The Civic Hospital Neighbourhood Association

"The CHNA provided a wide range of comments to the city on the Revised Final Draft of the Preston-Carling Secondary Plan. We strongly opposed the excessive height for the buildings in the Preston-Carling area which will overwhelm the existing community and flood neighbourhood streets with vehicular traffic...CHNA also opposed the city's proposal for development of Queen Juliana Park, arguing that with intensification, existing park and green space is more important than ever for a healthy community." A 55-storey building will be constructed at the corner of Preston and Carling.

Preston-Carling District Secondary Plan (File No: D0I-01-14-0005): 

• CHNA strongly opposes the closing of Queen Juliana Park and strongly opposes its development into an intensified work & residential block
• Unless the City demonstrates concrete actions to preserve and enhance existing parks and greenspaces, and until the City develops and releases the Greenspace Master Plan, references throughout this document (and others) to City support for "public parks" cannot be taken seriously. The City has lost all creditability re: its commitment to greenspace in the Preston-Carling District.  
• CHNA also strongly recommends that the City of Ottawa, in particular elected officials look to the example of a Toronto city councillor who fought to keep a parcel of federal land as a park, rather than be developed as condominiums.  ("How a Toronto Councillor fights for her constituents").The parallels with Queen Juliana Park are significant.

CHNA cannot understand how the City can acknowledge and decry the lack of greenspace in the Preston District while simultaneously endorsing the development of one of the most used and beloved parks in the district-Queen Juliana Park. CHNA is perplexed and infuriated that the City is lobbying to shut down Queen Juliana Park, the only "open space" field in the Preston-Carling district. CHNA encourages the City to envision a design for the greenspace around Dow's Lake.

The Preston-Carling Secondary Plan VISION: Some of the city's tallest and finest mixed-use buildings will cluster around the Carling Avenue O-Train/future light rail transit (LRT) Station. These buildings will form a new, exciting, and distinctive downtown skyline with transition towards the adjacent stable low-rise neighbourhood. Facing Dows Lake and the Rideau Canal World Heritage Site, one of the most significant tourism and recreation destinations in the National Capital Region, these buildings will collectively present an image that is important not only to the City but also to the entire country.

Greener and more urban, the District will see the return of large street trees that historically existed in the area and an expanded network of urban space. Ev Tremblay Park will be enhanced and expanded. (Ev Tremblay Park was never expanded, the Humane Society land on 101 Champagne was sold.)