Troster: Pitting an Ottawa park against a French-language school is an unfair choice

We need to embrace modern planning principles that will allow for both in West Centretown.

Published Oct 11, 2023 • Last updated 3 hours ago • 3 minute read

Plouffe Park on Preston Street is the centre of debate over development. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia

It is hard to imagine a more difficult conflict than one about whether a community needs a new school or should preserve a 100-year-old park. In West Centretown, this conversation has come to a head over a proposed expansion of the Plant Recreation Centre that will include new gym space, affordable housing, a cultural hub and a new French public school.

In 2021, the City of Ottawa purchased a piece of land adjacent to the Plant Recreation Centre from the federal government, getting it at a huge discount by agreeing to certain conditions. The city pledged to build 300 apartments on the land, 50 per cent of which would be affordable. The agreement also committed to consulting with the Algonquins of Ontario and expanding indoor recreational amenities. In addition, the secondary plan for Little Italy prescribed that an additional 1.2 hectares of green space be added to the existing Plouffe Park.

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More recently, the city made an agreement with the French public school board to construct the future permanent home of École élémentaire publique Louise-Arbour as part of this development. City staff were tasked with making all the required elements for this project fit. When they produced a site plan for public consultation this summer, the rendering placed the school in the middle of Plouffe Park — the only public green space and playing field in Little Italy.

I knew this would be a source of conflict. West Centretown has some of the fewest trees per capita in the city – only 20-per-cent tree coverage. Experts say we should be aiming for 40 per cent to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Pockets of downtown Ottawa have almost no green space and many residents live in apartments with no balconies or air conditioning.

Somerset Ward (which encompasses West Centretown) has the highest rate of poverty in Ottawa and the most people living in cramped rooming houses with no shared social spaces. Public parks, a scarce amenity, are incredibly valuable to the people who live here.

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And West Centretown is growing, fast. The new Corso Italia LRT station is set to open nearby and will bring a great deal more housing. Several very tall high-rises are under construction. Ottawa Community Housing is set to build hundreds of new affordable homes, both in the adjacent Gladstone Lands and up the street on Rochester. This will bring more than 7,000 new residents and many families to the neighbourhood. Kids will need a place to kick a ball, enjoy a picnic or attend summer camp.

What is also abundantly clear is that the children from Louise-Arbour need a new building as soon as possible. In an emotional meeting with parents, I learned that the temporary location for the school is woefully inadequate. It doesn’t include a gym or a library. Staff must run the water through the pipes each morning to flush out the asbestos. The urgency that these families feel is understandable and entirely justified.

But as I have said since the plans for this site were revealed, pitting the school against Plouffe Park is a profoundly unfair choice. We want to be able to support families to stay in the downtown core, and that requires both schools and green space. I have been firm with city staff and Mayor Mark Sutcliffe that we need to re-work the plan to place the school elsewhere on the site. We also need to consider nesting the school in the podium of housing or recreational amenities — embracing modern planning principles and a much more efficient use of public land.

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The city has a duty to hear all voices with any project of this magnitude. Taking a little more time to get this right will see this development embraced by the entire community for what it could be: a transformative city and neighbourhood-building project.

Once you bulldoze a park, it’s gone forever. Kids and families shouldn’t have to choose between a place to learn and a place to play. We owe them both. I am confident that by working together, we can make that happen.

Ariel Troster is the city councillor for Somerset Ward, which includes West Centretown.