Committee revises plan to expand OSEG’s role
Lansdowne partnership fight goes on despite offer to boost public consultation
Critics of the city’s Lansdowne Park partnership who packed council chambers Tuesday wouldn’t be placated by a softened proposal to weigh a land-control deal with the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group.
Many of the 42 people who signed up to address the finance and economic development committee still wanted to voice their anger about the idea, or just lament the original council decision to partner with OSEG on the redevelopment.
It felt like 2012 all over again. There was even a rally outside city hall before the committee meeting.
On the committee table was the annual update on the Lansdowne partnership, including a controversial staff recommendation to negotiate a deal with OSEG for the company to program the entire property, rather than just the stadium and shopping district.
Council’s leadership obviously smelled trouble brewing over the past week.
Orléans Coun. Matthew Luloff, a deputy mayor, quelled the rage with a revised recommendation that front-loads public consultation and protects the future of the farmers’ market and other community activities in the city-run portion of the property. He received full support of the committee and, maybe most importantly, Capital Coun. Shawn Menard.
Council will be asked to approve the revised recommendation on Nov. 27.
Menard, who came out swinging against the city when the initial proposal was released, said it’s important to have consultations before the city makes a decision on handing more control of the property to OSEG or retaining control. That decision would happen by the end of June 2020.
Where the original city recommendation directed staff to negotiate with OSEG about controlling the rest of the park, with a sprinkle of public consultation, the Luloff amendment downgraded the talks to “exploratory discussions,” protected rental rates for community events and made sure the city won’t spend more money on any future arrangement.
Many citizens remained skeptical.
“Why is this recommendation even before this committee?” said Isla Patterson, questioning the unknown criteria with which the city will decide whether it should turn over programming of the urban park to OSEG.
June Creelman, representing the Glebe Community Association, said the report “came out of the blue” for the organization, especially since it believes there has been good management of the city-run portion of Lansdowne.
“There is no evidence a change is needed,” Creelman said.
The urban park should continue to be run by the city and “anything else is just a matter of smoothing out co-operation,” Jo Wood told the committee.
Catherine Knoll, organizer of 613flea, was worried an event like the flea market wouldn’t be part of OSEG’s plans if the company started running more of the property.
However, not everyone responded negatively.
Erin Benjamin, president and CEO of the Canadian Live Music Association, came to the defence of OSEG and the company’s interest in programming the entire site.
OSEG has the “best interests of the community at its very heart,” Benjamin told the committee, recalling how the company hosted a benefit concert in November 2018 that raised more than $55,000 for tornado victims.
“Most importantly, it brought us together as a community, because that’s what live music does,” Benjamin said.
Ottawa Tourism also spoke out in support of OSEG.
Mark Goudie, the CEO of OSEG, said the company intended to start a conversation about “what makes sense” when it comes to programming Lansdowne.
“We have 140 employees. We bring a lot to the table in terms of our ability to do more at Lansdowne,” Goudie said after the meeting. “I think we have a vision as to what we want to accomplish, what we want the public space to look like. It was trying to get into a dialogue and an avenue where we could start bringing some of those artistic and creative ideas to bear.”
OSEG is on the hunt to improve the financial outlook at Lansdowne and attract more visitors.
The Lansdowne partnership has so far failed to produce winning results on the ledger.
While OSEG’s operating income has been in the black since 2016, it’s producing a large net loss when other non-operating matters are factored in, such as depreciation, interest and borrowing costs. The net loss for the 15-month period ending last March 31 was $12.7 million. Over the 30-year agreement, OSEG doesn’t expect to make back $69 million of its investment, and the city wouldn’t get a dime on its “deemed equity,” which is the fifth rung on the partnership’s payback priority ladder.
The city’s operation of the urban park, which includes the Aberdeen Pavilion and Horticulture Building, underspent its budget and made a bit more revenue than expected in the 2018 fiscal year.
Mayor Jim Watson, who chairs the finance and economic development committee, couldn’t get over how many people continue to fight the Lansdowne redevelopment deal.
“These are like the same people that are probably fighting the metric system,” Watson said after the meeting.
“We’ve got to move on. Lansdowne has been a very good success. It’s taken acres of asphalt — it was cruddy asphalt — a bunch of rundown buildings, the southside stands that were ready to fall down, and revitalized it. More green space, a farmers’ market, a children’s play area, an apple orchard, a community garden.
“You compare what’s there now and what was there 10 years ago and it’s night and day to the good.” jwilling@postmedia.comtwitter. com/JonathanWilling jwilling@postmedia.com twitter.com/JonathanWilling
These are like the same people that are probably fighting the metric system. We’ve got to move on.