The City of Ottawa Advisory Committee on Pedestrian and Vehicular Traffic is opposed to the Lansdowne Partnership Plan.

With statistical proof, the recent resolution of this committee states that Bank Street and the Queen Elizabeth Driveway do not have the capacity to accommodate the proposed additional traffic generated on a day to day basis at peak hours. This committee recommends that the City of Ottawa adhere to its Transportation Master Plan to minimize the use of private vehicles and to protect the health of its citizens from the threat of increased traffic congestion and gas emissions.

Furthermore, this official advisory committee, with the authority of its well-defined mandate, directs the City of Ottawa to do a comprehensive safety impact study on increased truck traffic, emergency, fire and protective services and the resource requirements for the safety of its citizens on the streets and walkways. The directive states that the safety impact study has to be done prior to proceeding with the Lansdowne Partnership Plan.

WHEREAS Council has given PTAC specific responsibilities¹ which include but are not limited to:

• Providing a forum for citizens and community associations to raise issues and concerns related to pedestrian and transit issues in the City, and reviewing suggestions and concerns from citizens.
• Providing advice and guidance on matters pertaining to education on pedestrian and transit related issues, and the development of policies and programs in accordance with its mandate.
• Advising on transportation issues (pedestrian, transit issues and transportation related matters) as they affect the City of Ottawa Official Plan, Secondary Plans, programs, budget, and overall policy development, including monitoring the implementation of said plans and evaluating their effectiveness.
• Providing advice on physical infrastructure related to the pedestrian network and transit system, including planning, design standards, operations and maintenance.
• Providing advice on environment and air quality issues relating to walking and transit.

AND WHEREAS The Lansdowne Partnership Plan (LPP) envisions two phases for the redevelopment:²

• Phase 1, to be completed by 2013, includes the redevelopment of the stadium and arena, redevelopment of the front lawn, building of below-and at-grade parking spaces, and construction of 300,000 square feet of retail space (including Aberdeen Pavilion). The retail space will include shops, restaurants, a 40,000 square foot high-end specialty food store such as Whole Foods (identified in the LPP) and a 45, 000 square feet, 10-screen cinema. The shops and restaurants are proposed to bring lively activity to Lansdowne throughout the day and evening. It is expected that the cinema will provide additional evening visitors to the site.

• Phase 2, which is conceptual, but includes the development (proposed for 2014) of office, hotel and residential space along Bank and Holmwood streets. The “opportunities” are: construction of 20 stacked condominium townhomes (40 units) along the south side of Holmwood; construction of a total of 168 condominium units (48 in a four-storey residential building atop the two-storey retail component at Holmwood and Bank; and 120 units in a six-storey building atop the two-storey retail component on Bank Street); 116,000 square feet of office space in a six-storey office building atop the two-storey retail south of the Park’s main entrance; and a hotel of up to 180 rooms comprising 100,000 square feet. Hence, buildings will have 6-8 storeys. This significantly changes the streetscape.

• According to Mr. John Smit, Manager, Development Review, Phase 1 now includes the hotel and office components.³

AND WHEREAS:

The Lansdowne Partnership Plan proposes to build underground parking spots with joint investment from the City of Ottawa and OSEG. The vast majority of the parking spots planned will be required to provide the minimum amount of spaces needed to support the retail, residential and commercial components.

For a CFL game or other sporting events (24,000 person sized events) with a 35% modal split (percent of trips undertaken by public transit or other `green` forms of transportation) there will still be a requirement of 6,500 parking spaces.

The parking strategy for the site proposes to fulfill this requirement by using:

- 1,000 of the 1,615 parking on site.

- 3,500 of the 5,000 community on-street parking spots

- 2,000+ offsite parking spots

AND WHEREAS:

The proposed primary offsite parking lots include: Billing Bridge, Carleton University, City Hall and Confederation Heights. There have been no agreements with any of the prospective offsite parking landlords or any details on how the shuttle services might operate;

During these events it is proposed to implement Bank street bus priority lanes for two hours before and after a game, including a parking ban on Bank street during that time. The bus routes increased in frequency would likely be route 1 and 7. Special buses would go to Lansdowne from Billing Bridge;

Exceptionally large events (35,000+) will require that all of Bank Street would be closed to normal traffic (from Sunnyside North to Fifth Ave);

All By-Law requirements for parking for the 24,000 seat stadium, 11,000 seat Civic Centre, the Horticulture building and the Aberdeen Pavilion have been ‘grandfathered’ (waived from normal requirements);

AND WHEREAS:

Traffic density and air pollution are significant concerns of residents.⁴ Additional traffic will flow into a residential area with the result that it will be harder to find parking spots and leave/enter the neighborhood. Parking is already in short supply;

There has been little information provided on the truck traffic that will be required to support the LPP: loading spaces, truck routes, idling, frequencies. Retail (including a large grocery store) and hotel establishments will require deliveries and waste removal.⁵ According to Mr. Smit, loading areas and servicing needs are included in the transportation studies.⁶;

AND WHEREAS:

The most recent City data for how many vehicles travel down Bank at Lansdowne during peak times:

Vehicles per hour (VPH)

AM 1117 NB - 546 SB and PM 975 SB – 691 NB

Data on VPH for Saturday peak for Holmwood intersection

NB 609 and 535 SB

AND WHEREAS Traffic has been growing on Bank

The opening of the Hunt Club off ramps on the Airport Parkway in late 1998 reduced for traffic on Bank street for a brief period. However, with the building of new communities in the south of Ottawa and congestion on Bronson, the growth rate by 2007 on Bank street at Lansdowne was estimated by the IBI Group to have been 26.7% South bound and 38% North bound.

AND WHEREAS additional traffic will be generated by proposed Lansdowne development

It is estimated by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) that the proposed development will bring about an additional 566 vehicles per hour (v/h) during AM peak hours; 1269 v/h at PM peak hours; and 1482 v/h on Saturdays.

The Proponents assume that 40% of those coming to Lansdowne will be using public transportation, cycling, or walking, and that this will accordingly bring down the additional generated traffic. It is unclear how this assumption can be justified. Based on this, they suggest that the proposed development would generate the following additional traffic: 290 cars per hour during AM peak hours; 544 cars per hour during PM peak hours; and 594 cars per hour on Saturdays. Even using the Proponents numbers, Peak hours will be gridlocked and extended.

AND WHEREAS

Good planning principles accept that all major stadiums should be served by mass transit systems and highways. There is no current plan to include mass transit for Lansdowne Park. The Metro in Montreal and the subway in Toronto can move between 20,000 to 30,000 persons per hour (pph).

Currently two bus routes serve Bank street #1 and #7 on average every 10 minutes in the peak direction and every 13 minutes in the non peak direction at peak time.  These are served by 40 feet buses with a capacity of 75 passengers and total maximum ridership of 1,300 pph.

OC Transpo could move a maximum of 2,500 pph on Bank which is about double its present peak ridership. This would require 34 buses and assuming only 20 % of patrons would rely on transit could serve in two hours in and out, a stadium of 25,000. The remainder 22,500 would need to drive or walk back home.

Dedicated bus lanes along Bank Street are being proposed as a solution for resolving transportation to and from Lansdowne for special events, when parking requirements could be accommodated at satellite parking areas such as Confederation Heights, Carleton University, and Tunney’s Pasture.

AND WHEREAS:

There has been an extremely poor model of consultative practices employed, a lack of substantial information for the public and a non-competitive sole-sourcing of a City project;

Therefore BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Pedestrian and Transit Advisory Committee recommend that City Council oppose the Lansdowne Partnership Plan as has been presented;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Pedestrian and Transit Advisory Committee strongly recommend that City Council consider the following imperatives:

• A more rigorous pursuit of incorporating the massive venue with the Transportation Master Plan, to which this point there have been no credible alternatives agreed to in pursuit of an enhanced 40% modal split or connection to major City of Ottawa transportation facilities;
• PTAC emphasize to Council that at best, dedicated bus lanes could only provide a partial solution and should not be endorsed by City Council. The buses will hit bottlenecks as they switch between dedicated and non-dedicated lanes, and this will considerably impede their movement, which includes driving through congested central areas of the city. Providing dedicated bus routes along the full bus routes, however, will be nearly impossible, given the physical constraints;
• Production of a transportation plan that concretely shows minimization of the use of private vehicles in favour of pedestrian and cycling, public transit modes of transportation and reduces the health threats for residents in the local community because of vehicle emissions associated with the redeveloped Park;
• That PTAC emphasize to Council that Bank Street and QED do not have the capacity to accommodate the additional traffic generated on a day to day basis at peak hours by the proposed development, let alone for special events, which will bring in an additional 10,000 – 45,000 people;
• The City Conduct a comprehensive safety impact study that looks at: increased truck traffic; emergency, fire and protective service needs and resource requirements for the site and the neighbourhood; pedestrian, senior, cyclist, transit passengers and child safety; and streets and walkways prior to proceeding;
• Should effective TMP integration and other recommendations not be pursued, that other sites deemed more effective for stadium development, be used for this venture;

Moved By: Shawn Menard

Adopted Unanimously

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1. http://ottawa.ca/city_hall/mayor_council/advisory_committees/pedestrian/index_en.html
2. Lansdowne Partnership Plan, September 2, 2009.
3. Per John Smit, Manager, Development Review. “Update on Lansdowne Redevelopment”. Presented at the Joint Meeting of the Pedestrian and Transit and Cycling and Roads Advisory Committees, March 29, 2010.
4. Comments from the Glebe Community Association General Meeting on Proposed Development of Lansdowne Park, October 22, 2009.
5. A resident living near Glebe and Bank streets provides a perspective on the truck traffic supporting the needs of the Shoppers Drug Mart. The resident reports that 10-12 trucks daily support this retail store of likely less than 10,000 square feet of retail space. Source: Anonymous written comment provided at Glebe Community Association General Meeting on Lansdowne Park Development, October 20, 2009. Source: Glebeca.ca/committees/Lansdowne/Lansdowne.html.
6. “Update on Lansdowne Redevelopment”. Presented at the Joint Meeting of the Pedestrian and Transit and Cycling and Roads Advisory Committees, March 29, 2010.