Project Update - Final Concept Plan

Overview and Final Concept Plan

The project team has completed a thorough review of the 1010 Somerset site, in consideration of the feedback received during the first phase of the public engagement.

Residents overwhelmingly agreed that Plouffe park should remain, and that a school should be built to meet the needs of the community.

Various concept plans were developed and reviewed to determine any potential engineering, transportation and planning issues. Following the review of numerous iterations, the project team is pleased to share the Final Concept Plan (downloadable file).

This plan will maintain a concentration of the building elements in the north half of the site along Somerset street. The project team determined that the placement of the school in the south half of the site and establishing a lane from Somerset to Oak Street will resolve the transportation and site operational issues identified by staff.

This plan requires that the project team seek an Official Plan Amendment (OPA). The amendments will result in a plan that meets the following objectives:

• Plouffe Park is preserved with additional new park space allocated on the site.
• Active transportation is facilitated through the site and to the transitway.
• A recreation and cultural facility is built to answer the needs of the growing community and provide an opportunity for more cultural programming.
• A school is built on site with a drop-off area for parents that minimizes traffic impacts in the area.
• A child care facility is built on site.

Understanding the community’s significant interest in this project, more information is available below on:

• The public engagement process
• The revisions of various concept plans
• The Official Plan Amendment
• The next steps for the project

Once again, we thank you for your patience. We look forward to hearing your feedback during our virtual consultation session, planned in the coming weeks. Please subscribe to our project updates to receive notification when a date has been set.

Public Engagement

The 1010 Somerset project team analyzed all feedback received from the first phase of public engagement by the community. In total, the project team has received 1260 survey responses and more than 100 emails.

Most significantly, respondents agreed that the preservation of Plouffe park was a top priority. The project team also heard from the community that the presence of an elementary school was of high importance.

Additional feedback was received on the need for affordable housing, the planned recreation and cultural complex and other proposed amenities.

A virtual consultation session will be planned in the coming weeks to hear your feedback on this final concept plan. New site signage to announce the virtual consultation will be provided, which will include notices within Plant Recreation Centre directing the public to this Engage Ottawa page.

Evolution of the Concept Plan

Since the end of the first phase of public engagement, the project team has worked to develop various iterations of the concept plan to address the concerns received and meet requirements of the site.

Subject matter experts from transportation, planning and engineering services reviewed concept plan iterations against the technical requirements for the site. These technical requirements determine the operational feasibility of:

• Access and exits to the site, given the volume of uses
• Access for emergency vehicles
• Site servicing (examples: water, sewer, and solid waste)

Every attempted draft iteration caused insurmountable functional and operational issues with placing all buildings in the north half of the site to preserve the park corridor in the southern half.

The project team determined that placing the school in the southern half of the site and establishing a lane from Somerset street to Oak street could resolve the above issues.

Following this decision, the project team developed the Final Concept Plan (downloadable file). This concept plan ensures that:

• Plouffe park is preserved, and new park space is added.
• Active transportation is facilitated through the site and to the transitway.
• A recreation and cultural facility is built to answer the needs of the growing community and provide an opportunity for more cultural programming.
• An elementary school is built on site with an operationally feasible drop-off area for parents that minimizes traffic impacts in the area.
• A child care facility is built on site.
• The requirements per the purchase and sale agreements with the Federal Government are met.

Proposal – Official Plan Amendment (OPA)

The City will be seeking an Official Plan Amendment (OPA) to the Area-Specific Policy of the Corso Italia Station district in the West Downtown Core Secondary Plan.

Seeking an OPA will allow the following to be achieved at the 1010 Somerset site:

• The strategic goals of the West Downtown Secondary Plan.
• Meeting the requirements per the purchase and sale agreements with the Federal Government.
• Meeting the community needs in a densifying area.
• Maintaining its commitment to demonstrating all the proposed elements in the first concept plan.
• The needs identified by the community are balanced in the most optimal form.

The OPA will aim to meet the essence of the Secondary Plan, which states the need to:

• Expand the opportunities for active transportation.
• Improve the amount, types and quality of spaces available for the neighbourhood to balance the increased numbers of people living and visiting the district.
• Concentrate the most dense and tallest buildings along the O-Train corridor to support transit use for new residents.
• Re-establish vacant or underutilized lots, across the district, with a strong urban form and design to support and enhance a high-quality public realm.
• Nurture the arts community and other diverse, small-scale activity generators to support a resilient local culture and economy for all members of society.
• Target the achievement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in new development through the planning, design and development of alternative renewable energy solutions.

Next Steps and Resources

The release of the Final Concept Plan is now available here: link (downloadable file)

The project team will hold a virtual engagement session to review the new plan. The dates and registration information will be posted as soon as the information is available.

Like any property owner seeking an Official Plan Amendment (OPA), the 1010 Somerset project team will need to make the appropriate applications and follow the Council-approved processes.

We will continue to update the community through targeted communications and Engage Ottawa updates to ensure that residents are informed during each step of the process.

Please stay use the ‘Stay Informed’ feature on this Engage Ottawa page for information and updates. The project team is also available through the project email.