At a public meeting and formal consultation of the City’s Urban Design Review Panel (UDRP) on December 5, we learned of revisions being made by the AEFO, in response to public comments, to their plans for a four-story parking garage at 250 Montreal Road.
In late October, we highlighted the AEFO’s revised site plan application to allow for construction of the parking garage behind the mixed-use commercial / office complex. Rather than constructing a parking facility entirely underground, the AEFO pointed to the presence of shallow bedrock in seeking permission for the garage. VanierNow identified several serious concerns with the proposal – most notably the proposed entrance / exit ramp on Levis, situated across from a school bus loading zone – and also discussed its unfortunate impact on the public environment. We were pleased to see David Reevely, and other community voices, build on this attention.
At the time, the City welcomed public comments on the site plan application. On Wednesday, December 5, having considered approximately 60 public comments, the proponent brought revised plans to the UDRP. The consultation (and online drawings, available in an 11 MB file) provided the Panel an opportunity to see and to comment on the revisions proposed by the AEFO. Panel members expressed both appreciation – and continued concern – for various reasons.
In the most significant change, the automobile entrance to the garage has been relocated from Levis to Begin. With a separate entrance on Begin still proposed for the building’s loading dock, Panel members suggested that a single cut-out to Begin, for both the entrance / exit and loading dock, would be preferable.
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With the City having clarified that the entire development site falls within the Traditional Mainstreet Zone – a designation focused on a broad range of uses and compact, mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented development – it had also become apparent that a minimum of three metres (the depth of one parking space) along Begin and Levis must be dedicated to non-parking uses. As such, the revised plans include retail spaces on the ground floor of the garage (seen below), to a depth of 6 metres. While the spaces are small, the proponent suggested possible establishments could include a barber, hair dresser, flower shop, print shop, ice cream parlor or locksmith.
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Though the intention of the zoning provision would be to animate Begin and Levis with greater pedestrian activity, panel members expressed concern with the viability of such small commercial spaces and the negative implications should they remain vacant. Discussion ensued on creating a larger non-parking use on the ground level along Levis (perhaps a daycare?), while eliminating retail space along Begin – a change that would require a minor variance application.
However, of greatest interest to the Panel members was the project’s changes to the public pedestrian plaza on the south side of the office building, adjacent to Dupuis. Panel members spoke of the “devolution of clarity” in the identity of the space, having earlier celebrated how the plaza and adjacent pedestrianized end of Dupuis would create a new, single public square out of various pieces of public space. The panel drew attention to several barriers and buffers that would now separate this new plaza from this surrounding environment (identified in the landscape plan below), pointing to the plaza laying several steps lower than Dupuis, to a green barrier between the plaza and the proposed restaurant terrace, and to an accessibility ramp proposed between the office building and Dupuis. How might we ensure this space retains the potential to serve as an urban stage, with sitting areas and spaces for informal gathering? Would the plaza be anything more than a corridor through which pedestrians could access the entrance to the garage, on the plaza’s eastern edge?
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Other design elements have also become more apparent. Sidewalks are being added on the west side of Begin, while electrical services will be buried underground. Various green elements are proposed for the garage, including a green roof above the ramp linking the various levels. An ivy-covered wall will face the condominiums at 297 Dupuis, while red-orange pre-cast concrete panels on the garage are intended to match the adjoining office complex. Open walls on upper levels of the garage will be covered with a woven stainless steel mesh, described as “lattice like screens,” limiting unwanted access and outwards light pollution while enabling ventilation.
With the formal consultation now behind them, the proponent will finalize the revised site plan application. With the input of public comments and the views of the UDRP, the City’s Planning and Growth Management Department is expected to make its decision on the application early in 2013. Panel members expressed frustration at the incremental changes they’ve seen from one iteration of the project application to another. Once approved, let’s hope the project will become the flagship development that was first introduced to, and embraced by, the community.
Image Credits: City of Ottawa Urban Design Review Panel (2012) Place Vanier Parking Garage, 250 Montreal Road, Ottawa. November 22, 2012
With the City having clarified that the entire development site falls within the Traditional Mainstreet Zone – a designation focused on a broad range of uses and compact, mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented development – it had also become apparent that a minimum of three metres (the depth of one parking space) along Begin and Levis must be dedicated to non-parking uses. As such, the revised plans include retail spaces on the ground floor of the garage (seen below), to a depth of 6 metres. While the spaces are small, the proponent suggested possible establishments could include a barber, hair dresser, flower shop, print shop, ice cream parlor or locksmith.
Though the intention of the zoning provision would be to animate Begin and Levis with greater pedestrian activity, panel members expressed concern with the viability of such small commercial spaces and the negative implications should they remain vacant. Discussion ensued on creating a larger non-parking use on the ground level along Levis (perhaps a daycare?), while eliminating retail space along Begin – a change that would require a minor variance application.
However, of greatest interest to the Panel members was the project’s changes to the public pedestrian plaza on the south side of the office building, adjacent to Dupuis. Panel members spoke of the “devolution of clarity” in the identity of the space, having earlier celebrated how the plaza and adjacent pedestrianized end of Dupuis would create a new, single public square out of various pieces of public space. The panel drew attention to several barriers and buffers that would now separate this new plaza from this surrounding environment (identified in the landscape plan below), pointing to the plaza laying several steps lower than Dupuis, to a green barrier between the plaza and the proposed restaurant terrace, and to an accessibility ramp proposed between the office building and Dupuis. How might we ensure this space retains the potential to serve as an urban stage, with sitting areas and spaces for informal gathering? Would the plaza be anything more than a corridor through which pedestrians could access the entrance to the garage, on the plaza’s eastern edge?
Other design elements have also become more apparent. Sidewalks are being added on the west side of Begin, while electrical services will be buried underground. Various green elements are proposed for the garage, including a green roof above the ramp linking the various levels. An ivy-covered wall will face the condominiums at 297 Dupuis, while red-orange pre-cast concrete panels on the garage are intended to match the adjoining office complex. Open walls on upper levels of the garage will be covered with a woven stainless steel mesh, described as “lattice like screens,” limiting unwanted access and outwards light pollution while enabling ventilation.
With the formal consultation now behind them, the proponent will finalize the revised site plan application. With the input of public comments and the views of the UDRP, the City’s Planning and Growth Management Department is expected to make its decision on the application early in 2013. Panel members expressed frustration at the incremental changes they’ve seen from one iteration of the project application to another. Once approved, let’s hope the project will become the flagship development that was first introduced to, and embraced by, the community.
Image Credits: City of Ottawa Urban Design Review Panel (2012) Place Vanier Parking Garage, 250 Montreal Road, Ottawa. November 22, 2012
