Tunney’s Pasture to see more housing, less office space in NCC’s revamped vision

Article content

Housing — denser, taller and cheaper — will be the the hallmark of a revamped Tunney’s Pasture in a plan unveiled by the National Capital Commission at its January board meeting.

The NCC’s federal land use and transaction approval (FLUTA) plan will lead to a “full transformation” of the Tunney’s Pasture property, NCC chairperson Maryse Gaudreault said when the board approved the plan on Jan. 23.

Article content

It calls for less office space in keeping with the federal government plan to cut its footprint in the city by 50 per cent, and between 7,000 and 9,000 new housing units, with 1,400 to 1,800 of them to be considered “affordable” under the city’s official plan.

That’s a steep jump from the 3,400 to 3,700 housing units envisioned the last time the NCC’s did a land use plan in 2014. And it’s a staggering reduction in the number of public servants who work at Tunney’s Pasture.

The 2014 plan had set aside office space for as many as 25,000 federal employees. A decade later, there are just 12,000 government workers at Tunney’s and the new plan has space for only 7,600.

“The amended plan retains the essence of the 2014 plan’s visions and guiding principles, but shifts the emphasis from federal office accommodations to a more balanced community,” Mark Gordon, a senior land use planner with the NCC, told the board.

The 49-hectare Tunney’s Pasture complex was designed as part of the 1950s era “car-centric” Gréber Plan for the national capital, but is no longer in keeping with current planning needs, Gordon said. The city and the province are pushing for denser development, and the federal government is divesting real estate and pushing for more housing.

Article content

Article content

Five of the nine federal buildings on the site will be sold off to the private sector, including the showpiece Brooke Claxton Building near the Ottawa River. The broad avenues of Tunney’s Pasture Parkway and Columbine Drive will be narrowed “to a more human scale” and turned over, along with the other roadways, to the municipality.

Building heights will be capped at three to four storeys on the western edge adjacent to Champlain Park. They’ll rise to between 10 and 20 storeys in the core and to between 21 and 40 storeys beside the Tunney’s Pasture LRT station. Along Parkdale Avenue, buildings would be between five and nine storeys.

A broad public plaza to be known as the Yarrow Woonerf — a Dutch word meaning “street for living” — is planned for the north edge of the LRT station.

The amended plan also calls for nearly 80,000 square metres of public park space.

The NCC has been holding public meetings since 2021 on the project and residents have been more concerned about increased traffic congestion than with the actual layout and building heights, said Kitchissippi Ward Coun. Jeff Leiper. While the new community will be ideally situated for public transit and active transportation use, residents are pushing for a vigorous study of its traffic impacts on the surrounding community, he said.

Article content

“It’s going to be a long build, but in general, residents are excited to see something a lot more vibrant at Tunney’s Pasture,” Leiper said. “The redevelopment implies more park space and more people living in the ward makes for a more dynamic and vibrant main street. I think we’re all looking forward to work moving ahead on this, even if there is some tentativeness about the potential for traffic congestion.”

Most of the property and buildings at Tunney’s Pasture belongs to Public Services and Procurement Canada, with three small pieces owned by Health Canada. The properties for disposal will be transferred to the Canada Lands Company for sale.

Our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark our homepage and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed.

Article content