Old Ottawa South

Dear Friends,
Lately, many people have been asking me what my position is on the 'front lawn' design competition for the canal side section of Lansdowne Park.

Here are the reasons why I cannot support the current Lansdowne process, including the 'front lawn' competition:

• Any Canadian city that takes itself and its citizens seriously, would only move forward with a design competition for the entire 37-acre park.
• The November 2007 council approved design competition would have allowed for competitive bidding for the entire site. The competition was suspended before we could even get to the tendering stage.
• The international design competition for the 'front lawn' will cost more than the previous competition did for the entire park.
• The design competition does not change the leasing deal to the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG).
• OSEG will get leasing and sub-leasing rights to the entire park for a 30-year renewable lease. They will not pay any leasing fees to the City for the use of the land or buildings.
• The City will be on the hook for the cost of building the stadium and a share of the overall parking ($129.3 million, plus annual interest costs).
• OSEG will be given rights to build on the site: 150,000 square feet of retail, 71,000 sq. ft. of office space, 47,000 sq. ft. for a cinema, and 41,000 sq. ft. for a food store.
• The stadium, like the 309,000 sq. feet of commercial, remains in place and the front lawn competition will not change this.
• Lansdowne doesn't qualify as a stadium site under the new Official Plan because of the difficulties of access and egress.  It only qualifies through a 'grandfathering' provision because 30 years ago, it was used as an outdoor stadium site.
• A City commissioned study does not even rate Lansdowne in the top five possible sites for a 21st century stadium.
• Nor will the stadium qualify for federal and provincial funding because, design or no design competition, it remains a sole sourced procurement. The entire cost will be born by the property tax.

Ottawa residents deserve the option of choosing from different visions for the entire park and not just a commercial proposition which is constantly being tweaked as each new iteration proves unacceptable.  Remember the ocean aquarium?  Then the restaurants for the Aberdeen?  Now it's an international design for the front lawn.  It is a telling comment on the appropriateness of the front lawn competition that not a single local architectural firm has applied. Why not just get it right, have a design competition for the whole park with an open, competitive process for implementation of the winning design as other Canadian cities have done?

Lastly, please find below an update on the Lansdowne Design Symposium which is taking place next week.  The meetings on February 24 and 25 are open to the public.  All are encouraged to attend.