Lansdowne Park déjà vu: neighbours say new plan repeats old mistakes

Council was about to vote on a controversial Lansdowne Park redevelopment project, so Chris White got out his ukulele, scribbled down some lyrics and headed to City Hall.

He used his delegation time to serenade councillors and the mayor with a song he called Lansdowne Blues.

The moment lives on in the meeting minutes: "Chris White conveyed his opposition to the site plan in the form of a song."

That was almost 13 years ago.

But Lansdowne Blues was back again this Wednesday when a reprise capped off a public meeting on the latest redevelopment project.

"I'm singing the same song," said White. "That's scary."

White was one of about 200 people who came to the park's Horticulture Building in near-unanimous opposition to what many saw as doubling down on a money pit.

The first Lansdowne Park redevelopment about a decade ago hasn't seen a single year of positive cash flows since its inception.

"We're here because the Lansdowne project originally designed by (the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group) and the City of Ottawa has been a failure," said Glebe resident Alan Freeman. "An abject failure. An urban catastrophe."

The meeting was organized by a coalition of community groups and hosted by three nearby community associations.

Attendees differed in their opposition. Some wanted more density. Some less. Some focused on green space, others on affordable housing and still others on fiscal prudence.

But almost all wanted a radical rethink of the the plan after an updated version was revealed last week.

The project would add two towers with 770 housing units, a new retail podium and a plaza and an arena and event centre while rebuilding the north stadium stands.

Architect and Glebe resident Robert Martin wasn't impressed in a design he sees as uninspired.

"I don't believe we've learned anything from the mistakes of Lansdowne 1.0 … I ask, especially the councillors here today, is this the best we can do?" he said.

"What I see before us is really poverty of imagination," Martin added. "It's poverty of any kind of city vision for building something that is a legacy."

Concerns about cost overrun

Walter Robinson was one of the presenters at the event. The former federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said Lansdowne Park risks becoming a legacy for all the wrong reasons.

"I believe there could be another legacy here, a legacy of fiscal derailment … if this doesn't add up," he said.

In his view, it doesn't.

The city's early cost estimate for the latest redevelopment project is $419 million, but Robinson, who worked as chief of staff to former mayor Larry O'Brien, said he's watched those estimates balloon as big projects get tendered and built.

"Time moves on. Inflation moves on. Costing moves on," he said. "I believe — an assertion of opinion not a statement of fact — that the final bill on this in terms of the cost to taxpayers … will be closer to half a billion dollars."

He also poked holes in a financing plan that, in his view, relies too much on questionable property tax uplift, uncertain retail earnings and funding from higher levels of government that's not guaranteed.

City staff argued in a report that the cost of doing nothing could be worse, perhaps $625 million over 50 years. That's because the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group could default and exit the partnership, sticking the city with maintaining an obsolete facility and paying back loans.

Robinson said doing nothing and moving forward with the current plan aren't the only choices, asking councillors to think hard about whether they can afford such an expensive Lansdowne plan as they grapple with pressing priorities such as housing, transit and safety.

Affordable housing a big question

Five councillors showed up in person for the meeting: area representative Shawn Menard plus Riley Brockington, Laura Dudas, Theresa Kavanagh and David Hill.

Hill said he's leaning toward supporting the project, though he understands concerns about the finances and the reduction of density from three towers to two.

"We have an affordability crisis with regard to housing," he said. "We need to make sure that where we can build infill development downtown, we need to take advantage of that — and we've lost a tower."

Robinson said affordable housing is a major shortcoming of the Lansdowne plan, but his concerns go beyond one lost tower.

He faulted the city for not following its own policy of setting aside 25 per cent of the proceeds from selling city land for affordable housing.

Instead, the plan would devote just 10 per cent of air rights sold to developers, for an estimate of $3.9 million for affordable housing. Robinson said that money wouldn't go far.

"I think that's a raw deal," he said.

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