Business Precinct

The primary opportunities for change are along the edges of the Business Precinct, particularly its southern and western boundaries. In general, the environmental quality of this precinct needs to be improved before it will inspire greater residential occupation. Higher quality site design is required for new developments. To achieve this, the following targeted precinct strategies are suggested:

Targeted Precinct Strategies 10, 11, and 12

10. Urban Open Space Programme

As identified above, the Business Precinct suffers from a lack of open space provision. Opportunities to acquire sites will be minimal due to the value of land in the downtown area. To ensure that the precinct does not become fully built-out, a network of small open spaces should be introduced across the precinct. The City should move quickly to secure a number of currently available development sites, or work with developers on private site design. These sites, or portions thereof, should be remediated and developed into quality public squares, pocket parks and meeting spaces. The Strategy has identified a selection of available sites across the precinct.

It is recommended that new open spaces be located on corners. Smaller well-defined spaces are often better candidates for meaningful, active and safe park spaces than are larger open areas. Landscape design should be of high quality, attractive and durable.

Priority sites for consideration include the intersection of Kent Street and Slater, Laurier and Bank, Queen and Kent and O'Connor and Gloucester.

11. Laurier Avenue Beautification

Laurier Avenue is an important downtown street that connects the escarpment in the west to the Rideau River in the east. Laurier connects Strathcona Park, the University of Ottawa, Confederation Park, City Hall Plaza, the mixed-use area of downtown, and terminates at the proposed Escarpment Park and the open space system of LeBreton Flats. Laurier also benefits from operating as a two-way street and not supporting a large amount of bus traffic.

An opportunity exists to consider Laurier Avenue as a prime candidate for the demonstration of City-led urban streetscape improvements at a consistent standard along its entire length

12. Albert Street & Slater Street Beautification

There is clearly a need to address the environmental quality of both Albert and Slater streets, but significant long-term improvements to these public transit-dominated routes will be difficult to achieve if these streets continue to function as the downtown's main bus terminus. Sustainable improvements to the quality of these streets will remain difficult to achieve until the number of buses using them is significantly reduced and/or dispersed.

Nonetheless, consideration should be given not only to how much additional bus capacity these streets can carry, but also if the existing single cross town route system of Albert and Slater one-way pairs is the best way to provide transit to and from downtown. In this regard, the often-proposed tunnel would represent a very positive urban design move for these streets and the downtown as a whole by removing the majority of bus traffic from these streets.

In the shorter term, in line with City's RTES recommendations, the City's transportation expansion plan should allocate dedicated funding for improved waiting area, transit facilities, signage, traffic signals, pedestrian comfort and better integration with existing uses. A portion of this funding should be from the Transitway Systems Improvement Programme. These improvements will contribute to the development of a more enticing image of the rapid transit system.

13. The Interface District: Queen/Wellington/Sparks

The Interface District: Queen/Wellington/Sparks

At the heart of the business quarter is a 12-block section between Queen and Wellington and Elgin and Bay Streets. This is the primary address where the Capital and Civic Realm physically meet. It is also the location where the government, tourism and office worlds convene. The Capital Realm has distinguished the Wellington Street frontage with a very sophisticated and well-executed streetscape that demarcates "Confederation Boulevard", a special street designation and custom design that occurs both in Ontario and Quebec.

The City of Ottawa should respond to this initiative by drawing out the strong themes and design quality of Wellington Street southwards with a civically-inspired Interface District. The Interface District contains Queen Street, Sparks Street, Wellington Street and the two-block sections along Bay, Lyon, Kent, Bank, O'Connor, Metcalfe and Elgin Streets. This district should be taken together as an opportunity to create a special streetscape and economic development opportunity that can thematically display the arts and culture of the provinces, territories and major cities in Canada. It should become an event that all visitors to Ottawa would want to visit, and would fit well into the National Capital Commission's program of Reflecting a Nation. The Interface District represents a unique way for how the City of Ottawa can create new partnerships with the rest of Canada.

The Metcalfe frontage within the Interface District has a significant heritage focus. The relationship between the frontage of these important buildings and Metcalfe is critical to the overall feeling of the street as a strong heritage corridor between the Parliament Buildings and the Museum of Nature.

Each of the component parts of the Interface District is described as follows:

a. Displaying Canada's Culture: Bay/Lyon/Kent/ Bank/O'Connor/Metcalfe/Elgin Streets

The two block section between Queen and Wellington that leads from Parliament Hill to the central business district performs a very unique role in the downtown. Many of the most important nationally recognized institutions and government offices are situated in this area, including the new CBC offices, the Bank of Canada and the Prime Minister's Office. The Garden of the Provinces anchors the west end. Many visitors to Ottawa explore these streets, looking to expand on their experience of the National Capital.

These streets support a very urban character with tight, compact blocks and large buildings built to the street. These streets should form the backbone of the Interface District through a program of street design that is based on placing the best of art and culture, landscape, architecture, programming, industrial design and regional characteristics from each of Canada's provinces, territories and major cities. This street design can be interpretive and interactive, displaying the very best design talent of Canada. This project should be undertaken in partnership with the NCC.

b. Sparks Street

Sparks Street is where the Capital Realm meets the Civic Realm and is one of Ottawa's best-known addresses. It is one of the most beautiful heritage streets in the downtown and is lined with a large number of historically important, grand buildings which are still in remarkable condition. The street performs a difficult role as the City's only pedestrianized shopping mall, working in a limited way during warm summers but less well during the winter. Sparks Street is also challenged by the almost continuous vehicular access to the Mall for servicing and delivery.

Although Sparks Street is located only a short walk from the main tourist attractions of Ottawa and has much to offer architecturally and historically, it has in recent years slipped into decline. To help reinvigorate the street a number of actions should be taken:

• Make Sparks Street the centrepiece of the Interface District to counterbalance the retail and entertainment draw of the ByWard Market and Rideau Centre.
• Develop design options that reintroduce a full mix of street uses. Right-of-way design should maintain the emphasis on pedestrian priority. A traffic and movement management programme should be developed to decide when the mall should be closed to traffic to allow for a pedestrian experience.
• Convert Sparks Street back to a traditional heritage-scaled street by removing the kiosks and clutter. The street should be designed as a multi-use, well-managed city street with generous well-appointed sidewalks and designed to accommodate two-way vehicular traffic which could be closed at designated times or on a program basis. A programme of street tree planting for the length of Sparks Street should be introduced to complement existing heritage features and increase pedestrian comfort.
• Engage tourists through better signage, programming and promotion. Sparks Street should be marketed as a major heritage destination for the city.
• Extend the Sparks Street BIA coverage to the entire length of the street.
• Note that Sparks Street is one of the potential downtown routes for the proposed Light Rail system.
• Build on the findings from the NCC's current Sparks Street Vocation Study.

Raising the quality of urban experience along Sparks Street through streetscape and public realm improvements is critical if it the street is to retain existing businesses and successfully attract new businesses. Once this re-imaging has been completed, new quality retail and commercial developments will become more attractive to new investments.

c. Queen Street

Queen has the potential to be one of the healthiest streets within the Business Precinct.

To enhance its function as a high profile and desirable downtown address, Queen Street would benefit from a streetscaping programme that is similar in quality and style to the north-south streets of the Interface District.

Queen Street will contribute to the Interface District by aligning itself more closely with Sparks Street and the quality of development present in the Capital Realm along Wellington Street. Where possible, traditional pedestrian routes through the shallow block should be restored to help open both Sparks and Queen Streets and make them more accessible. All proposed new developments should accommodate pedestrian thoroughfares at grade level.

Streetscape Infrastructure Programme

Over time, Ottawa's heavily bussed corridors, very small sidewalks, lack of landscaping and street trees, narrow rights-of-way, low lease values and minimal architectural detailing at grade have created a harsh public realm and streetscape environment in many locations across the Business Precinct.

Until the downtown's transit issues are addressed, opportunities for meaningful and sustainable streetscape improvements are somewhat restricted. Additional transportation studies will be required in future phases to identify the best solutions for key transit issues. In the interim, however, there are some suitable approaches which should be explored to encourage a more pleasant and humane street environment, including:

• Recognizing the importance of north-south streets as equal to the downtown's east-west streets to ensure that the same level of maintenance and development controls are in place along these streets. New buildings should front onto these streets and access to parking and servicing should be removed or mitigated. Corner locations have a very important architectural role in this area.
• Increase the provision of secure bicycle parking across the precinct.
• To help counterbalance the canyon effect along the street caused by relatively narrow rights-of-way and the lack of articulation of the upper storeys of high-rise buildings, new buildings should be architecturally articulated at the lower levels, with a specific emphasis on the relationship of the building to the street at grade level.
• Bring forward the Rapid Transit Expansion Study (RTES) recommendation to introduce a Light Rail system along one of the downtown's main east-west streets as part of its reconstruction. Full streetscape restoration should be part of this proposal.
• Protecting and enhancing the existing function and quality of the City's non-transit streets in the precinct. This should involve undertaking a co-ordinated programme of streetscape improvements along the length of Sparks, Bank, Queen, Laurier and Metcalfe.
• Support the City's RTES option for upgrading both Albert and Slater streets. Urban design considerations and civic improvements across the downtown, including enhancement of pedestrian circulation, must be included as part of the refinement of the transit program and the Transitway Systems Improvement Programme.

Parks and Open Space Strategy

This intensely built-up precinct is almost fully developed and offers very few open green spaces. Although the precinct is bounded by green space on its northern and eastern edges, much of this space is inaccessible or unusable for recreational purposes. The need for such spaces is made readily apparent by the use of the temporary green space on the future office block site of Constitution Square on Kent Street during office hours.

The Strategy has identified the few available sites that may be suitable for new parks, squares and open space developments. Key opportunities for the introduction of new open spaces exist along Kent, O'Connor and Bank Streets.

As the City owns some of the sites identified, a requirement for the provision of an open space should be included as a condition of purchase for its lands. On those sites controlled by private interests, the City should work closely with landowners and developers to encourage the inclusion of an open space. Downtown open spaces could be quite small in the form of urban plazas and squares. The value that such spaces add to a development needs to be more fully understood by the private sector and appreciated by the City.

The City should capitalize on the exciting opportunity offered by the NCC through its proposed Bank Street Axis project. This project will extend Bank Street northwards to the Ottawa River, providing a critical connection between the Civic and Capital Realms and expanding the City's waterfront open space provision. This important new link will impact on how the northern portion of the Business Precinct is used by workers and visitors and will influence patterns of movement both to and through the precinct. Any proposed new network of public open spaces should be closely linked to this project.

Built Form Guidelines

The heights of new developments across the Business Precinct are set by strong height control and view corridor protection guidelines which protect the visual integrity and symbolic primacy of the Parliament Buildings and other national symbols. Within the confines of the established controls, attention should be focused on ensuring that all proposed new office and residential developments and infill projects meet a higher architectural and urban design standard, especially at the lower level of the building. This can be achieved by:

• Requiring, where appropriate, all new developments to accommodate active uses on the ground floor, including galleries and street-related office and service functions.
• Promoting a more human scale of development at ground level. Entranceways should be well defined and provide large circulation space.
• Prohibiting servicing and underground parking entrances from fronting onto main east-west streets. Where possible, these should be accessed from within the building envelope and not from the public right-of-way.
• To accommodate the provision of wider sidewalks, street furniture and landscaping, major new buildings occupying significant areas on a whole block require a deeper front setback.
• Where possible, buildings should be architecturally articulated on both their top and lower floors. Podiums should be encouraged.
• Ground level of buildings should not be below street level.
• No new surface parking lots should be permitted, and extensions of approval for existing temporary lots should require landscaping improvements and taking back of any encroachments on the public right-of-way.

Larger scale buildings should continue to be introduced to the north and west zones of the precinct. Mid-scale infill developments that help transition down from the larger office towers in the north to the smaller-scale residential developments of Centretown should be concentrated along the precinct's southern edge. Gloucester and Nepean streets are particularly strong candidates for this type of infill projects.