Waterfront Development Opportunities Past, Present and Future

[waterloowarrior]

some interesting discussion in this thread about boat access/waterfront development
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...=200308&page=3

I think Ottawa could really use some urban waterfront development considering how much river frontage we do have in the City (although boating in some major sections of Ottawa's waterfront is limited, and some of the land on the Ottawa side is too steep). Besides one-off structures such as the Canal Ritz and Dow's Lake Pavillion, we don't have much waterfront development in our City. It's also interesting to compare the master planning in the below developments versus the LeBreton Flats and the Bayview CDP. Unfortunately they waterfront seems to be off-limits in both of those cases, although perhaps the aqueduct will turn out well.

Here are a few waterfront development districts for inspiration, using mostly reclaimed land. These are a treat to explore on Streetview

Sluseholmen

Streetview http://goo.gl/maps/JAgl4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluseholmen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluseholmen_Canal_District

Sluseholmen Canal District (Danish: Sluseholmen Kanalby) is a residential development, located on Sluseholmen peninsula in the South Harbour area of Copenhagen, Denmark. The development comprises 1,350 apartments built on eight artificial islands, separated by dug-out canals. On each island is a closed block, 4-7 stories tall, surrounding a sheltered courtyard with public access. The houses frequently stand directly on the canals, while bridges, wharfs and "ghats" create direct contact to the water.

The development was designed by the Danish architecture firm Arkitema in collaboration with the Dutch architect Sjoerd Soeters but to ensure a varied cityscape, the facades of the individual townhouses were designed by 20 different architecture practices.

IJburg
Streetview (more "suburban") http://goo.gl/maps/Bj5xq
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IJburg
http://gellersworldtravel.blogspot.c...amsterdam.html




Java Island
Streetview http://goo.gl/maps/4Rkqh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java-eiland




Hammarby Sjöstad
Streetview http://goo.gl/maps/2NIf3

http://www.hammarbysjostad.se/inengl...bok_eng_ny.pdf



Any redevelopment of Chaudiere Island or other major waterfront pieces should look to these types of developments for inspiration. If the Parkway is chosen as the LRT route, some type of development like this could make much better use of the station locations and facilitate closer stop locations, and it would be quite appropriate for the area around Dominion

Any other good examples people know of? The Bayview area actually has a decent amount of reclaimed land btw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vmAk...el_video_title

[m0nkyman]

Nanaimo isn't bad....

[Dado]

Here's an example from Manchester, UK, the Salford Quays, with some very familiar names populating the area:

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&sourc...,345.4,,0,6.11



Perhaps what we need to do in Ottawa is to extend the canal system upriver. Turn that aqueduct through LeBreton Flats into an actual canal for instance, then add a few more runs of locks and canal up to Lac Deschênes.

Though I'm sure the local NIMBY brigade(s) (and Ken Gray) would have a fit, we could truck the spoil from the rail tunnel west along the Transitway and tip it into the Ottawa River near Dominion Station. The stretch of the Parkway shoreline west of there is all artificial anyway (trust me - I've walked it at river level - there's noting remotely natural or worth saving about it except one or two remnant points which are easy enough to spot if you're looking) so we could create ourselves a nice river-level marina development right smack next to a rapid transit station and Westboro. It could probably pay for the entire canal building project. We could also take the opportunity to mitigate the stormsewer water inflows in the area that constantly foul up Westboro Beach.

The Westboro Docks anyone?

[matty14]

Love this idea. Unfortunately it would require the complete dismantling of the NCC. They would NEVER allow development in their beautiful grass fields bisected by their precious urban expressway. Which is unfortunate, because is there a more dank and unwelcoming waterfront than the Ottawa River between Bayview and Dominion?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by matty14

Love this idea. Unfortunately it would require the complete dismantling of the NCC. They would NEVER allow development in their beautiful grass fields bisected by their precious urban expressway. Which is unfortunate, because is there a more dank and unwelcoming waterfront than the Ottawa River between Bayview and Dominion?

What we need is a private corporation with vision. You see, the NCC does not own all of the Chaudière Islands, I believe the majority is still privately owned (Domtar). So if someone with big money and big vision (guys from Distillery District) could come along and buy out Domtar, they might be able to work around the NCC lands.

Unfortunately, I can't find the ownership maps, but they were in the Citizen a year or so ago.

[Kitchissippi]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Unfortunately, I can't find the ownership maps, but they were in the Citizen a year or so ago.

It's in the NCC website:
http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/site...bains-2011.pdf

[Dado]

Originally Posted by matty14

Love this idea. Unfortunately it would require the complete dismantling of the NCC. They would NEVER allow development in their beautiful grass fields bisected by their precious urban expressway. Which is unfortunate, because is there a more dank and unwelcoming waterfront than the Ottawa River between Bayview and Dominion?

Actually yes: the Ottawa River between Pinecrest Creek (Britannia treatment plant) and Dominion. As I wrote, it's virtually all artificial, other than a few natural shoreline remnants like the picnic area just west of Woodroffe. In some places you can find chunks of discarded concrete making up the riverbank*.

Westboro Beach and Kitchissippi lookout could do with a refurb of their own, starting with clearing brush around the old Skead's Mill ruins and then removing those damned bunkers to replace them with something more fitting.

At least most of the waterfront downstream of Westboro Beach is natural, and some of it, like in the vicinity of Remic Rapids as far as Parkdale, is quite welcoming in its natural state. The Remic Rapids area just inland definitely has a lot of development potential, along with Tunney's Pasture, but that's one bit of shoreline I wouldn't dare touch.

From the Lemieux Island access to the Chaudière Falls the waterfront is fill again, or mainly so, but that's probably a difficult bit of shoreline to use for anything, especially Lemieux Island to the aqueduct inlet.



*As an aside, it's for this reason (and that an expressway/busway already runs there) that I just can't get too excited about the notion of light rail "ruining" the Parkway. I don't think it's the best place to run it for other reasons, but that argument against it always struck me as supremely absurd.

[Kitchissippi]

The best possibility we have for "waterfront" development at the moment would probably be along the aqueduct in LeBreton Flats. The LRT station will provide great access to a potential promenade spanning both sides of the aqueduct, connected by nice old stone bridges. The new higher Booth street bridge will also make it an uninterrupted pedestrian route to the river in either direction. I hope future development will focus on lively activity along this short canal, and that they give it an urban edge instead of greening it.

[amanfromnowhere]

Here's a North American example... I love this area in Northeast Tampa (Florida) :

https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=27.94,...0.012231&vps=2

[McC]

Originally Posted by matty14

is there a more dank and unwelcoming waterfront than the Ottawa River between Bayview and Dominion?

I think you've over-reached a little with this comment. This https://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&r...i4CwAg#imgrc=_ is between Bayview and Dominion and it's crawling with people all summer long. And don't forget this: https://www.google.ca/search?q=westb...G8iP0QHO0oGYCw beach, beer, pizza, movie nights, it's a pretty popular spot, if you hadn't heard.

[Dado]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

The best possibility we have for "waterfront" development at the moment would probably be along the aqueduct in LeBreton Flats. The LRT station will provide great access to a potential promenade spanning both sides of the aqueduct, connected by nice old stone bridges. The new higher Booth street bridge will also make it an uninterrupted pedestrian route to the river in either direction. I hope future development will focus on lively activity along this short canal, and that they give it an urban edge instead of greening it.

That picture just conveys such a disappointing lack of creativity. I just love how there are all these people milling about too, as if that space as depicted would ever have that number of people there.

I agree with you: "greening" this canal would be a missed opportunity. We're never going to be Amsterdam, but we could at least strive to have one canal-like streetscape.

Right now it has a transitway running along it. How difficult would it be to tear up the asphalt to replace it with pavers and put a line of buildings between it and the light railway rather than that grassy embankment?

Besides that, I can't say I'm keen on the giant Booth Street overpass, either. It's going to have a width equivalent to about 8 lanes once it is built. I can't help but wonder if they shouldn't split the traffic somehow with Preston.

[eternallyme]

I have to DISAGREE re: waterfront development. The main rivers in Ottawa are very prone to flooding, and the greenspace has prevented numerous potential flood disasters over the years. Any such waterfront development would have to be accompanied by an increase in land height as well.

[Capital Shaun]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

I have to DISAGREE re: waterfront development. The main rivers in Ottawa are very prone to flooding, and the greenspace has prevented numerous potential flood disasters over the years. Any such waterfront development would have to be accompanied by an increase in land height as well.

On the other hand, the canal doesn't flood. Do we really need a road on BOTH sides of the canal? Maybe convert part of the parkways into waterfront development? (Not that the NCC would allow any of that.)

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by Capital Shaun

On the other hand, the canal doesn't flood. Do we really need a road on BOTH sides of the canal? Maybe convert part of the parkways into waterfront development? (Not that the NCC would allow any of that.)

True on that count! As well as the middle Rideau River (i.e. downstream of Mooney's Bay) where it lies on an embankment...

[kevinbottawa]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

The best possibility we have for "waterfront" development at the moment would probably be along the aqueduct in LeBreton Flats. The LRT station will provide great access to a potential promenade spanning both sides of the aqueduct, connected by nice old stone bridges. The new higher Booth street bridge will also make it an uninterrupted pedestrian route to the river in either direction. I hope future development will focus on lively activity along this short canal, and that they give it an urban edge instead of greening it.

Here are some old concept drawings for LeBreton done by Ludwik Chelkowski (for the NCC I believe). One of them shows a mix of development and LRT along the aqueduct. Would be nice if these concepts became reality.







http://chelkowski-urban-design.com/p...s.php#LFlatDev

[Kitchissippi]

Nice, but still a little too green and sterile. Water level there is stable and regulated, that they can get people much closer to the water edge, like in San Antonio:


I was talking to an NCC planner a decade ago and I suggested that they should push to make both sides of the aqueduct lined with shops and restaurants as opposed to just one side. His weird response was that there was not enough parking in the area to support that level of commercial activity!

[Capital Shaun]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

I was talking to an NCC planner a decade ago and I suggested that they should push to make both sides of the aqueduct lined with shops and restaurants as opposed to just one side. His weird response was that there was not enough parking in the area to support that level of commercial activity!

Wow... That is a strange answer considering there's nothing built there yet!

[kevinbottawa]

Ottawa's waterfront needs facelift: MTAG

CFRA News
Monday, March 25, 2013

The Municipal Taxpayer Advocacy Group (MTAG) is launching a campaign aimed at breathing new life into Ottawa's waterfront.

The president of Lumos Energy, Chris Henderson, says our waterfront has largely been ignored.

"Every city in North America — Canada and the United States — with waterfront has a waterfront regeneration plan and a waterfront trust, and they're doing it with design, architecture, coolness, entertainment and environment," Henderson tells CFRA.

He says a champion is needed here and is glad the MTAG has stepped up to do something with the capital's untapped resource.

http://www.cfra.com/?cat=1&nid=90571

They have some info on their website about their campaign launch:

http://www.ottawataxpayer.com/OTAG_C...aterfront.html

[kevinbottawa]

I've never heard of this website before. It's By Mark Brandt, the architect:

Vision: Chaudiere
http://visionchaudiere.ca

[litreofcola]

Some of those concepts are decent- I think it was actually part of study commissioned by the NCC (which means it will sit in binders on a shelf for another 20 years, but I digress).

Per the post a few back from CFRA, there is growing chatter at the municipal chamber of commerce and business-association level about the sorry lack of waterfront use here. This was mentioned at last fall's City of Ottawa economic forecast/update event, and there was a recent article in the Citizen or OBJ which references that (comments at the podium by the GM of the Westin Hotel I believe, who is the head of the Ottawa Hotel Ass'n or something like that).

Slowly...wheels are starting to turn. Cross-border rail and a serious waterfront revitalization effort at Chaudiere Falls/Victoria Island/Scott paper mill would actually come close to making this a truly world class capital!