HOSPITAL PARKING CONCERNS
Neighbours oppose parkade plan
Ottawa's new $2.8 billion Civic hospital, when it is built, will boast 21st century technology and the kind of infrastructure that will reduce risks from future pandemics, among other features. But, in order to get there, hospital officials and planners must first tackle a 20th-century problem: parking.
Parking has been a key issue since planning first began for the new hospital more than a decade ago. And now, just weeks away from the first phase of potential planning approval by the City of Ottawa in late August, concerns about parking plans for the proposed new hospital are louder than ever.
A planned four-storey parking garage near Dow's Lake is emerging as a key focus of concern.
When the hospital revealed the plans earlier this year, some neighbouring groups were surprised by the parking garage.
Shaun Hopkins, who represents homeowners in two condo developments near the site of the proposed parking garage, said stakeholder groups, including neighbours, were assured three years ago that the new Civic hospital would include underground parking, not an above-ground parkade.
Hopkins says that hospital CEO Cameron Love, who was then chief operating officer, “publicly promised that the new Civic hospital would include underground parking and that `the ministry is willing to work with us' to fund underground parking,” which could cost around $150 million, according to community stakeholders.
Instead, Hopkins describes the planned four-storey, 2,500-space parking garage as “equivalent in size to the parkade at the Ottawa International Airport.” And that is planned for what is currently Queen Juliana Park, a site designated for a building of national significance and on federal land beside a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Rideau Canal.
The hospital says the parkade will include a rooftop park.
Hopkins said he and others in the community welcome the new Civic hospital.
“We are all so happy there is going to be a new hospital in Ottawa. This is going to be a shining light for the city. This isn't about opposing the hospital. This is about opposing the plan for parking.”
Hopkins and neighbours are far from alone in their concerns.
Capital ward Coun. Shawn Menard has already raised concerns about the parkade, saying it isn't an appropriate use of the land across from Dow's Lake.
“The parking garage will cut off views of Dow's Lake and segregate Carling Avenue from Dow's Lake and, by extension, Commissioner's Park. It will not only tower over Dow's Lake, but also over the Dow's Lake Pavilion,” he wrote.
Menard said the plan to move Queen Juliana Park to the top of the parking garage “is better than a layer of asphalt staring up to the sky,” but it does not sufficiently replicate the current green space or serve the needs of residents.
Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Lieper has also raised concerns about parking and other issues involving the new hospital. The plans go before the city's planning committee on Aug. 26.
Hopkins said the planned park on the roof of the parkade seems highly impractical during Ottawa winters and won't replace what is being lost.
Parking is an issue that has long bedevilled hospitals around the province.
The province does not, as a matter of course, pay for parking infrastructure for hospital buildings, which gives hospitals an incentive to maximize surface parking when they rebuild because it costs significantly less than parking garages, especially those built underground. In addition, hospitals rely on parking revenue.
Hopkins said he and others were pleasantly surprised when Love suggested the province would help pay for underground parking at the site back in 2018.
“The community was ecstatic because of the national significance of this site where the hospital is going to be going. That was a wonderful promise.”
Now the plans call for berms and trees to screen the parking garage from street view and relocating Queen Juliana Park to the roof of the garage, which Hopkins says “defies logic and common sense.
“We are extremely disappointed that the hospital has reneged on that promise.”
The hospital did not directly address the issue, but said in a statement that the site plan is not yet final and “will be adjusted based on consultations with the public and government.
“The hospital is grateful for the interest and engagement that our community has shown in this once-in-a-lifetime project. We are currently consulting with communities and all levels of government in Ottawa and across the region, and welcome the public's comments on the proposed design for the new development.”
In addition to the parking garage, the hospital will have surface parking for more than 500 staff members near the main building.
Unique to Ottawa, approval for the hospital plans come from several levels of government: the city, provincial government, federal government and National Capital Commission are all involved. That is especially so because the site — selected after earlier ones were rejected — edges on, or is partly built on, areas of national significance and local importance, including the Rideau Canal, the Experimental Farm and the Dominion Arboretum.
The final stages of planning for the hospital are coming at a time when more Ottawa residents have rediscovered some of the local gems around the canal and Experimental Farm as parks were in increased use during the pandemic.
Hopkins says several city councillors have also expressed private concerns to him about the parking garage. He is calling for the city to suspend the approval process for the new hospital until The Ottawa Hospital formally requests funding for underground parking from federal and provincial infrastructure programs.
Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna, whose Ottawa Centre riding includes the site, played a key role in the eventual selection of the approved location for the hospital, at the site of the former Sir John Carling building on the edge of the Experimental Farm.
Her office said she is aware of community concerns about the Civic Hospital Master Plan “and is following the community response to this project.”
This isn't about opposing the hospital.
This is about opposing the plan for parking.