Stop The Ottawa Hospital's Plan to Sprawl Parking onto Historic Greenspace
Don't wait for City Council to intervene. It's up to the community to push back.
Civic leaders falling short
The Ottawa Hospital senior management lost the trust of many in the city with its new Civic Campus development. It looks like they are set to break the public trust again by building a new parking lot at the Riverside Campus.
People going to hospitals need to park. I get that. Even if the Riverside Campus is on a good transit link, and easy to access by protected bike infrastructure.
At peak hours, the Riverside parking lot is overflowing, and so I see why hospital management wants more parking.
But the hospital is planning to build a parking lot on the last remaining undeveloped parcel of the Billings Estate. In other words, they are proposing to build a parking lot not just on greenspace, but on historically important greenspace.
Some people would argue that there is plenty of greenspace along the Rideau River. But the land east of the bike path is unusable for anything other than as a buffer against Riverside traffic. Even the ultimate frisbee players who used to use the land had to give it up, as the National Capital Commission stopped mowing the area more than a few times a season.
Not related to the other Riverside issue
It’s hard to look at this parking proposal in isolation of the other recent news about the Riverside. Specifically, the Ford-Sutcliffe New Deal for Ottawa that required the City to surrender the $13m fee the hospital would have to pay for turning over land to a for-profit long term care builder. The City had gifted the land to the hospital on condition that it be used for non-profit health care.
This parking lot is NOT for the use of the LTC facility. Furthermore, the parking spots that will be lost in the construction of the LTC facility are being replaced and rebuilt on adjacent land. In other words, the new proposed parking lot has nothing to do with the LTC facility.
Raises a lot of questions
But you would never know that from the signage around the Riverside Campus. The Hospital chose to display one of its LTC development notices on the far south end of campus, next to the proposed new parking lot, even though the project scope is all up at the north end of the hospital campus.
Is the Ottawa Hospital rushing to get this parking lot built, in the hope that people think the two projects are one and the same?
How long have City staff known about this proposal to pave over greenspace? The area of the proposed parking lot was dug up a few years ago to install some new underground pipes. That work was completed last year and the soil returned, but the City never bothered to resod the land. Why, what did the City know about the hospital’s intentions? Why did residents and even the Councillor only heard about this when neighbours noticed construction workers putting in flags and markings a few weeks ago?
Is this parcel also land that the City had previously gifted to the hospital? While there may not have been any conditions on the transfer of land from the City to the hospital, surely there was an understanding. Perhaps more importantly, today, what are the expectations of the Hospital to steward public lands that were previously gifted?
Does it even make sense to create a parking lot that far from the hospital? It is a significant walk to the hospital building, and visitors don't have to go much further to find free street parking.
No sense of history
This is not just any greenspace. It’s the last untouched parcel of the Billings Estate.
The Billings Estate is a national historic site, tucked away on a quiet street in Alta Vista. The Billings family settled on the banks of the Rideau River in 1812, with subsequent generations living in the estate until the 1970s. The family did much to build the city we know today, including helping to develop the Byward Market.
While the Riverside campus has a parking issue, is the best solution really to pave over a part of our city’s history?
Other options
Before destroying historic greenspace, has the hospital considered other options?
Build a multi-story parking building at the existing parking lot. The hospital could build a new parking garage, but is not willing to on the basis of cost. Surface level parking is always cheaper, but that does not justify eating up all the available land nearby. Considering the hospital just got let off the hook for a $13m penalty for breaking their agreement with the City on the LTC project, couldn’t that $13m savings be redirected for a parking garage?
Promote alternative methods for accessing the hospital. The hospital does very little, if anything, to encourage people to get to the hospital by transit or active transportation. The campus doesn’t inform patients that the hospital has its own stop on the transit way. Bike racks at the campus are almost non-existent.
Manage peak demand through a shuttle service. The Riverside is a day hospital, and has a parking issue for probably five hours a day five days of week. No one is there on the weekend. We could offer visitors a free shuttle from another nearby parking location to the Riverside during those peak hours.
What’s next
It’s remarkable that the Ottawa Hospital considers greenspace as a “nice to have”, given the growing body of knowledge on the role of nature in healing.
“Nice to have” until a higher priority comes along — which seems to be just about anything. Parking at hospitals is required, but the Hospital should be building parking up, not sprawling out and destroying a part of our history.
I have little confidence that Ottawa City Hall will push back on the Hospital. Too many on Council are bought into the concept that sprawl is what’s best for this city.
It’s up to the community, and in particular the hyper-local Billings and Faircrest Heights neighbourhoods, to lead the push back.
Holding the powers that be to account
I have suggestions for the local neighbours.
Get organized and lead. There is strength in numbers. Stand together. You need to step up and lead the opposition to this unnecessary and destructive project.
Simple messages repeated often. Develop simple messages that emotionally resonate. Repeat them to the point that you are sick of hearing them — only then are those messages starting to get through.
Get the media on your side. This issue is about to hit the news, but it needs a sustained effort to keep it in the public’s attention.
Get Council up to speed quickly on the issues. Someone write a briefing note that provides the analysis for busy councillors and their overworked staff. Then, hold Councillors accountable for making sure The Ottawa Hospital does the right thing. That starts with slowing down the project and forcing the hospital to actually tell the community what they are thinking of doing with this space.
Quickly define an alternative vision for the greenspace. I’d suggest a vision that speaks to the history of this town, both by the Billings family and by the indigenous communities that originally lived on these lands. Put in the benches, historical markers and other simple amenities that could transform this unused lot into a community meeting space. Perhaps include a garden with native species, that doubles as a refuge for hospital patients. Get an artist to create some landscape design drawings, to help people understand what we could be giving up by building another parking lot.
Make The Ottawa Hospital wear their decision. If the hospital is trying to sneak this one through, that needs to be made transparent. Doug Ford made clear that he is a big fan of Ottawa Hospital CEO Cameron Love, citing Love’s ability to get things done by not asking for permission. The Ottawa Hospital is looking for $150 million from taxpayers for the Civic Campus. The first step in a big donation is to be a good corporate citizen across all your operations.
Bring in support from the wider community. We’re here to help, but we need the immediate neighbours around Billings and Faircrest Heights to take charge and send out the invite. How about starting with a rally one sunny weekend afternoon on the greenspace itself?
The state of our city
This is what governance in Ottawa has come to under current leadership. A city hall that works for the developers and business establishment.
Community groups have become the last line of defence in creating the city we deserve.
Billings and Faircrest Heights. Many of us are ready to help. But we need you to lead.
Question about parking at the hospital: has anyone collected data regarding how many staff are driving and how far they drive from? Those cars will fill the lots and stay that way for 8-12 hours. I continually puzzle over why the hospital isn't encouraging staff (ie. campaigning, offering mass transit passes, etc.) or more stringently insisting staff take public transport. That frees up spaces for patients who shouldn't have to take public transit for treatment (although that's another discussion altogether).
Very informative article. But even so, so readers don't seem to understand what is going on and what is at stake. Omission, transparency, integrity, being a good member of the community, stewardship .. trust in our governments and institutions..... etc etc.