of the parking lot... Uh, I mean hospital. I cannot believe we are proposing this in the middle of our city in 2022. What an eyesore.



....But in 30 years, in the middle of summer, the garage might be well camouflaged by trees providing they don't all die before then (they will).

[zzptichka]

Disgusting. Those trees on the roof will never grow that big in those 2x2 boxes they will be planting them in. Such a blatant deception.

[waterloowarrior]

I'm getting either Hanging Gardens of Bablyon or post-apocalyptic I am Legend vibes from that render....

[SL123]

Originally Posted by zzptichka

Disgusting. Those trees on the roof will never grow that big in those 2x2 boxes they will be planting them in. Such a blatant deception.

Its feasible. The Rideau Centre has a nice roof top garden with some really nice looking mature trees.

[OTSkyline]

What do other urban hospitals in places like Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver do? Clearly this isn't the first of its kind. Do they not offer parking? Do they offer much less spots than what is currently being proposed in Ottawa?

I'm trying to understand what issue is specific to Ottawa. I understand people don't want this huge parking structure built there but I also think it's unfeasible for us to expect the parking to not have any parking, so what's the happy medium or how have other cities struck that balance?

EDIT: Just looked at Toronto General - smack dab in central Toronto and surely well-serviced by several modes of transportation yet this takes up basically a whole city block across the street:

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by SL123

Its feasible. The Rideau Centre has a nice roof top garden with some really nice looking mature trees.

The key is making sure road salt doesn't get into the boxes. This shouldn't be an issue on a roof.

[J.OT13]

The best parallel in Canada right now is probably St. Paul's in Vancouver. They have a massive surface parking lot to work with next to Pacific Station (VIA Rail). Parking will be underground, with 1,728, despite unstable soil conditions (area is infill).

Lots of similarities such as height and distance from the nearest rapid transit station (Main Street-Science World). It will not have any direct connection to that station. They will be using every square inch of the site that was provided. It doesn't look like they will have any usable space on the roof tops.

St. Paul's will have 548 rooms and does not act as the region's trauma centre. It will have a hotel and research facilities like the new Civic.




https://thenewstpauls.ca/news-updates/media-gallery/

[AuxTown]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...ttee-1.6346809

Time to get building then!!

Parking garage for new Civic hospital gets committee's OK
4-storey parkade would be the first structure at the future $2.8B campus
Kate Porter · CBC News · Posted: Feb 10, 2022 8:13 PM ET | Last Updated: 1 hour ago

Ottawa's planning committee has approved The Ottawa Hospital's plans for a parking garage for the new Civic campus at Dows Lake.

In a nine-to-two vote at the end of an eight-hour meeting — one that saw councillors come and go to deal with the convoy protest — the committee endorsed the site plan for the four-storey garage with 2,500 parking spaces and a rooftop park and sent it back to city staff to finalize.

City council had already approved last fall the master plan for the entire $2.8-billion hospital campus, set to open in 2028 and become among the priciest projects ever built in Ottawa.

Part of the reason the hospital wanted to keep approvals moving, said executive vice-president Joanne Read, was to start construction and avoid losing purchasing power as costs rise.

The first structure to go up on the new campus will be the parkade on the eastern edge at Carling Avenue, Preston Street and Prince of Wales Drive, atop the Trillium O-Train line.

If construction begins this spring, the garage could be finished by the end of 2024, added project manager Graham Bird.

In sketches, the hospital's architects laid out how the parking garage would include 310 secure indoor bicycle parking spots and another 225 outside. A winding path would lead to a rooftop park with a play structure, an Indigenous garden and four courts for the DARA tennis club, as it will lose its long-standing location to the future hospital.

3 dozen speakers
More than three dozen people gave public delegations, from physicians and patients to neighbours and environmental advocates.

Many were concerned the two interior roads would create bottlenecks and traffic congestion and hadn't been properly studied.

Accessibility was another major issue, given the nearly half-kilometre long connection between the current Carling O-Train station and the front doors of the future hospital. A "high-line" pathway would eventually cross the roof of the garage and arrive at the level of the hospital's doors.

Others called replacing Queen Juliana Park with a rooftop space "green-washing." Members of an environmental youth group prepared a video with background music about wanting to save trees at the Central Experimental Farm.

But hospital physicians and patients said parking is important for families left circling looking for parking at difficult times in their lives.

'Important to me'
"Parking, as vulgar as it may sound, is important to me," said Marcie Stevens, a survivor of the 2019 bus crash at Westboro station who's done extensive rehabilitation at The Ottawa Hospital.

Hospital visitors do not only live in the city with access to transit, Stevens said, noting her family visited from rural villages and outlying areas.

Capital ward Coun. Shawn Menard asked that city staff discuss with the hospital ways to improve accessibility, such as adding benches and outdoor washrooms, and include the community on the study to manage traffic.

River ward Coun. Riley Brockington, who represents the area, asked that staff work to improve cycling connections. Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper also asked staff to work with the hospital on a plan for managing construction and to require it maintain the park in wintertime and keep up the landscaping long-term.

In the end, councillors Brockington, Scott Moffatt, Glen Gower, Laura Dudas, Allan Hubley, Tim Tierney, Catherine Kitts, Cathy Curry and Jean Cloutier voted in favour of the site plan, while Leiper and Menard voted against.

[J.OT13]

Pretty great presentation from February 10th Planning Committee on the new Civic's garage, including a walkthrough from Dow's Lake Station to the new hospital. More detailed than the NCC's presentation:

21:30 to 56:30

• Video Link

[rocketphish]

Site prep starts Tuesday on new Civic; 159 trees to be cut
The first phase will remove about 159 trees, the hospital said, including six dead ones and 100 it described as from "invasive species."

Staff Reporter, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Mar 28, 2022 • 1 hour ago • 2 minute read



After decades of discussion, on-site work is set to begin on The Ottawa Hospital’s new Civic campus on Tuesday.

In a news release Monday, the hospital said residents will notice “site preparation” beginning for the 2,400-space parking garage near the corner of Carling Avenue and Preston Street.

The work is to take between 18 and 24 months and is the first step toward construction of the $2.8-billion hospital, to begin in 2024 in advance of a 2028 opening.

There remains stubborn opposition to the project from groups upset about the 50-acre location, the loss of an estimated 700 trees and the associated greenspace just off the shores of picturesque Dow’s Lake.

TOH executive vice-president Joanne Read said planners and arborists are doing their best to minimize the number of trees that will come down.

The first phase will remove about 159 trees, the hospital said, including six dead ones and 100 it described as from “invasive species”. About seven “notable” trees are to be moved.

Read stressed that five trees will be planted for every one removed. Eventually, this section of the large site will have about 850 new plantings.

“Having the site preparation underway for the new hospital parking structure allows all of this to start to unfold and really get the process going.”

The hospital is building the garage first so that the large contingent of trades people will have somewhere to park during the four-year construction of the new campus. The hospital is attempting to keep workers’ vehicles off adjacent residential streets, as there are several other building projects underway nearby.

Fences will also be erected to ensure a safe work site.

The hospital says it is removing the trees now to create minimal disruption for migratory and nesting patterns of birds and bats.

“Following construction of the garage, more than 850 new trees and large woody shrubs, both native and adapted species, will be planted on this portion of the site as part of the overall landscaping plan,” the release said.

“The area will feature thickets of trees and gardens in the park on top of the parking structure, and larger trees will be planted along the scalloped edges at ground level.”

Ottawa city councillors were told earlier this year that every month the hospital project is delayed adds another $9 million to $11 million in inflation costs.

Premier Doug Ford was in Ottawa last week to announce $29.1 million in funding toward the new Civic.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...rees-to-be-cut

[J.OT13]

Extra $29 million to add 100 beds to the project, which will result in a total 300 bed increase from the current hospital. Does that mean an extra floor? And chances are, the hospital will probably end up costing twice what's budgeted based on current trends. I could see it downsized at some point, which would be unfortunate.

This quote from Doug Ford is rich:

“After decades of inaction and underinvestment by previous governments, we are listening to the people of Ottawa and delivering the hospital that they deserve,”

It was the last Conservative Premier Harris who took an axe to the health care system. Under McGuinty, we saw a record number of hospital expansions in the Ottawa region, with the Montfort basically doubling in size after its battle to stay open under the previous Conservative Government.

https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1...ttawa-hospital