Lansdowne public forums matter: councillors

Public consultations that launch Monday on a controversial proposal to transform Landsdowne Park will have an impact on the park's future, councillors who support and oppose the plan agree.

"I think it's a great proposal but I do want to listen to what the residents have to say," said Orlans Coun. Bob Monette of the Lansdowne Partnership Plan. "If the public is saying no, they don't want us to go ahead, well then that's something we'll have to look at."

The plan is apublic-private partnership between the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group. Coun. Clive Doucet, who represents the ward that contains Lansdowne Park and has criticized the proposal, said the turnout at the consultations will matter.

"If no one comes out and protests it they will simply say, 'Hey, we consulted on our project, everybody seemed to like it,' and the whole project will go through basically unchanged," he said.

Monday's consultation in Salon A at Lansdowne Park is the first of six open houses across the city on the revised public-private partnership proposal for the future of the sprawling park at Bank Street and the Rideau Canal. The last consultation on the plan to revamp the park's Frank Clair football stadium, expand its greenspace, and add condo towers, townhouses, a movie theatre, shops and restaurants, will take place Oct. 6.

The plan was originally supposed to go to city council for final approval in November. However, a judicial review of the plan is scheduled for Nov. 12 after a request from Ottawa businessman John Martin. Martin alleges that in moving forward with the proposal, the city violated a bylaw requiring it to take competitive bids for projects worth more than $100,000.

The plan, originally called Lansdowne Live, was first brought forward by Jeff Hunt, owner of the Ottawa 67's Ontario Hockey League Team, and local developers Roger Greenberg, John Ruddy and Bill Shenkmanin October 2008and a revised version, renamed the Lansdowne Partnership Plan, was released on Sept. 1, 2009.

Monette said the partnership will transform "a piece of concrete" into a vibrant meeting place that will benefit the whole city. However, Doucet has called the proposal a "nightmare." The Capital ward councillor and other critics have complained it was an exclusive, sole-sourced deal for the developers as the city did not take competitive bids.

The most recent push to redevelop Lansdowne Park began after cracks were found in 2007 in the lower southside stands of Frank Clair Stadium, which had supported thousands of fans during the sold-out FIFA U-20 World Cup soccer games just months before. The stands were later demolished.

The city originally launched an international design competition to solicit plans to redevelop the part. However, it put the competition on hold after receiving the bid from the Lansdowne Live group.

The group has been awarded a CFL franchise conditional on a stadium lease agreement with the city and has also applied for a United Soccer Leagues First Division (USL-1) franchise. Both teams would play at the revamped Lansdowne Park stadium.