Petitions from the Carleton Condominium Association.
Comments from the Copeland Park Community Alliance-"Huge internal initiative at City Hall. Buses routed down centre of Baseline Road will have problems but can't be stopped. 14 houses will be expropriated plus the Harvey's at Merivale and Baseline to accommodate 2nd bike lane." (copelandpark.ca)
Joint submission from the Coalition to Protect the Central Experimental Farm National Historic Site and Heritage Ottawa.
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| View west along Baseline Road. The City of Ottawa is taking a 22 foot wide strip of this property. And a 50 foot "Shelterbelt" or buffer will supposedly protect the land from pollution, wind, erosion and salt spray. The Farm is a National Interest Land Mass and a major tourist venue but that means nothing to the National Capital Commission, City of Ottawa and Public Works. |
A City of Ottawa document pertaining to the transit plan.
"Baseline Road is a major transportation corridor that facilitates movement of people and goods in east-west direction. Land use in the area includes
Bayshore Shopping Mall
Queensway Carleton Hospital
Pinecrest Cemetery
Algonquin College
College Square
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Experimental Farms
Confederation Heights
Billings Bridge Plaza
Schools, parks, retail centres, homes, townhouses, apartment buildings.
Other arterial's that intersect the proposed BRT corridor are:
Richmond Road
Greenbank Road
Woodroffe Avenue
Clyde Avenue
Merivale Road
Fisher Avenue
Prince of Wales Drive
Riverside Drive which accommodate substantial north-south travel demand throughout the day with high traffic volume during peak periods. Google: "Baseline Road Rapid Transit corridor (Bayshore Station to Heron Station..."
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What the City, National Capital Commission and Public Services and Procurement does not want us to know:
1.) The entire Experimental Farm may eventually be sold to housing developers and Ottawa Community Housing. For more than 100 years the city and NCC have been trying to get their hands on this prime real estate. Councillor Riley Brockington wants the federal government to clarify what their long-term plans are for this landmark. During the 1990's a politician stated that the government was getting "out of the business" of running experimental farms. The Chretien government wanted to demolish 40 buildings on the site including the Dominion Observatory and the Booth Barn.
On page 7 of this 124 page document I saw a drawing that shows at least 25 residential towers.
3.) During the late 1990's I watched Ottawa City Hall meetings on a cable television channel called CPAC. During one meeting a local politician stated that "a wall of condominiums" would line both sides of Carling Avenue one day. I did not believe her because I thought the Experimental Farm was off-limits to real estate developers; and no one would dare build housing on Queen Juliana Park---a park that honours Canadian war veterans. I was wrong.
Well now I believe that Baseline Road will be invaded by "a wall of condominiums." Why is the city so determined to build this transit line, so obsessed that they are expropriating land from the Pinecrest Cemetery, hundreds of homeowners, Agriculture Canada and commercial establishments.?
Similarities between the Baseline project and the Spadina Expressway controversy during the 1960's.
Another update on Experimental Farm land grabs.
1950 - The Government of Canada refused to give the City a parcel of land to build a new city hall. "Farm site rejected-Cannot build City Hall there." Evening Citizen, February 2, 1950.
June 1950 - The National Capital Commission considers moving the Farm away from it's urban area, but relents under pressure. Ottawa Citizen, 2007-12-31/150 years of memories-PressReader.
1954 - The City tries again to obtain land from the CEF to build a new city hall. The Privy Council of Canada declares that the CEF "will remain an open area in perpetuity."
1974 - The Chairman of the National Capital Commission tries to convince Agriculture Minister Eugene Whelan to give the NCC 700 acres of the Farm for housing.
1988 - 150 acres of the CEF are sold to the Municipality of Ottawa, and a further 10 acres were also available to the highest bidder. See: Marlene Catterall, House of Commons Debates, Hansard, April 14, 1988. (Ten years later Member of Parliament Marlene Catterall told the House of Commons that the Experimental Farm was now a National Historic Site and basically said that the property was off-limits to further encroachment.)
1998 - The National Capital Commission pays $1 for more than 2,000 acres of land at the Greenbelt Research Farm in Nepean. The Research Farm was an extension of the CEF. The NCC is now leasing part of the land to commercial entities.
2008 - Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz refuses to give the Civic Hospital 50 acres of land.
2016 - The National Capital Commission rejects the Sir John Carling site as a location for a new hospital.
2016 - A week later the NCC reverses that decision. The hospital pays $1 dollar for Agriculture Canada property, Queen Juliana Park and the $4 million dollar Dow's Lake parking lot.
2017 - The City of Ottawa receives approval from the National Capital Commission, Agriculture Canada and Public Services and Procurement Canada to annex Farm property for public transit. A 7 m or 22 foot wide strip of land will be removed all along the Baseline Road parcel. Another 50 feet will be a buffer zone or a shelterbelt.
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| The typical width of a street is 29 feet. |
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