Background:
Main Street Revitalization
Main Street remains the core of the Old Ottawa East community, and this year there were big changes on the street. We lost Peach Gardens and Mike's Petrocan, and saw the commercial nature of the street threatened. Eight townhouses with no commercial frontage are being built on the Peach Garden site. We have yet to find out what will be proposed for the Petrocan site, but it will not be a gas station. The business locations at Main and Hawthorne are for sale and apparently the Caisse Populaire is in a state of flux. On the other hand, we have a successful and interesting bicycle business on Hawthorne at Main and the promise of a neighbourhood coffee shop opening up in the spring.
One of the benefits of these changes is that many residents of the community have become involved in revitalization of Main Street. A petition to stop the residential development of the Peach Garden site was signed by over 600 residents, and it mobilized many formerly quiet Ottawa East residents. Following on this initial petition, and with support from the Ottawa East Community Association and many community activists, a Main Street Revitalization survey was developed.
Main Street Revitalization Survey and Community Charrette
The interim report of the Main Street revitalization survey is based on 500 responses to surveys conducted between June and November 2005. The results will help shape how the OECA, councillor, and City officials view this neighbourhood.A Visioning Session on the future of Ottawa East was held at Saint Paul University on October 21 and 22 with about 25 people in attendance (planners, architects, neighbours), and the outcome of this session was presented at two community-wide Open Houses on November 19th, which were attended by almost 200 people. The results of the three break-out sessions at the Visioning had many ideas in common: enhance the commercial nature of Main Street; increase the density of population in our community; maintain our current green spaces and develop sports fields on the lands adjacent to the Lees Avenue apartments; and develop a bike path along the river to link the Lees Avenue apartment dwellers to Clegg Avenue, which could eventually lead to a pedestrian bridge across the canal.
If you've not already done so, please fill out a Main Street Revitalization survey (PDF download).
Ottawa East Revitalization Essay
Read how Ottawa East can be revitalized and become an urban village. See “The Revitalization of Ottawa East” written by university geography student, Kevin Ballantyne,