West-end LRT route upsets seniors

Residents worry train nearby will cause noise, vibration

Despite the City of Ottawa’s commitment to mitigate as best it can the impact of the Confederation Line LRT western extension on area residents, the project still faces opposition from a church congregation whose property will be affected by the project.

“It’s going to impact 130 seniors, impact their lives for two years of construction, with all the noise and confusion and traffic that brings,” Christina O’Neil, the executive director of the seniors’ home operated by First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa, said at a Monday evening information session on the LRT route. “We’re going to fight this. We’ll get engineers, lawyers, lobbyists to fight this.”

Early this month, the city and the NCC announced they had reached an agreement in principle to build a 1.2-kilometre portion of the LRT line underground between Cleary and Dominion stations and realign Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway. The section is part of Phase 2 of light rail construction, which would see 19 new stations and an additional 35 kilometres of track by 2023.

The agreement, which would move the proposed route 30 metres closer to the Ottawa River, addresses the NCC’s requirement for unimpeded access to lands along the river corridor and protection of mature growth in the area. For its part, city’s financial concerns are satisfied with the agreement. The city has budgeted $980 million for the western extension, and the proposed alignment will supposedly stay within that budget.

Monday’s open house at Jean Pigott Place gave the public a chance to see what the agreement is all about in detail. About 300 people turned out. City officials stressed that much of the plan still needs to be refined. That refinement, they said, would take into consideration public concerns and input before anything its finalized. The areas of most concern, at least to local residents, are around Dominion and Cleary stations, with the latter the most troublesome because of the impact not only on the seniors’ residence but also the First Unitarian Church and a daycare.

The congregation owns a 2.4-hectare parcel of land adjacent to where the LRT line would begin to enter an underground tunnel and where Cleary station would be located. According to church officials, the tunnel just west of the station would run beneath a parking lot and curve south to meet Richmond Road.

O’Neil said her group will pressure the city to change the LRT corridor to avoid the congregation’s property. The cut-and-cover construction currently proposed will effectively destroy the seniors’ “front yards and rip out their gardens” during at least the two years of construction. As well, there is concern the vibrations from passing trains would create an endless disturbances to residents. At peak times, a train will pass about every two-and-a-half minutes.

Project manager Chris Swail said the city would do everything it can to mitigate construction noise and any vibrations caused by the trains. He also noted the precise location

We’re going to fight this. We’ll get engineers, lawyers, lobbyists to fight this.

of the route and the transit stations remains to be settled, leaving some scope for public feedback that can be taken into consideration.

Despite the church’s concerns, most of those who attended seemed to think the agreement between the NCC and the city would well serve the community as a whole.

“It’s a reasonable compromise,” said resident Robert Smith. “The LRT will have an impact on some during construction, but you have to look at the common good. The fact the city is working with the NCC is very positive.”