Maybe it’s time to leave the farm to find hospital’s Civic site

Why not look at privately-held land, or expropriation, for the new hospital?

Last week we raised the spectre of Lincoln Fields Shopping Centre being demolished, in stages, to make way for a more residential- and transit-friendly development.

We should make the point — a flustered merchant did — this could take five to 10 years, maybe even longer, so it’s business as usual.

But another reader responds with a good question. If RioCan is considering a major takedown of Lincoln Fields and Westgate malls, should these sites be considered for the new Civic campus of the Ottawa Hospital?

Interesting. On the surface, they are too small (Lincoln about 18 acres, Westgate at 12) for the hospital’s stated aspirations, at 50 to 60 acres.

But 60 acres, surely, is a moon-wish. Could smaller work? Westgate has the advantage of being surrounded by on- and off-ramps to the Queensway and is located on a couple of arterials, Carling Avenue and Merivale Road. And think: It is across the street from the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, with a big parking lot in between.

Is there a way to physically link the two, even build right over the short section of Merivale, to create a new health hub? Just asking.

To get really dreamy, there is large Hampton Park (mall and actual park) on the north side of the Queensway.

Is there a clever way to use those spaces — even connect them to the Westgate property, for said health complex? Just asking.

Lincoln Fields, meanwhile, is beside a Transitway station that will form an important stop on future LRT. There is, too, lots of green space in the adjacent Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway corridor. Potential there?

This brings us to the point. The National Capital Commission is reviewing the dozen sites the Ottawa Hospital looked at in 2008.

The thinking eight years ago was a spot at West Hunt Club and Woodroffe Avenue would be ideal. Then came a major rethink and, with a healthy dose of politics, we ended up with a preferred site at the Central Experimental Farm. Then it all went screwy.

Back to the original dozen. All but one are in public landbanks, from Tunney’s Pasture to Confederation Heights.

Why not look at privately-held land, even consider expropriation, to find the absolute best location?

(A senior RioCan executive was asked if they would entertain offers for Westgate. “We would listen,” he answered.)

Shawn Hamilton is managing director of the Ottawa office of CBRE Ltd., a large commercial real estate firm accustomed to assembling big chunks of land. He is not involved in the Civic site selection, nor is he a critic of the process.

“Could private land hold it? Absolutely. The best site should be chosen regardless if it’s public or private. Everything should be put in the mix, not to appease the public, but more so to pick the absolute, most functional, long-term site.”

If approached to find, say, 30 developable acres within the Greenbelt, Hamilton said he could come up with a list, especially if expropriation were at play.

My point, with all this bakingin-the-sky, is a basic one. If the NCC sticks to the initial 10 or 12 sites, and conducts the same review — give or take — you take the trip but never leave the (experimental) farm.

Start with a bigger pool. What about, for instance, Vincent Massey Park? What if Merivale High School closes in a couple of years, as is speculated? There are underused lands, surely, along Scott Street, or in the Woodward/Laperriere corridor.

And why, after decades of hand-wringing, there was no serious discussion of LeBreton Flats is a mystery.

That land was essentially taken at gunpoint from the people of Ottawa. Why not return it to them for the most essential of public uses?

The hospital, meanwhile, said it looked at both private and public lands in the initial sweep.

“The challenge is that there aren’t many (if any) privatelyheld lands in the city core that meet the hospital’s needs. Even the City of Ottawa did not have, at the time, any suitable sites, and the single biggest land owner is the federal government,” hospital president Jack Kitts replied in an email.

“The hospital needs to be in a central location, on a site that’s large enough to meet the needs of 21st-century health care, and allows for growth over the next century. By deduction you end up with a small list of federallyheld lands.”

There is, too, the “prohibitive” cost of buying private tracts, he added.

Fair enough. But we’re back to the drawing board right now.

Eyes off the ground for a moment. It’s a big sky out there.

The challenge is that there aren’t many (if any) privately-held lands in the city core that meet the hospital’s needs.