City to examine reuniting Glebe's Central Park
Posted Feb 19, 2010 By Desmond Devoy
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EMC News - The City of Ottawa is taking a long, hard look at the possibility of greening over Clemow Avenue in order to re-unite the northern and southern portions of Central Park in The Glebe. 
Paula Molloy
Reuniting the Old Sod: The City will be studying reuniting the north and south ends of Central Park in The Glebe. The area in question is seen here, looking west, from the intersection of Clemow and Cobalt Avenues.
"The closure of a section of Clemow at Central Park, the City is looking at that," said Guy Giguere, head of the Glebe Community Association's (GCA) transportation committee, during the GCA's monthly meeting on Tuesday, January 26. "There is a City manager who is looking into it," whom Giguere has spoken to already about his desire to see the park reunited.
"The inquiries show that there are opportunities for this to be realized," Giguere said of the project. "For 40 years, it doesn't make sense to have boxes," blocking off the street.
"Everything, so far, is good. It takes time, but it is on the right direction," Giguere added.
Other local transportation matters appear to be moving a little more slowly however, like the National Capital Commission's (NCC) study looking at establishing safe pedestrian crossings across the Queen Elizabeth Driveway.
"I got an update from the NCC, advising us that they were late in their study, but they were coming back to us," said Giguere. "They are serious about it...Once we get that response from the NCC, I suspect that things will start moving on that."
But other recent developments in The Glebe could impact the overall transportation scene in the area. Giguere admitted that he was not sure if the NCC study would examine "all of the traffic that will be directed onto the Driveway," with the anticipated redevelopment of Lansdowne Park.
In conversations with the City though, as part of a dialogue on roads in the area, "we got the City to agree to a better study on the impact of Lansdowne (Park's redevelopment) on traffic."
Giguere also predicted that "the Bank Street reconstruction won't go ahead this year," so as the final design plan, due to be presented to, and voted on by, City Council in June, can incorporate the scheduled construction on Bank Street between Third Avenue and the Rideau Canal into its plans.
An ongoing traffic concern in The Glebe revolves around the effectiveness of traffic calming measures. GCA member June Creelman was visiting some friends on Powell Avenue recently, and she enquired if the traffic calming measures on that street had worked.
"Not at all," was the reply. "It's made it worse."
"We don't evaluate and go back," said Creelman, noting that it would be helpful if the City "could evaluate the effectiveness of these things," like speed bumps or "bulb-outs."
While many Glebe residents desire some manner of traffic calming, Giguere cautioned that there is not often unanimity, even on the same street, as to the best methods for slowing down traffic.
He pointed to the recent discussion on Glebe Avenue about adding speed bumps onto the road. Giguere was approached by a number of residents who lived in the middle of the block and "they were opposed to it (because) that would make noise. It's not unanimous."
Another resident noted that the bulb-outs, like the one at the intersection of Third Avenue and Lyon Street, could prove dangerous as they might impede fire trucks trying to get to a fire.
"If you make the street narrower, with trees and parked cars, people will drive slower," said Giguere. "If it's wide open, you're inviting people to speed up."
However, nowadays, "the City does not want to do them," Giguere said of speed bumps. Part of the reason for this is because the environmental assessment required to install a speed bump is much more costly than the installation of the speed bumps themselves.
However, he pointed to the two speed bumps on Holmwood Avenue east of Bank Street, which were welcomed by many residents there. He also noted that many residential parts of Centretown also have more than a few speed bumps.
ddevoy@thenowemc.ca
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