City pursues east-end Transitway through the Greenbelt, despite NCC refusal

A City of Ottawa committee will be asked this week toapprove a route fora future road and rapid bus line to the east end, even though it goes through Greenbelt lands the National Capital Commission (NCC)refuses to hand over.

For decades, there have been discussions about building a transit corridor to serve the fast-growing population along Innes Road inOrlans.

The plan would also extend Brian Coburn Boulevard to run alongside. But the file has caused tension between thetwo institutions, and both sides appear entrenched.

In 2013, the city and the NCC signed an agreement for a new Transitway to runalongthe existing Blackburn Hamlet Bypass. A few years later, thecity decided soil conditionswould make that project too expensive.

"The city decided not to proceed with that agreed alignment and undertook an assessment of new road options through NCC lands that were not the subject of any prior agreement with us," saidNCC spokespersonValrie Dufour in an email.

The NCChas written formal letters in the past couple of yearstelling the city it would not entertain a new road throughGreenbelt farmland slightly further south.It doesn't want to break up the Greenbelt, especially near the environmentally sensitive Mer Bleue wetlands.

Despite that, city staff are recommending that transportation committee approve that route, known as Option 7, at its March 3 meeting.

Price tag of more than $300M

East-end city councillors insist that optionmakes the most sense long-term to ensure the growing population in south Orlans can get around, especially as more houses are built. Theyeven publicly called out the NCC for not co-operating on the city's preferred optionwhile making a recent council decision on an unrelated planning file.

City staff say after extensive study and consultation, Option 7 ranked highest. It would also cost hundreds of millions less, staff wrote: an estimated $128 millionfor the roadway, and$178 million for the Transitway.

InnesCoun. Laura Dudas said while environmental concerns are important to her, theroute doesn't go near the Mer Bleue Bog andfollows a hydro corridor.

She said it would also make it easier to some day link Orlans further south to Hunt Club Road. The Blackburn Hamlet Bypass is "beyond capacity," Dudas said, and adding a lane won't be enough for the 15,500 housing units to be built in south Orlans over the next decade.

• NCC 'keeping Orlans down' by rejecting boulevard plan, councillors say

"We definitely need a long-term solution," she said,expressingfrustration that the NCCis "not willing to have a meaningful conversation with the city."

The NCC disagrees. Dufour says it wants to improve transportation linkages and isopen to two other routes,including the city's second-ranked option.

The city had offered to swap 47 hectares of its land in order to get the required42 hectares of Greenbelt property, but the NCC refused in December.

The Chapel Hill forest lands offered by the city surround homes and active roads that need to be maintained, the NCC said, which wouldn't compensate for the loss of high-quality farmland.

Short-term road improvements

While several community associations in the area support Option 7 route, others do not.

Pat Teolis, president of the Chateauneuf Community Association one of the older subdivisions along Innes Road said he and his neighbourhood supportthe NCC's mandate to protect greenspace.

Previous evaluations leaned toward the now second-place Option 1, Teolis said, which the NCC could support and would have less environmental impact.

"And now all of a sudden it's switched, and I find that very concerning," he said.

Even if the transportation committee approves the design for the east-end corridor,a federal environmental assessment would be required.

The NCC would ultimately need to approve the federal land transfer, which at this point appears unlikely.

Dudas knows that any road might not be built for many years. She points to$22 million the city hopes to spend in the meantime to improve travel timesby widening two kilometres of Innes Road west of Blackburn Hamlet fortransit lanes,and improving one intersection for buses.