NCC Greenbelt

[BlackRedGold]

Originally Posted by S-Man

I'm not sure if the Barrhaven Transitway corridor was factored into initial plans - Barrhaven was supposed to get LRT along a perpendicular route in 2006 but then it was cancelled. The Transitway wasn't announced until 2009, I think. I think they got lucky and the final phases of retail were able to incorporate the last-minute corridor. The earlier finished phases just had their parking lot gouged out for the Strandherd bus underpass.

The site had always been designed for the Transitway to run through it regardless of when it was eventually announced to be built. The strips in the middle left the space open for the bus lanes and they were built almost a decade ago. There were very few spaces in the parking lot that was gouged out for the underpass. That space had been left as a pathway since development with the except of a few spots that were paved over to connect one section of the parking lot with another.

[eternallyme]

As for Longfields Station, it had suspiciously sat undeveloped for so long until the Transitway came along. That sounds like either strategic waiting, or extreme luck there, since if it was developed at the same time as everything else, it would have not been transit-inducive at all.

[blackjagger]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

As for Longfields Station, it had suspiciously sat undeveloped for so long until the Transitway came along. That sounds like either strategic waiting, or extreme luck there, since if it was developed at the same time as everything else, it would have not been transit-inducive at all.

It was one of the City owned development lots along the Longfields corridor that was sold in the last couple of years. Most of the lots had density targets and zoning before the sale.

Cheers,
Josh

[S-Man]

Yeah, the Longfields lands only started to get traction for selling when the Transitway was proposed in the wake of the north-aouth LRT cancellation. Some of the lands bordering on Woodroffe are starting construction now, but they are low density. At least the areas nearer the TWay are zoned higher.

With today's census showing Barrhaven (especially south of Strandherd) as the fastest growing area of the city, they'd better have some planning/density to show for their efforts.

I think this year there will be word on the 12-storey buildings planned near the Transitway terminus south of the marketplace.

Notice the survey on this page, which has been posted since last fall:

http://www.minto.com/buy-a-home-in-o...ills/main.html

[waterloowarrior]

Plans for the Transitway and for the Longfields neighbourhood go a while back. this ppt has some info http://www.barrhavenbia.ca/planning/...nceptmar07.ppt

[Dado]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

Was that land kept aside for after the Transitway, or did they get lucky there that no one wanted to develop it?

If anything, the "luck" was in securing the land for the N-S LRT corridor.

Originally Posted by S-Man

I'm not sure if the Barrhaven Transitway corridor was factored into initial plans - Barrhaven was supposed to get LRT along a perpendicular route in 2006 but then it was cancelled. The Transitway wasn't announced until 2009, I think. I think they got lucky and the final phases of retail were able to incorporate the last-minute corridor. The earlier finished phases just had their parking lot gouged out for the Strandherd bus underpass.

I'm rather stunned at the level of ignorance of the City's Rapid Transit planning on display here. To put it simply, all Transitway corridors outside the Greenbelt have long been reserved.

The land for the Southwest Transitway to Barrhaven/South Nepean Town Centre was secured in the late 1990s, and south from there all the way to Cambrian Rd in another couple of EAs in 2005 and 2006 (the former being the N-S LRT EA). No parking lot was "gouged out" for the underpass; it was put into a reserved corridor between parking lots that had become overgrown with weeds and whose uses seemed to have been limited to a few picnic tables for retail workers and stowage of garbage containers.

All developers long ago knew that the Southwest Transitway was coming. They knew that it would go under Strandherd and would be trenched through the northern part. There was no luck in it. As above, the "last minute" business was really concerning the N-S LRT corridor and how it would integrate with the BRT corridor. Indeed, it was all so last minute that the later 2006 EA for the Southwest Transitway extension to Cambrian ended up modifying the 2005 EA for the N-S LRT with respect to how the two facilities would link up east of Greenbank. That link-up location lies to the south of the current development, as does much of the rest of the future South Nepean Town Centre.

Barrhaven was never supposed to get an LRT corridor; what it was always supposed to get is the BRT corridor that it is now getting. It was only in the 2003 TMP that someone came up with the idea to send LRT to Barrhaven via Riverside South rather than a saner route along the Southwest Transitway and railway corridors.

As far as rapid transit to the suburbs goes, Barrhaven has been unusually fortunate. It is the only one with a dedicated transitway across the Greenbelt and the only one to get a transitway built through the suburb itself and it was slated to get LRT. Kanata and Orleans continue to rely on freeway bus lanes, and only as far as March Rd and Place d'Orléans, respectively. This is despite the fact that both Kanata and Orleans have much larger ridership than Barrhaven.

As for the term 'town centres', I think in the '80s the city was actually thinking 'Town Car centres'.

Of course back then it was the RMOC and the townships.

[Dado]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

And that's just it: the foxes were left in charge of the henhouses, and they built shithouses. (How's that for a mangled metaphor?)

The city should have dictated the terms and forms of the "town centres". Instead we got Orleans, and Kanata Centrum.

Or they could have done something even simpler: just bought the land outright and planned and developed the damned things themselves.

[S-Man]

Easy, Dado - I apologize for my ignorance, though it's more like confusion (there was a lot of stuff going on in the mid part of the last decade).

I agree that Barrhaven has been very fortunate when it comes to transit and infrastructure. Likely a reason why it grew by 25% in the last census.

[lrt's friend]

As far as rapid transit to the suburbs goes, Barrhaven has been unusually fortunate. It is the only one with a dedicated transitway across the Greenbelt and the only one to get a transitway built through the suburb itself and it was slated to get LRT. Kanata and Orleans continue to rely on freeway bus lanes, and only as far as March Rd and Place d'Orléans, respectively. This is despite the fact that both Kanata and Orleans have much larger ridership than Barrhaven.

Both Orleans and Kanata got their Transitway. It's called the Queensway.

Transportation to these two communities is a factor of when they were planned, prior to the idea of Transitways and rapid transit. As a result, there is a lack of planned rapid transit corridors except in the newer sections. This has increased costs to deliver rapid transit dramatically and beyond the capacity of the city to fund.

So, we had a choice. Build rapid transit to the south more cheaply where corridors were set aside since day one or don't build it at all. The cost of getting the Transitway out to just Moodie Drive is going to be huge and this is why it has taken so long.

Part of the problem is that we are encouraging development where it is so expensive to deliver transit instead of encouraging development where it is cheap to provide transit. We will see the results on our tax bills.

[Dado]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Both Orleans and Kanata got their Transitway. It's called the Queensway.

Yes, they have bus lanes on the Queensway. And bus lanes on Woodroffe between Hunt Club and the railway tracks at Fallowfield were all that were needed for Barrhaven, especially since bus lanes are what is used further north on Woodroffe where there are far more streets to worry about. That money could have been spent instead on an actual Transitway station at Fallowfield.

Transportation to these two communities is a factor of when they were planned, prior to the idea of Transitways and rapid transit. As a result, there is a lack of planned rapid transit corridors except in the newer sections. This has increased costs to deliver rapid transit dramatically and beyond the capacity of the city to fund.

There are planned transitway corridors both east and west. They have existed at the conceptual level since the mid 1970s. But just because they are planned doesn't mean they aren't going to be costly to build - we need look no further than the recently-developed plan for the section of the West Transitway running north-south between Kanata and Stittsville on an elevated roadway for proof of that.

So, we had a choice. Build rapid transit to the south more cheaply where corridors were set aside since day one or don't build it at all. The cost of getting the Transitway out to just Moodie Drive is going to be huge and this is why it has taken so long.

Are you talking about the entire run from Lincoln Fields to Moodie Drive, or just from Bayshore? The bit from Bayshore isn't that expensive, and most of the expense could be avoided if the City and its consultants stopped pussy-footing with the MTO: no more requirements to build three underpasses to get under multiple ramps when rearranging the interchange layout from parclo to diamond would do the job for far less expenditure.

[waterloowarrior]

JOINT STUDY TO ASSESS CUMULATIVE EFFECTS OF TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURES ON THE NATIONAL CAPITAL GREENBELT – STUDY REPORT

http://app05.ottawa.ca/sirepub/mtgvi...&itemid=115265

[waterloowarrior]

some open houses finalizing the Greenbelt Master Plan
http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/plac...c-consultation

[J.OT13]

"Finalizing"? How is that possible? It's only been 4 and a half years.

[waterloowarrior]

Greenbelt Master Plan adopted
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/bo...044/story.html

[rocketphish]

Ottawa bets on NCC farm as future precision agriculture hub
Autonomous tractors, data-collecting drones among technologies poised to transform sector

By: Rosa Saba, OBJ
Published: Feb 14, 2019 11:40am EST

Local tech firms, politicians and economic development officials are pushing to turn the Greenbelt Research Farm in south Nepean into an R&D centre for the emerging field of precision agriculture.

In 2017, Ottawa was part of a bid for “supercluster” funding aimed at accelerating growing sectors in Canada, which saw a total of $950 million split between five groups. The national bid included a plan to turn the National Capital Commission’s Greenbelt Research Farm – bordered by Woodroffe Avenue and West Hunt Club, Fallowfield and Greenbank roads – into a testbed for agricultural technology.

Though the bid didn’t make it to the finish line, several of its stakeholders are ploughing forward with another bid, this time for funding from the government’s Strategic Innovation Fund.

This particular funding will see one successful group receive between $10 million and $50 million for projects focused on automation and digital technologies in the agriculture and agri-food sector.

Ottawa city councillor Jan Harder, who was an advocate for the first supercluster bid, says the city – along with Invest Ottawa, agri-tech startup The Growcer and others – have joined partners in Alberta to form Canada’s Farm to Table Agritech Network.

The bid will see a similar proposal: to turn the former research farm into a national testbed for agricultural technology such as autonomous tractors and data-collecting drones.

Harder says she believes Ottawa has the opportunity to play a significant role in developing emerging agricultural technologies.

“We want to support growing practices that consumers want,” says Harder.

“We have an obligation, we believe, to farmers and Canadians.”

The farm, which was previously used for livestock and poultry research, is already home to the private autonomous vehicle testbed currently being developed.

Michael Tremblay, the president and CEO of Invest Ottawa, says testing autonomous farm vehicles on this 16-kilometre track will be a natural fit, but the bid – due March 9 – is aimed at doing much more.

With 25 buildings sitting unused from the farm’s previous research projects, Tremblay hopes the land will soon be used to test cutting-edge agricultural technology.

Ottawa’s contribution to the field of precision agriculture includes its strong communications technology base, says Tremblay, adding that connectivity will be key to making emerging agricultural technology work in rural farming areas.

“There’s a big opportunity (for Ottawa) in terms of making available communications technologies in those remote areas,” he says.

Geraldine Wildman, program manager with the city’s rural affairs and economic development departments, says precision agriculture was identified in Ottawa’s latest economic strategy as a key area of focus. Ottawa is also a partner with the Agri-East Lowlands initiative (AEL), which aims to bring together producers and researchers from across the region.

“Our goal (is to create) an innovation hub that ... encourages collaboration from across industry and not-for-profit and government sectors,” says Wildman.

The possibility of a precision agriculture research hub is an attractive one for Barrhaven and Nepean, which could stand to benefit from increased economic activity nearby.

A 2016 economic analysis of Barrhaven by consulting firm Doyletech identified agriculture and agri-tech as a key sector to focus on for the area, according to Barrhaven BIA executive director Andrea Steenbakkers.

“We’re really the hub where rural connects with urban,” she says.

The BBIA is also a partner in the AEL, which Steenbakkers says hopes to contribute to future work being done on the farm by helping connect rural producers with researchers.

“Everybody needs to start working together to brand the area as being rich and innovative in agricultural technology,” she says. “It’s just not known yet.”

https://obj.ca/article/ottawa-bets-n...griculture-hub

[J.OT13]

This could become one busy ass corner of the greenbelt. Agricultural technology, autonomous vehicles, film studio. What, we running out of space?

[danishh]

this is a lot more appropriate use than the sound stage imo. As long as they're not planning on building an engineering campus there, it should be fine.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by danishh

this is a lot more appropriate use than the sound stage imo. As long as they're not planning on building an engineering campus there, it should be fine.

I have nothing against any of the proposed uses. All great projects. Just wondering how realistic it is to have them all evolving on the same patch of land.

[danishh]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I have nothing against any of the proposed uses. All great projects. Just wondering how realistic it is to have them all evolving on the same patch of land.

Does anyone know where we are with greenbank widening to 4 lanes and grade separation of the Woodroffe Via rail tracks?

I suppose if both were in place before the jobs come, it shouldn't disrupt traffic too much with the expanded capacity.

[rocketphish]

If Ottawa is serious about its climate emergency, it's time to consider developing the Greenbelt

Randall Denley, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: February 4, 2020

Urban sprawl is bad, so stopping urban sprawl must be good, right? That’s the executive summary of an argument put forward by Ottawa environmental groups that want the city to add no new suburban land to its next 25-year growth plan.

Superficially, it’s an appealing notion. The case is easily made that a denser, more compact city is cheaper to service and easier to get around. There are, however, a few small problems with the argument.

The first is the term urban sprawl. When used properly, it refers to unplanned, uncontrolled development at the edge of a city. Ottawa doesn’t have that and hasn’t had it for a very long time. The city decides what will go where and how dense new development will be. Far from sprawling, Ottawa has been reluctant to expand the size of its urban area. That’s why we see new suburban development that packs people in in a manner that would make sardines claustrophobic.

The city’s numbers show that intensification is gaining ground. The city’s Official Plan hoped intensification would deliver 40 per cent of all development between 2017 and 2022. During the first two years of that target period, intensification was 47 per cent, with a real spurt in 2018, when it accounted for 55 per cent of all urban and suburban development.

That’s substantial, but city planners see a ceiling ahead. Documents supporting the new Official Plan, to be approved next year, aim for 60 per cent intensification by 2046. It’s a number that sounds achievable, but the more intensification takes place, the tougher the target gets in subsequent years as easy redevelopment sites are built. There is also a public resistance factor. Intensification is universally popular, as long as it’s taking place in someone else’s neighbourhood.

Since there are no big signs marking the city’s urban boundary, one might simplistically assume that the boundary is where development stops now. That’s hardly the case. The city says land already approved for growth will handle our needs until 2036, so suburbs will continue to grow.

The new Official Plan’s horizon extends to 2046, so the city does need to identify some plausible strategy to allow for growth over that final 10-year period. That’s a provincial requirement.

There is really only one growth solution that would give the city the land capacity it requires and deliver all the environmental, transportation and practical benefits that environment groups envision. One devoutly hopes that they champion it.

The solution is, of course, development of select parts of the National Capital Commission Greenbelt. City staff even point cautiously at the idea in their documents supporting the new Official Plan. It’s something that might be considered beyond the 2046 scope of the new Official Plan, when all the planners will be long retired.

Still, it’s a valid argument today. As city staff correctly note: “Expanding urban lands within the Greenbelt is a more efficient use of resources than beyond it.” That’s certainly true, for all the reasons environmentalists have identified. It’s environmentally and financially costly to put pipes, transit and roads through the 203-square-kilometre green donut Ottawans love so much.

The Greenbelt occupies about one-third of Ottawa’s urban area. While much of that should be preserved, it’s important to remember that the Greenbelt is a failed attempt to contain growth, not a collection of natural treasures.

It is believed that Ottawa planners will propose adding between 1,200 and 1,500 hectares of new development land to meet provincial requirements. That would use a little more than five per cent of the Greenbelt. The alternative is to use farmland beyond the suburban edge, at greater cost to everyone.

The Greenbelt is sacred ground to Ottawa voters, but if the city is serious about its climate emergency, a case could be made for limited development, in preference to further suburban expansion. Don’t hold your breath waiting for any councillor to champion that cause.


Randall Denley is an Ottawa political commentator and author. Contact him at randalldenley1@gmail.com

https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/co...-the-greenbelt