The City of Ottawa is failing in its duty under the Ontario Heritage Act to protect Lansdowne Park's cultural heritage. As Heritage Ottawa has pointed out, the heritage brief commissioned by the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG) is inadequate as a guide for decision-making on heritage matters. Further evidence can be seen in the Urban Park plans released last week. Without consultation with Council, the heritage community, or the Ontario Heritage Trust, the City has made it a requirement of the Lansdowne Park 'urban park' design competition to relocate the Horticulture Building, a municipally-designated heritage site.
The proposed relocation (which is legally termed demolition or removal under the Ontario Heritage Act) not only affects the Horticulture Building itself, but will also have an impact on the heritage values of the Aberdeen Pavilion and all of Lansdowne Park. The five design proposals for the Urban Park portion of Lansdowne Park were unveiled on May 20th. Two of the designs (Plan A and Plan B vision) do not relocate the Horticulture Building. These designs risk being eliminated for choosing to keep the Horticulture Building where it is, rather than following the city's directives. Public comments about the plans are being accepted on-line until May 31 so please act now to save the Horticulture Building.
In addition to commenting on the designs, please let your councillor know that you want him or her to protect Ottawa's built heritage and say "no" to moving the Horticulture Building.
Editor's Note:
You can email all councillors and the mayor simultaneously from the Friends of Lansdowne website.
You can also object to the relocation of the Horticulture Building, if you wish, by referencing it in comments about the Stadium/Mulit-use plan: the City is accepting comments for that part of the redevelopment until June 13, 2010. The relocation of the Horticulture Building is a vital ingredient in their plan, as they want the building moved to allow for increased, intensive retail and residential development.
A new Facebook group has been created called Save the Horticulture Building. Please join if you’re on Facebook; for those not on Facebook, you can still read the posts and spread the word. Send a strong message to the City to keep the Horticulture Building in place.