The NCC has an ‘ambitious’ plan to have a master concept tabled early 2020 and shovels in the ground by 2021. by: Jeff Slack
National Capital Commission updated its ‘Building LeBreton’ project with the direction of creating a master plan by January 2020.
At the NCC’s board meeting Thursday, staff said there were 400 participants in public consultations and 560 completed online survey’s.
What they learned from this was that the public want a space that has human-scale buildings and a connection to the indigenous community.
These consultations also helped create six guiding principals that focus on enhancing the capital experience, creating community, valuing nature, ensuring connections, building excellence through innovation and honouring the past.
The board expressed excitement on the possibility of making LeBreton a key attraction in the Nations Capital. The NCC’s CEO Tobi Nussbaum hopes this new approach to developing the 24 hectare land will boost moral.
“We’ve taken lessons learned from the previous exercises,” Nussbaum told reporters.
“We feel that we have the right balance between ensuring early public input but also having very ambitious timelines,” he added.
The site was originally suppose to be home of the new Senators Stadium by the joint venture Rendezvous LeBreton Group, but due to the implosion between business partners Eugene Melnyk, Ottawa Senators Owner, and John Ruddy, Trinity Developments, the project didn’t go through.
The NCC plans to start developing the area in small pieces, starting with the new library on the eastern end of the LeBreton.
A master concept plan is expected to come forward to the board for approval in January 2020. The NCC is looking at having shovels in the ground by 2021.