While the Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendments remain an open file at City Hall, the Hospital has moved swiftly to “turn the page” in its dealing with the community. First, it commissioned a report by two respected experts in public engagement, Don Lenihan and Grégoire Jodouin: Setting the Stage, Turning the Page (September 20, 2017, 36 pp., 2.6 MB). The report sets out a strategy of deliberate engagement. Then followed seven information sessions across Ottawa and in Pembroke, run by Agnew Peckam, “health care and facility planners” out of Toronto.
Here are ten slides which summarize what they heard in these November/December sessions. A new web site was set up: http://greatertogether.ca/.
On January 31, 2018, in the Horticultural Building at Lansdowne, followed a “public information session to present an update on hospital services planned for the new campus and the background journey to an architectural design concept.” Over 200 people attended.
The architectural ideas can be viewed on the web site <here> but one has to register with the site first. UPDATE – Feb 23: One can now see the draft concept pages without registering! Click here. The 1h12m video of the Jan 31 presentation is here.
The first 17 slides of this large deck (42 slides, 13.3 MB) are the boards displayed at the meeting. The rest consists of examples from around the world where the architecture/construction firm, HDR, has implemented ideas also applicable to the new Ottawa hospital.
Another part of the web site offers a smorgasbord of ideas. Again, if you wish to contribute, or make a comment on or follow one of these ideas, you need to register.
One key element of the new engagement strategy is the formation of a Campus Engagement Group which is envisaged to have about 20 members. Here are the selection criteria and the terms of reference.
Also available at the meeting was a 1-page joint statement by the Heart Institute and the Ottawa Hospital. The statement notes that the Heart Institute’s new tower will open in 2018 but that “at the end” the Institute will be co-located on the new Ottawa Hospital campus.
Media coverage of the Jan 31 meeting:
In the Citizen:
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/the-ottawa-hospital-unveils-plans-for-2b-civic-campus by Andrew Duffy.
– Katherine Cotton and Dr. Jack Kitts say the new hospital can be a good neighbour.
http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-hospitals-pitch-to-the-public-a-healthy-sign
On CBC Radio:
http://www.cbc.ca/listen/shows/ottawa-morning/segment/15517441 – interview with Katherine Cotton, chair of the Hospital Board.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/civic-hospital-carling-design-1.4513153 – report on the meeting and reactions.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-hospital-lrt-station-1.4514418 – Mayor Watson and MPP Yasir Naqvi in favour of a stop on the Trillium line inside the building.
March 23, 2018
Today the provincial government announced that The Ottawa Hospital will receive up to $1.8 billion for design and construction of the new campus. Various other health-related pre-budget announcements were made as well. (Ontario news release; Ottawa Citizen)
May 22, 2018
Planning Committee today unanimously approved staff proposals for official plan and zoning by-law amendments to accommodate a new hospital on the Sir John Carling site (report – 3.6 MB). The Greenspace Alliance sent in this comment:
The Greenspace Alliance, which, as part of the Coalition to Protect the Farm, has been very active on the issue of the location of the new campus of the Ottawa Hospital, fully supports this Zoning Bylaw and Official Plan amendment, zoning as Institutional the entire site on which the new hospital will be built. We agree with the holding provisions put forward by City staff and will remain engaged to see them lifted as the conditions are met.
Heritage Ottawa, in a joint submission with Friends of the Rideau, supported the proposed zoning, but with some reservations because various unwanted other uses remain possible in principle. Other comments dealt with permitted height of buildings, correct mapping and absence of reference to the Rideau Canal as a World Heritage Site.
Councillor Brockington received unanimous approval of a motion directing staff to ensure that there will be open space, in particular adjacent to the C.E.F.
June 13, 2018
Ottawa City Council today passed Official Plan Amendment 214. “The purpose of the amendment is to facilitate the use of the selected site for the new campus of The Ottawa Hospital” says the Notice. The amendment designates the SJC site “General Urban” and amends the preamble to section 3.4 to recognize the site’s future use as a hospital. The Preston-Carling Secondary Plan is also amended, calling the whole site “Hospital Area” and imposing a 20-storey height limit. Finally, “a new schedule is proposed to add an additional conceptual ‘Urban Square/Park’ and an ‘Central Experimental Farm Line” to ensure that new development is sympathetic to the CEF and to help guide the future location of open space and landscaping requirements.” (Location map)
Also approved were the amendments to the Zoning By-law, making the whole site one Major Institutional Zone (I2-[x]-h) “to permit a hospital and related ancillary uses as shown in Document 2 and detailed in Document 4.” To access these documents please click on Item 9 on the City’s web site for Council’s June 13 meeting.
December 17, 2018
A propos of nothing, Elisabeth Payne reports that Minister Lisa MacLeod is foursquare behind the plans for a new Civic Hospital. MacLeod had been public about preferring Field No. 1 but says the question has now been put to rest.