Mary Pitt Centre name is approved

The controversial bid to honour former Nepean mayor Mary Pitt came to a quiet resolution Wednesday as council voted unanimously to rebrand a city-leased facility in her name.

Mary Pitt Centre will be the new moniker for what is commonly known as the Constellation Building on Constellation Crescent. It represents something of a consolation prize for those who wanted to tack the former mayor’s name onto Centrepointe Park. Outcry from a large portion of the community opposed to the renaming of the park led to heated discussions over the summer. Mayor Jim Watson eventually stepped in to propose the alternate solution to honour Pitt.

Coun. Rick Chiarelli held several community barbecues to hear concerns from the public, right before the new renaming proposal was introduced earlier this month. The building that will take Pitt’s name is an appropriate one, Chiarelli said at that time, because it sits next to Ben Franklin Place, named after the former mayor of Nepean whom Pitt served as a senior aide from 1997 to 2000.

Pitt has also served as director on the Queensway-Carleton Hospital’s Foundation board, as director with the Ottawa Convention Centre, as director with the Villa Marconi Long-Term Care Centre, as trustee of the Nepean Museum and as chairwoman of the Nepean Chamber of Commerce.

The plaza and fountain in Centrepointe Park already named after her will now be called the Nepean Heritage Walk, a change also approved on Wednesday.