New station planned to serve city’s south side

After decades of extending police stations east and west, the Ottawa Police Service is designing a new station to be built where the city’s major growth is: the south end.

The city’s fourth police station will be in the Lodge Road area, on the west side of the Rideau River south of Strandherd Drive.

Known for now as the South Campus, it is expected to open in 2021. On Monday, the city ’s police services board approved the first phase of funding: $3.85 million to Moriyama and Teshima and CS&P Architects for architectural design and engineering.

“The population growth out there — Barrhaven and all that area — requires a police station,” Chief Charles Bordeleau said late Monday at a meeting of the police services board.

“With the growth of the city and where the population growth has gone, that is where we need a physical presence, to be able to deploy out of there. We are also running out of space at our other buildings.

“Our communications centre will be going out there. All our tactical resources, which are now at Elgin Street, will be moving to that facility as well.”

The funding approved Monday “is the first phase. This just gets our architect team in place,” said Pamela Mills, chief physical environment officer for Ottawa police. Since the project has no design yet, it also has no cost estimate.

“We have them (stations) in the east and the west and this will be the south version. But it will also have other occupants in the building as well.”

The future South Campus site is currently vacant land near Carleton Lodge.