CRUCIAL RENDEZVOUS
The National Capital Commission board of directors is scheduled to receive an update on the LeBreton Flats partnership with RendezVous LeBreton Group over two days this week. The board meets in a closed session Wednesday before opening the doors to the pu
1 The development scheme
Has RendezVous’ development vision stayed the same since the NCC declared the group the preferred proponent? No doubt, the 18,000-seat arena is still anchoring the scheme, but there have been questions about the concentration of future residential developments in the LeBreton Flats area and whether there’s a viable market for that many new, compact units. It has been almost three years since RendezVous revealed its ambitions and it wouldn’t be surprising if some tweaks have been made to the plan now that the consortium knows more about the market and has had more opportunities to bounce urban planning issues off the City of Ottawa.
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The timeline
While the NCC has characterized the board meeting this week as important, the public could be left wanting more information about the negotiations. When the NCC announced in January that it had reached an agreement in principle with RendezVous on the redevelopment, the agency said it would take between 12 and 18 months to land a master development agreement. Construction can’t begin until the federal government signs off on the deal. The NCC earlier this year estimated that it would hand the first chunk of land over to RendezVous to begin construction sometime between 2019 and 2020. Before that happens, city council also has to consider the official plan and rezoning applications for the site.
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The consultations
When the municipal planning applications are deemed complete, the public should expect to hear from the city about when residents can start providing feedback on the RendezVous proposal. The city’s planning process calls for public consultation on development applications. Often that simply means people are invited to submit comments or speak at a planning committee meeting, but these applications will require a larger outreach effort by city hall. Meanwhile, the NCC has been consulting the Algonquin community about how they can provide input and guidance on the redevelopment. 4
The money The financial capability of RendezVous to pull off the $4-billion redevelopment will always be a question until the consortium makes it official that it has the money to bring its vision to life. NCC CEO Mark Kristmanson suggested in January the consortium shouldn’t have problems finding investors after the two sides reached an agreement in principle on the redevelopment. The NCC has not said when Ren- dezVous needs to start coughing up the money for the project. RendezVous will buy the federal land, but the public doesn’t know the negotiated price. In fact, no financial terms in the deal have been released so far. 5
The Canadian Tire Centre The dark horse of the LeBreton file doesn’t have much to do with the NCC, but the Ottawa Senators still haven’t announced what their plan is for the Canadian Tire Centre once the hockey club moves downtown. There might not be any pressure for the Senators to disclose their intentions in the context of the LeBreton project, but Kanata and Stittsville residents will be interested in knowing what will become of an important piece of land that’s poised to have an LRT station once rail is extended to the western suburbs.
Certainly people are keen to know if it’s a go, is it going to happen? There’s always been speculation about whether (RendezVous) is still committed to the project like they were a few years ago. COUN. CATHERINE MCKENNEY, on LeBreton Flats. STORY, A1-2