Heron Gate residents deserve city’s support

Councillor failed poverty-stricken community, says Paul Howard.

Recent news that Timbercreek Asset Management will be bulldozing the homes of 105 Heron Gate households to build modern townhouses and apartments raises serious concerns that the City of Ottawa’s planning process lacks meaningful stakeholder consultation where disadvantaged communities are involved. Both Timbercreek and the city councillor should be doing more to bring forward a thoughtful and inclusive vision for community revitalization at Heron Gate.

As a lifelong resident of Ottawa, living my formative years in Heron Gate, I know well the challenges facing residents there. Widespread generational poverty, crumbling housing stock, a scarcity of community services and antiquated recreational facilities leave many families managing burdens — in stark contrast to other, better supported communities in Ottawa.

Only six months ago, Alta Vista Coun. Jean Cloutier cut the ribbon at the opening of an open-air refrigerated rink at the Canterbury Recreation Complex, a facility he championed which requires all property owners in the ward to pay an extra fee of $16.88 annually for 10 years. The special levy would bring in $2.9 million from taxpayers in that time. Development charges would contribute another $2.5 million and $550,000 would come from sponsorships and community partners. Cloutier has estimated the total cost of the project at $5.8 million. One wonders if the special tax paid by all property homeowners in Alta Vista ward might have been better invested in building much-needed recreational infrastructure, specifically at Heron Gate.

Beyond the other visionary community development in Ottawa — for instance Millennium Park in Cumberland, the redevelopment of Mooney’s Bay and LeBreton Flats, albeit on a larger scale — I feel that Timbercreek, with Cloutier’s tacit support, has put the building of bricks and mortar over the wellbeing of vulnerable communities. For example, Timbercreek advised Cloutier on April 18 that Heron Gate residents would be evicted. Twenty-two days later, Timbercreek made the eviction plans public. In the space of 22 days, did Cloutier even once consider pushing back on Timbercreek, or advising Heron Gate residents of the devastating news?

Cloutier, recently interviewed by CBC regarding the eviction of Heron Gate residents, said he “was upset at the hardship that this (evictions) was going to cause the community.” But never once did he declare that he would stand up for Heron Gate’s vulnerable families or offer any tangible solutions, stating, “There is not really a city role in the eviction process.”

Instead, Cloutier offered legal and bylaw platitudes, pointed to the actions of the provincial government, and noted that the time of year of the evictions “is preferable for (the evictions) to happen outside the school year,” as if this was somehow a balm for the evicted.

It did not have to be this way. One does not need to look far to find examples of what can be done when the public and private-sector come together with common vision — with government leadership, that is. Timbercreek — along with the city — could look, for example, at Toronto’s redevelopment of Regent Park, a once disadvantaged community very similar to Heron Gate, now revitalized using bold urban-design principles and 21st-century creativity.

In a 2016 Toronto Star article, Regent Park in its revitalized form was declared “a model for urban living, creating a vibrant community that mixes uses and social strata.” The article reported that the community provides its residents with amenities including an aquatic centre, a six-acre park with bake oven and greenhouse; an unlocked street grid in accordance with modern urban-design principles; commercial developments that locals refer to as an “economic moat” around the community; a modern blended housing mix of market condos and community housing, plus seniors housing and purpose-built rental buildings; and, a community with full integration of different income levels, nationalities and ethnicities.

Timbercreek’s plan falls miserably short of maximizing the potential for inclusive and visionary redevelopment. Ottawa doesn’t need a “business as usual” approach to the redevelopment of Heron Gate. It needs bold leadership that addresses the needs of all of its residents. Vulnerable communities are counting on it.