Neighbours imagine a more walkable future for Lincoln Fields

Some people who live near the future Lincoln Fields light rail station — with its nearly 50-year-old former mall and ample surface parking — told the city Wednesday they want the area to become more walkable.

A few dozen people huddled around poster boards of artist renderings at the Ron Kolbus Lakeside Centre and spoke about buildings and amenities they think should be built within a 10-minute walk.

"I'm glad that this is finally getting started," said Jonathan Morris, president of the Britannia Village Community Association.

"We've known that there's lots of development pressure coming up in the area with LRT and so forth and so we wanted a cohesive plan, a vision for the area."

Coincidentally,Ottawa's planning committee is looking at one such development for the area west of central Ottawa on Thursday.

Mall owners RioCan wants to build a new 2,600-square metre Metro grocery store and Rexall pharmacy on the property and raze much of the already-empty mall.

The company has plans to build residential buildings nearby as well.

Morris supports the development, saying it's important to have the grocer in the area, but argues the some 800 parking spaces Riocan plans to leave untouched after the mall's demolition isn't what the area needs.

"We're a very car-centric area. For the most part, development happened in the 1950s … so we're hoping to pull back on that a bit and get to a more human-scale type of planning," he said.

He wants to see the mall's leftover parking spaces be transformed in to a grassy park space — at least until Riocan begins future developments.

Bay Coun. Theresa Kavanagh, who also attend Wednesday's meeting, said she would also like to see the parking lots become green space.

More pressing than that though, she said, is the need for better pathways to and from the future Lincoln Fields station, which should open in 2025.

"I'd like to see excellent connectivity. I think that's the top priority," she said.

The current Lincoln Fields bus station will be rebuilt, with a platform under Carling Avenue, public washrooms, retail space and connections to between trains and buses that won't require passing through fare gates.

West of this station, the Confederation Line will split to either Baseline station at Algonquin College or to Moodie Drive.

Currently, the options for pedestrians to get to and from the Lincoln Fields bus station and navigate the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway are "totally inadequate," Kavanagh said.

They include trails that are not always maintained in winter.

"We have a major development on one side, and then there's this busy road and then there's transportation on the other [side]" said Kavanagh.

"We're trying to encourage transit and yet the road is in the way."

Ian McCallum, director of the Woodpark Community Association, lives a short walk from Lincoln Fields station.

He worries the future LRT station and light rail will cut off well-used walking paths to community gardens.

While he understands the need to intensify development, he worries city amenities aren't keeping pace with the influx of people moving to the area.

McCallum wants to see more libraries, parks, playgrounds and improvements to the roadways, particularly around Carling and Woodroofe avenues.

The city expects to finish its recommendations for a development plan for Lincoln Fields Station in 2021.