The right kind of housing could enhance Sussex Drive
Beauty in a capital city means beautiful parks, beautiful buildings and welcoming public spaces.
By Alain Miguelez
Published May 30, 2025 | Last updated 4 hours ago
This article was written in response to “
Sussex Drive deserves better from the NCC,” May 27:
The NCC is in the process of updating its 2005 Core Area Plan, a strategic planning document intended to guide the future evolution of the nine square kilometres at the centre of the nation’s capital for the decades to come. The proposed three big moves — turn towards the water, make great spaces and create connections — are already evident in new NCC projects such as River House, Kìwekì Point and the soon-to-be-opened Westboro Beach pavilion.
In order to respond to the directive of our shareholder, the Government of Canada, to contribute to solving the housing crisis, we are also re-examining how NCC lands in the core of the capital can be used for housing — an approach that has the added advantage of increasing the resident population and dynamism of our downtown. One of many such sites, two blocks on Sussex Drive across the street from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and the French Embassy, is currently zoned in our 2005 plan for institutional use, with the intention that those sites be developed for diplomatic or other public buildings.
NCC staff are proposing that these sites could instead be imagined in the revised 2025 plan for a wider variety of building uses, including housing, but also commercial and retail. Such buildings, with a height of no greater than five storeys, reflective of the New Edinburgh Heritage Conservation District and the dignity of our ceremonial route, could serve a variety of functions including residential apartments or town homes, offices and ground-level services such as cafés and restaurants that integrate to the surrounding neighbourhood and workplaces. Our proposed idea would be consistent with the city’s Official Plan, which permits housing in these blocks as part of the Parliament and Confederation Boulevard Special District.
Interestingly, although the blocks in question are now vacant, as recently as the late 1960s they housed apartment houses, a fire station, a hotel and various shops. In hindsight, we know that the demolition of these places, like at LeBreton Flats, was a mistake that led to too many decades of vacant lands that deprived the capital of housing, energy and built heritage.
As part of its visioning, the NCC offered hypothetical renderings of tastefully designed beautiful new buildings, townhomes and, in place of the current grass field, a manicured, formal landscaped garden, to match the dignity and gravitas of this highly symbolic location. The vision of the Core Area Plan is, however, only directional. To bring such an idea to reality, a specific development plan would need to be created, complete with future public consultation.
At a time of a critical housing shortage, shared efforts to revitalize our downtown cores and the need for boldness in building the infrastructure our country needs, the revised Core Area Plan offers a key opportunity for the NCC to contribute to the public interest while building a beautiful, dignified and inspiring capital for all Canadians
Alain Miguelez is vice-president, Capital Planning, at the National Capital Commission.
https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/housing-sussex-drive
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