The proposed revitalization of the Sparks Street pedestrian mall in downtown Ottawa has moved a step closer to reality with approval of a “public realm” plan by key parties.
Based on extensive public engagement, the 80-page plan in part calls for the street to be enhanced with greenery, cultural events, art installations and other pedestrian amenities.
The goal is to create “a more vibrant public gathering space” for residents and visitors all year round, the city said in a news release.
The plan was developed over a two-year period by the city in partnership with Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) and the National Capital Commission (NCC) and in collaboration with the Sparks Street Mall Authority and the Sparks Street Business Improvement Area.
The revitalization is estimated to cost between $57 million and $83 million.
PSPC has been asked by the city to finance the next phase of detailed design and engineering.
Once funding has been secured, work could get underway in 2022 and be completed in 2028.
“We’re currently at that awkward in-between stage,” said lead city planner and urban designer David Atkinson, a member of the project’s planning and design team.
That team also included staff from the city’s partners as well as VLAN + Civiliti, urban designers and landscape architects, who collaborated with WSP to support the plan’s development.
The pedestrian mall, Canada’s first, stretches from Elgin to Lyon streets, a block south of the Parliament buildings. It opened in 1967.
“Sparks Street is of importance to the city, the NCC and PSPC due to its prominent location at the interface between crown and town (capital and civic realms),” Court Curry, manager of Right of Way, Heritage and Urban Design Services, Infrastructure and Economic Development Department said in a report to the city’s finance and economic development committee and subsequently, city council.
“Sparks Street is in close proximity to Confederation Blvd. and numerous capital symbols and landmarks, positioning the street as a key civic street of national and international importance.”
The plan, approved by both the NCC and city council in late November, 2019 was developed in four phases, starting with an inventory of existing conditions in winter/spring 2018.
Preliminary block-by-block design scenarios, strategies and guidelines were developed in fall/winter of 2018/2019 during phase 3. Detailed design work has not yet been undertaken.
“Hopefully, as we begin to implement the plan, the street will become more of an urban oasis in the downtown,” said Atkinson, noting that renewal of the streetscape is long overdue.
The project team consulted on two occasions with the city’s urban design review panel and the NCC’s advisory committee on planning, design and realty.
Input from the consultations was integrated into the final public realm plan.
To realize the vision for the street’s revitalization, the plan advances six strategic directions and a series of 72 public realm recommendations.
These include:
- Implementation of automated security bollards at all intersections to physically control entry of vehicles;
- Introduction of perennial planting and greening across all five blocks. As many as 50 trees could be planted;
- Animation of the street through dynamic installations and public amenities and activities; and
- Development of a core of seasonal special events.
“People said over and over again (during public consultations) that the street is under-utilized,” Atkinson said. “When they come down, they should see special events and artistic installations that change often and are of high calibre.”
Atkinson said the actual street surface itself also is in “desperate need” of renewal.
Once PSPC responds to the request to finance the next phase of detailed design and engineering, city staff will work with the department to develop a funding/cost sharing agreement.
An update on the financial implications and a related funding strategy to advance the detailed design and construction phases will subsequently be presented to the city’s finance and economic development committee and then city council.
A preliminary phasing strategy anticipates the earliest streetscape construction occurring in 2022 on block 5, between Kent and Lyon streets.
A start on remaining construction phases would be co-ordinated with PSPC’s planned renewals of its own properties within the city right-of-way.
“Co-ordination with them is going to be key in the coming years,” Atkinson said. “They have some pretty big moving parts.”
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