Open house 1509 Merivale Road mid rise proposal – February 24, 2022

The mall that’s gonna go (pink roof building)

As you are likely aware, the Ottawa official plan has been approved by City council. It is now on the (provincial) Minister’s desk and community organisations are approaching the minsite with further changes. The plans means that over the next decades we will likely see changes starting to happen in our neighbourhoods such as infill and a bus corridor, more highrises (and way more traffic).

Rapid Bus Corridor Coming to Baseline Rd

As we reported in October on our website and in the newsletter, the city is planning major improvements to the bus transit service along Baseline Road. The first phase will involve the eastern section of Baseline, from Woodroffe to Heron and on to Billings Bridge.

Sample image for reference only. Not an actual plan.

The plan calls for two bus-only lanes in the centre of the road, with fewer frequent stops. Passengers will board the bus at platform-stations built at each stop, with traffic lights to control access. The roadway will be widened to keep two lanes in each direction for cars, and add a protected bicycle lane and a sidewalk on the side. The design implements a new intersection design to shelter pedestrians and cyclists from turning vehicular traffic by increasing separation and improving visibility. The residential section of Baseline in our community, along the experimental farm, will feature a bicycle/pedestrian “multi-use pathway” on the north side. In Fisher Heights, most of the expansion for the wider roadway will be on the north side, but the plan foresees that local homes on Baseline Road would lose the city boulevard in front of their homes.

Work began on the project several years ago, and the latest plans were released last fall at a public Open House. The proposals will now be considered by the Transportation Committee of City Council in early February. Detailed design planning is anticipated in 2017 and 2018, but construction is at least several years away, and depends on additional funding from provincial and federal sources.

These are some of the details about the section that affects the Association’s residents, between Merivale Road and Fisher Avenue:

• There would be bus stops at Merivale, Farlane, Zena and Fisher. The existing bus stop at Marson Street would be removed. Bus riders who use the Marson stop would have to use the stops at Zena or Fisher instead.

• Existing accesses to Baseline Road from the community would be unchanged. The intersection with Farlane would continue to have a traffic signal; the intersections at Zena and Marson would continue to be right in, right-out.

• The project would be built within the existing right of way on the south side of Baseline; there would be no need to acquire privately owned land. However, the right of way in general extends for a certain width onto the front year grass beside the existing sidewalk on each property, and this grass would be replaced by the new sidewalk, which would occupy the last part of the existing right of way. With a bicycle lane and a narrow buffer to be built adjacent to the new sidewalk, it means the actual vehicular traffic would occupy about the same locations as now, or perhaps a small distance closer to the houses.

• The project would require seven metres of Experimental Farm land on the north side of Baseline. In addition, the Farm would use an additional 18 metres of its land to produce a ‘shelter-belt,’ a treed buffer for the adjacent farm lands and to provide a scenic backdrop for that section of Baseline. The ‘shelterbelt’ would actually start at Prince of Wales Drive and also carry on onto the east side of Merivale Road northbound. The north side of Baseline, between Prince of Wales and Merivale, would include a multiuse pathway in both directions. It would extend northbound along the east side of Merivale to the NCC pathway at Caldwell Avenue.

• The project foresees that the city will have to implement elevated snowplowing and snow removal policies along the corridor, because of the amount of extra pavement that needs to be plowed and the reduced room to store it with the addition of median bus lanes.

• The project is expected to spur development in the Triangle lands, the largely vacant lands bordered by Baseline, Clyde and Merivale.

A detailed drawing of the section between Clyde Avenue and Fisher Avenue can be found here, as well as the “Frequently Asked Questions”.

Rapid Bus Transit Coming to Baseline

The City is seeking public comments on its plans for improved bus transit along the full length of Baseline Road. Work began on the project several years ago;  major new details were released earlier this month at a public Open House.  Construction is at least several years away, and depends on additional funding from provincial and federal sources.  However, NOW is the time for public comment on the plans.  The first phase will involve the eastern section of Baseline,  from Woodroffe to Heron and on to Billings Bridge.

The plan calls for two bus-only lanes in the centre of the road, with less frequent stops. Passengers will board the bus at platform-stations built at each stop, with traffic lights to control access. The roadway will be widened to keep two lanes in each direction for cars, and add a protected bicycle lane and a sidewalk on the side.  The residential section of Baseline in our community, along the experimental farm, will feature a bicycle/pedestrian “multi-use pathway”  on the north side. In Fisher Heights, most of the expansion for the wider roadway will be on the north side, but the plan foresees that homes on Baseline Road would lose the city boulevard in front of their houses.

Here are two sources of more detailed information:

1. A detailed drawing of the section between Clyde Avenue and Fisher Avenue can be found here.
2. “Frequently Asked Questions” and the display boards from the “Open House #4 – October 5, 2016” are found here.

The city is asking for comments on a very tight time frame, by Oct. 21.  Email to Jabbar.Siddique@ottawa.ca  We suggest that late comments (copied to Councillor Keith Egli at ward9@ottawa.ca ) will still be accepted.