"Under no conditions whatever should the ground now occupied by the Experimental Farm be used for other than park purposes...

 ...should its present use as a farm be abandoned." (page 126/238-Report of the Ottawa Improvement Commission on a general plan for the cities of Ottawa and Hull. 1915.) The OIC became the Federal District Commission in 1927 and the National Capital Commission in 1959. I have included only a fraction of the main document from 1915- savecfbrockcliffe.

Playgrounds  Six small parks and playgrounds between the Rideau and Ottawa Rivers north of the Experimental Farm and east of Holland Avenue.

Parks-Recommendations:  Rockcliffe Park to be extended and the ridge north of the quarries acquired.  The development of Dow's Lake as a recreational centre and its improvement by a revision of the shore line and the construction there of frontage for motor and pleasure boats, and its connection with the Experimental Farm; also the connecting of Dow's Lake with Brown's Inlet by means of a canal to allow circulation of water.

Parks, Parkways and Playgrounds:  "These parks will be accessible to the people, on the principle that parks should be brought to the people, instead of people being forced to travel long distances to the parks." (page 180/238).

Playgrounds encompassing 8 to 10 acres will be accessible to any citizen of Ottawa within half a mile of their location. Page 180. (Note: The City of Ottawa does not believe that parkland should be any larger than a hectare, and that "greenspace does not have to be green." Cement plazas are recommended. "The city's requirement for parks and open spaces may have to be revisited to ensure that the types of spaces required for developers reflect the need for quality spaces. The goals of a review of parks and recreational land should be 'Quality over quantity.' Parks don't have to be grassy to be green. The city should accept parkettes as part of the 5% parkland dedication."  (From:Recreational land strategy for Ottawa -2006-2031.) Pocket parks or parkettes are less than 0.5 hectares. No wonder the 22-acre Commissioners Park and 1,000 acre Experimental Farm are threatened with extinction-savecfbrockcliffe.

The main document is called "Report of the Federal Plan Commission on a general plan for the cities of Ottawa and Hull" - University of Toronto, Robarts Library.

Page 130. (The CEF in 1915 encompassed a much larger area.)