Is Barrhaven a Model for the Future?

Entrance to new subdivision in Barrhaven, Ottawa

I have written previously on the state of suburban expansion in Calgary, a topic I am very familiar with. Despite having lived in Ottawa for six years, however, I cannot say the same for this city. While a lack of interest on my part played a part, this is also due to Ottawa’s built form. Unlike other Canadian cities, Ottawa’s new suburbs are separated from the central city by a large greenbelt. To be specific, there are three primary built-up areas outside of the greenbelt: Kanata to the West, Orleans to the East and Barrhaven to the South. All of these areas are separated from one another, and collectively they receive much of the cities new growth.

Formally adopted in 2003, Ottawa’s “20/20” plan aims to accommodate the growth of the city in a more sustainable manner. A major recommendation of the plan is increased intensification of the areas within the greenbelt, but it conceded that much of Ottawa’s new growth will be at the urban fringe. For these urban fringe areas design features such as higher densities, pedestrian oriented designs, accessible public transit and modified grid street layouts are recommended. In short, new developments are intended to adhere at least loosely to the tenets of new urbanism. In order to see if such depatures from traditional suburban development have in fact taken place, I recently decided to cycle the 15 km to Barrhaven from my apartment.

Neighbourhood focal point with traffic circle and condominiums

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Ottawa: A Monumental Dilemma

As the capital of Canada, Ottawa is endowed with numerous statues and monuments. Most of them grace the public spaces that surround the city’s federal buildings, museums, and sites of national importance. One of the most prominently-situated of these statues depicts the French explorer Samuel de Champlain, who traveled past the future site of Ottawa in 1613 — two centuries before a settlement of any significance was established. Champlain who is now immortalized at the crest of Nepean point, a limestone outcropping that overlooks the Ottawa River, Gatineau, and Parliament Hill. The statue has graced this strategic site since 1915 and depicts an ‘eroicly-posed Champlain grasping his astrolabe — a navigational device that he famously lost during a portage up-river near Renfrew — as if to say, “Aha! There it is!”

But the majestic presence of the statue overshadows the controversies that have surrounded it in recent years. Historians have quibbled over Champlain’s astrolabe technique, insisting that he is holding the device upside-down (although, as my imagination leads me to believe, if the statue depicts Champlain in the midst of a “eureka!” moment, having just recovered the lost object and appraising its condition, it wouldn’t matter which way he is holding it). However, the most controversial part about the statue does not concern Champlain himself, but a Native scout that used to adorn the monument’s pedestal.

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Capital Housing

Like many other cities across Canada, Ottawa experienced a boom during the 1880s and 1890s, which persisted well into the 1930s. Much of the housing that has become characteristic to the the nation’s capital was built during this period, and most of these homes still exist. As in Toronto and Montreal, the choice building material for Ottawa’s first permanent homes was brick. While Toronto and Montreal both had large quantities of apartment buildings, though, Ottawa’s housing stock was comprised mostly of relatively large single-family homes that were often later subdivided into apartments.

The photo above shows three 1910-era multi-family homes with typical Ottawa design features: the prominent front balcony, and in the case of the two houses on the right, “barn roof” detail. Such homes were usually built to house two families—one on the upper two floors and another on the bottom floor—but many have since been subdivided into three or four-apartment units.

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O-Train Follies

Recently-elected Ottawa mayor Larry O’Brien and his new council narrowly decided in a vote at City Hall yesterday to alter the city’s proposed North-South light rail line. In a move to “fix, not nix” the LRT project, O’Brien and company decided to keep most of the proposed route intact, but discard the downtown stretch. As was the original plan for the old proposal, construction on the new route will begin immediately. O’Brien recommended that an Environmental Assessment begin for a rapid transit tunnel underneath the downtown core; a process that could take up to three years to complete.

Only three weeks into his new job as Mayor, multimillionaire O’Brien and the City were under legal pressure by the LRT contractors of Siemens/PCL/Dufferin to begin construction on the route. The City would have faced a minimum $60-million lawsuit had construction on the project not begun by December 15th. O’Brien said that he would use the estimated $70-million in savings from the discarded downtown alignment to improve rapid transit in other areas of the city and to move forward with the proposed East-West light rail line.

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Ottawa Street Art

Street art like this pops up from time to time in Ottawa’s central areas, but, unfortunately, it is usually promptly removed.

Vanity mirror near Bank Street, now replaced with “For Sale” sign.

Ottawa Votes!

Although not big news outside of Ottawa, the municipal election this year is making daily headlines in the local papers. I’m not sure if this is a regular thing, as I’ve only been here for one previous, but based on my experience in Calgary I’d guess it isn’t. I’ve taken a collection of photos of the numerous election signs all over Ottawa, which seem to be even more extensive then for the last federal election.

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Morning Coffee: Bridgehead

Fair trade coffee has entered the mainstream. Far from its old image as the fringe product that one could only obtain through a shifty-eyed neo-hippie local roaster, fair trade coffee is now recognized by the majority of the world’s large coffee corporations, and some coffeehouses and roasters have worked with the movement to succeed in business while spreading awareness about socially-responsible consumer products.

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The Other St. Laurent Blvd.

I’m sure most of those interested in urban issues (and many who aren’t) are quite familiar with St. Laurent Blvd. in Montreal. And why not? It’s arguably one of the greatest commercial streets in North America, filled with activity at almost any time of day. Of course what most aren’t aware of is that we have one in Ottawa as well, except that it’s defining traits couldn’t be any more different. A wide, grey expanse cutting across the East End, through some of the most uninspiring industrial and strip commercial districts the city has to offer, along with the largest mall to boot. I had the (mis)fortune to take a friends shift at the East End location of where I work last weekend and had my camera to accompany me on the 25 minute walk from the transitway station.

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Sparks Street Blues

To Ottawans, the ongoing saga of Sparks Street is somewhat of a tragicomedy. The street, which runs parallel to Wellington Street just one block south of Parliament Hill, exists mostly as a pedestrian mall, with vehicular access limited from Kent Street in the West to Elgin Street in the East. During its prime from the 1880s to the mid-twentieth century, Sparks Street was the commercial hub of the nation’s capital. Several of the nation’s top banks established central branches along the street to serve the city’s booming business class, and the street was home to local department stores who competed with others across the Canal in Lowertown. Sparks Street is endowed with over thirty buildings of historical significance – perhaps the highest concentration of such landmarks in Ottawa, and a reminder of the city’s heyday.

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