Watson proposes a new way to honour former Nepean mayor
Plan is to rename a building, not a park
The controversy over renaming Centrepointe Park after former Nepean mayor Mary Pitt ended Friday by finding a new way to commemorate her.
On the suggestion of Mayor Jim Watson, the city is now considering renaming the building it leases at 100 Constellation Cres., currently known informally as the Constellation Building, to Mary Pitt Centre.
In a letter to councillors Friday, Watson’s chief of staff Serge Arpin said the feedback received by College Ward Coun. Rick Chiarelli “suggests that the preference of some members of the local community would be to not rename an existing park.”
Renaming the Constellation building, located by Ben Franklin Place, “does not entail renaming a city facility as the building is privately owned and its name is simply reflective of its street address,” Arpin wrote, and the building’s owner, the Arnon Corporation, is on board with the proposal.
The city’s Commemorative Naming Committee has endorsed the plan also, and it will be put to a vote at the Aug. 23 meeting of the Community and Protective Services Committee.
Pitt is an exemplary community leader who has contributed to Nepean and all of Ottawa outside of her stint as mayor from 1997 to 2000, Arpin wrote on behalf of the vacationing Watson.
Pitt served as director on the Queensway- Carleton Hospital’s Foundation board, director with the Ottawa Convention Centre, director with the Villa Marconi Long-Term Care Centre, trustee of the Nepean Museum and as chairwoman of the Nepean Chamber of Commerce.
The former Nepean mayor is already commemorated in Centrepointe Park with a plaza and fountain carrying the name Mary Pitt Legacy Court. A report to committee recommends renaming the plaza Nepean Heritage Walk, which was the name it would have received if the entire park was renamed after Pitt.
Chiarelli is happy to put the controversy behind him and hopes committee members will support the latest commemoration.