City needs to rein in the NCC's woeful lack of environmental stewardship

by Roy Atkinson, resident of Mechanicsville neighbouhood in Kitchissippi Ward

Sept 13, 2021 -- The City of Ottawa's Planning Committee has a chance this month to act in the interests of climate emergency and in favour of citizens' security and wellbeing through active protection of the city's urban forest.

Our elected municipal leaders must rein in the National Capital Commission (NCC) and act on the city's policy to protect and enhance urban canopy by sending the NCC back to the drawing board over its rezoning application that aims to build foreign embassies on 3.7 hectares of land a stone's throw from the Ottawa River shoreline. My neighbours and I call this green, grassy space with over 200 mature trees, the Lazy Bay Commons.

Photo: Lazy Bay Commons in bloom. Photo by Roy Atkinson

Here's why I think the city must take the bold step of requiring the NCC to rethink and, yes, even revoke its proposal to build embassies on the Commons.

Kitchissippi is a microcosm of the competition between unbridled development and the need for greenspace and urban forests that fight climate change and promote the health and wellbeing of its residents. The NCC, a federal crown corporation, is the largest land owner in the region and should be an exemplar of responsible stewardship of trees and urban forests. Instead:

• At the proposed site of the new Civic Hospital, on NCC lands, 600 mature maple trees are at risk for the sake of a parking lot

• In the Mechanicsville neighbourhood, the NCC is proposing a walled Embassy Precinct for foreign diplomats that will lead to the removal from the Lazy Bay Commons of 200 mature trees and forego the planting of another 400 trees. The NCC has no plans or applications from any foreign country to build an embassy. Mechanicsville’s population will double and potentially triple due to the City’s intensification policies. These of people need access to greenspace within walking distance for their mental health and wellbeing.

• The City has given the NCC permission to build two six-storey largely residential buildings at the south end of Rochester Field. There is no plan to develop those immediately. But a loss of precious greenspace and negative impacts on the community seem to be irrelevant to the NCC's plans.

• Hampton Park and its mature forest, which is owned by the NCC, is at risk from overuse and developers' incursions.

Meanwhile, NCC staff has informed its Board that the NCC will not meet the goal specified in its Sustainable Development Plan of planting 100,000 trees due to lack of space and resources.

Taken together this means that the loss and foregone planting of well over 1,200 mature trees that cannot / will not be replaced by NCC. Lazy Bay Commons and these other sites are a clear demonstration that the NCC has not given serious consideration to the importance of preserving mature trees and the potential to plant more trees on its property. Across the board in Kitchissippi we are witnessing the failure of the NCC to make the protection and enhancement of the Urban Forest a priority or the impact on the local communities.

The City of Ottawa must act boldly and in the case of Lazy Bay Commons especially, it must refuse to give the NCC carte blanche to destroy a greenspace that is needed and beloved by Kitchissippi residents.

After the federal election our new Member of Parliament must become a strong advocate for the residents of Ottawa Center by bringing the NCC to heal on the protection of greenspace, the urban forest, and the wellbeing of local citizens.

Visit the Mechanicsville Community Association's website for details on how residents have been lobbying city and NCC officials since January 2021.