930 Carling Avenue and 520 Preston Street - Site Plan Control (Master) and Lifting of Holding Zone - D07-12-21-0059 and D07-07-21-0007

The full plans are available on DevApps.

Site Location

The proposed Hospital Site is located at 930 Carling Avenue and 520 Preston Street that is approximately 21 hectares in size within Wards 16 and 17 and adjacent to Wards 14 and 15.

The site is irregularly shaped and bound by Carling Avenue to the north, Prince of Wales Drive and Preston Street to the east, and is loosely bound by the National Capital Commission Scenic Driveway to the south and Maple Drive to the east. The Trillium line (O-Train line) bisects the eastern part of the site.

Surrounding the site are a number of agricultural land uses as well as a variety of buildings, including federally designated and other heritage buildings, which are owned and operated by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada as part of the Central Experimental Farm (CEF). These buildings include the Dominion Observatory, the Seismology Survey Lab, and the Observatory House.

Purpose of Applications

The purpose of applications is to seek Master Site Plan approval from Planning Committee and Council, and to remove the Holding Provisions from the subject Major Institutional Zone, Urban Exception 2491, holding (I2 [2491]-h). Once the Master Plan is approved, individual site plan control applications will be submitted for City review and approval based on the proposed phasing of the hospital master plan.

History of the Site

The site has a rich history of federal uses and heritage within Ottawa and has historically gone through several redevelopments. During the Second World War era, the Federal government established a campus to accommodate office space with a series of temporary buildings located on the portion of the site between the O-train and the escarpment. When this was demolished in 1967, the site was built as a new campus to contain the headquarters for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Designed by Hart Massey, the site was made up of an 11-storey office tower and two low-rise wings, known as Sir John Carling Building. The Sir John Carling Building was demolished in 2012, leaving one of the low-rise wings, used as a cafeteria, standing, but to be also demolished.

Background of the Hospital Project

Between 2009 and 2013 The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) was in discussions with the Government of Canada related to master planning for a new Ottawa Hospital campus and land requirements. In 2014, the Government of Canada commissioned the National Capital Commission to assist in the land transfer process to TOH. In December of 2015 the federal government requested a further review of the land options for the new campus and four sites were examined, including the Sir John Carling site.

In December of 2016, the Minister of Canadian Heritage requested that the federal government undertake the necessary preparations to make the Sir John Carling site, available as the future location of the new campus of TOH. As a result, the City’s Planning Committee (May 9, 2017) recommended that staff initiate Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendment applications to bring the City’s planning documents into alignment with this federal land use decision.

In moving forward on Planning Committee’s direction, City Staff and The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) developed a public engagement strategy that included nine open house meetings from September 2017 to January 2018. This included a public open house at the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne Park, with over 200 attendees, including municipal, provincial and federal members. The Staff initiated Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendments also involved the City’s Urban Design Review Panel in two separate design sessions in December 2017 and March 2018. The public engagement and design work culminated in a report to Planning Committee on May 22, 2018, and Council on June 13, 2018, where the Official Plan and Zoning were approved to facilitate the hospital land-use.

As a result of Council approval, By-law 2018-198 was enacted to rezone the site into a new Institutional - I2 Zone, which will permit hospital, office, research and development centre uses and allow related ancillary uses. A holding provision was established to ensure a master plan, transportation study, cultural heritage study and master servicing study will be approved by Planning Committee and Council.

By-law 2018-197 amended the Official Plan Volume 1, to re-designate the 5-hectare parcel of land from ‘Agricultural Research Area’ to ‘General Urban Area’. It also amended the Preston-Carling District Secondary Plan to include the hospital site and re-designated a portion of the hospital site from ‘Station Area’ to a new ‘Hospital Area’ designation.

New Ottawa Hospital Proposal

The Ottawa Civic Hospital, now The Ottawa Hospital’s Civic Campus, first opened in 1924, on the edge of the city. Today, it's the trauma centre for eastern Ontario as well as the largest adult acute care hospital in Canada. It's also the regional centre for cardiac and stroke care, the site for many complex surgeries, and a major hub for research and innovation.

In 2007 the Ottawa Hospital convened a Steering Committee to develop a Master Plan which identified the needs of the future community it serves in 2020 and beyond. The Steering Committee’s Master Plan concluded the current Civic Campus is too old and would be too difficult and costly to rebuild. A third party engineering consultant determined such a replacement project on the existing site would cost at least $1 billion more and take 20 years longer than building an entirely new facility. The Sir John Carling site was ultimately selected through the Government of Canada process, as described above, and will facilitate the development of a new campus. On February 23, 2018, PSPC announced a 99-year lease between the Federal Government and TOH for the development of a new campus. The lease with the Hospital includes important requirements, such as maintaining 207 parking spaces for the Dow’s Lake Pavilion and surrounding area, environmental remediation, and obtaining necessary approvals from the City of Ottawa and the National Capital Commission.

Master Plan

Due to the size of the project, the new Ottawa Hospital will be completed in phases. The Master Plan currently outlines 10 phases, where the first three phases will prepare the site for the Hospital’s construction set to begin in Phase 4 (2024-2028). Phase 1 is planned for 2021 and will widen the O-Train trench, enabling the construction of a parking garage in Phase 2.

The parking garage is planned to open in 2024, allowing trades people and contractors working on the site to park their vehicles, minimizing the impact on parking in the area. The garage will be located south of Carling Avenue and west of Preston Street. The proposed parking structure will be 4 storeys and will accommodate approximately 2,400 parking spaces. Phase 2 will also include building a connection from the proposed publicly accessible green roof on the parking garage to the ground level to accommodate the pedestrian connection to the hospital in Phase 4.

Phase 3 will establish the services and utilities to the Site before the Phase 4 Hospital Construction begins. In Phases 4 the focus will be on building the main hospital, which is located on the top of the escarpment. The New Hospital Building includes a Central Podium, which will be 3 storeys, supporting the 2.5 million square feet of hospital space. The Central Podium has two entrance points, visitors and patients will primarily access the hospital from the parking garage and rapid transit along Carling Avenue and the Carling LRT Station, with access via a pedestrian bridge from the parking facility to the main hospital building. A covered Emergency Department ambulatory drop-off will also be available on the east side of the building for visitor and patient access. First responders and ambulance transfer services, including the ambulance garage, will access the hospital from auxiliary entrances facing west. Materials management (loading docks) will be accessed from the south, from Prince of Wales Drive. The Central Utility Plant (CUP) is located adjacent to ambulance garage; this location minimizes the visual impact of the CUP, while ensuing efficient infrastructure connectivity for the New Campus Hospital. Flanking the Central Podium on the north and south sides will be two patient

care towers, with the South Tower intended to be 12 storeys and will include a Helipad on the 12th floor, and the North Tower intended to be 7-storeys. The proposed 7-storey North Tower is anticipated to be expanded vertically in Phase 8, which is set to begin in the late 2030s.

Phase 4 will also include developing the Main Plaza, which connects the Central Podium to the entrance from Champagne Avenue and Carling Avenue. The Main Plaza will provide vehicular, pedestrian and transit-user access to the Main Entrance.

In Phase 5 (2025-2027), the transit connection to TOH Campus will be improved with the opening of Dow’s Lake Light Rail Transit (LRT) Station. Dow’s Lake Station is planned on the south side of Carling Avenue near the Champagne Avenue entrance to the Hospital. Future construction of a Research Building (Phase 6 – 2024-2029) on Carling west of Champagne Avenue and mixed-use towers east of Champagne Avenue (Phase 7 – 2029-2039) will animate the Site’s frontage on Carling Avenue. Eventually, the Carling Avenue right-of-way on the Hospital’s frontage will be modified to include a bi-directional bikeway abutting the road, street trees or planting, and a concrete sidewalk. A similar streetscape design is proposed along the Site’s frontage on Preston and Prince of Wales.

Phases 8, 9 and 10 will be hospital expansions including the new University of Ottawa Heart Institute and are projected for 2045-2048.

Access and Circulation

The primary access for staff and visitors is off both Carling Avenue (across from Champagne Ave) and Prince of Wales Drive, accessing the new 4 storey parking structure. The main entrance from Carling Avenue will diverge, with two lanes heading upwards to the main entrance, and a single lane proceeding to a below-grade emergency drop-off area. Ambulatory vehicles are not intended to use the Carling Avenue access across from Champagne Avenue but would access the main hospital from either Prince of Wales Drive or Carling Avenue through Maple Drive.

Access to the service and loading area will be from Prince of Wales Drive and screened from view with berming and landscaping.

A one-way (westbound) laneway is proposed with right-in only access at Preston Street. This laneway will be 6 metres in width and predominantly designed for commercial truck delivery to the future Phase 7 buildings fronting onto both Preston Street and Carling Avenue.

An additional 700 surface parking spaces, in addition to the 2,400 space parking garage, will be provided for staff, with the majority of those spaces located adjacent the Central Utility Plant at the rear (or west) of the main hospital building.

Lifting of the Holding Provision

A related Lifting of Holding Provision application (D07-07-21-0007) has been submitted. A holding provision was established through the rezoning of the hospital lands in 2018 to ensure Planning Committee and Council will grant approval of a master site plan, transportation study, cultural heritage study and master servicing study. The holding provision can be lifted once Planning Committee and Council approve the subject Master Plan and its related supporting studies.

Timelines and Approval Authority

The target date for the application to be considered by the City’s Planning Committee, is August 26, 2021

Roadway Modifications

Roadway modifications along Carling Avenue, Preston Street and Prince of Wales Drive may be required.

Stay Informed and Involved

1. Register for future notifications about this site plan control application by providing your comments by e-mailing me and adding File No. D07-12-21-0059 and D07-07-21-0007 in the subject line.

2. Access submitted plans and studies regarding this application online at ottawa.ca/devapps.

3. Should you have any questions, please contact me. Please consider copying our office on your questions and comments as well.

Sean Moore, Planner III Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development Department

City of Ottawa 110 Laurier Avenue West, 4th Floor Ottawa, ON K1P 1J1

Tel.: 613-580-2424, ext. 16481

TOH@ottawa.ca