I have a favourite quote. It’s awesome. I’ve been trying to live my life by it… wanna read it?
“Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will themselves not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will not die.” Daniel H. Burnham
With that in mind, I had the pleasure of meeting Eric Darwin at a presentation by some very talented Urban Planning Students from McGill University. Eric is a really great guy and an impassioned urban idealist and advocate; he offers news and views on what’s happening on the West Side of downtown by way of his WestSideAction blog. He is also the President of the Dalhousie Community Association with access to some striking renderings and information on a new real estate development project at Preston and Carling.
The development as currently envisioned would be the tallest building in Ottawa: a 35 story residential tower with 232 residential units, 130 parking spaces, 116 bicycle spaces and an Italian heritage museum and commercial space on the lower floors. The proposed development hasn’t been officially submitted to the City, but it looks like a huge amount of time and effort has been spent on it already. In short, it’s a really big (tall) deal. The decision on how the tower will be permitted rests at City Hall and will have a giant impact on the neighbourhood with shockwaves that will affect Bytown as a whole.
At the end of a follow-up post Eric put the call out to architects and planners to comment. One of the first comments was from Evan Thornton, editor of Spacing Ottawa and another impassioned urban idealist and advocate. He agreed that it would be nice to hear from architects or planners. Citing that we have a lot to do with the shape this city is taking, but that we keep our heads low. He even agrees that he’d keep it zipped as well if he was a planner. He ends his comment by asking if any of this is good for democratic civic engagement. Not at all, he answers, pointing out that this is why citizen activism is so vital.
As an urban planner who works on Preston, is a nearby resident, and of Italian heritage (albeit half) what do I think? Well, first I think Bytown is a town that’s experiencing some pretty serious growing pains right now as it makes the transition to a city with an identity. It’s exciting to be here right now.
That said, I have been personally berated, both in print and in person, for my own private endeavors to help Ottawa ‘grow up’. As a result, I know better than to shoot from the hip. Instead I want to highlight that the critical point is that even though this development will impact a neighbourhood, the decision to allow it will impact our town as a whole. In short, it is important that when consultation opportunities arise the whole city gets in on it (hopefully the Glebites will be busy that night with Lansdowne). I’ll do my best to keep fans and foes of this project up to date on how to get involved here.
As for me, the truth is I want to believe that we are ready for something like this, after all Minto’s Metropole turned out pretty good and is of similar size and on transit as well. But, we have planning policies in place and those are the policies that govern our built areas (as well as my professional life). I believe that those polices have our best interests in mind and need to be applied to the proposed Preston Street Development. With that said, our regulatory environment is an organic one and grows with the times just like our neighbourhoods do. Neighbourhoods that include a Downtown, Centretown, Lowertown, and now…the opportunity for a Midtown.
What do you think about the Preston Street Project? Please comment below.
