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The federal Liberals will to help fund a $168-million super library, giving the City of Ottawa the confirmation it needs to start planning a facility on LeBreton Flats in collaboration with Library and Archives Canada.
The federal budget released Tuesday earmarks $73.3 million over six years for the joint facility, which includes funding for operations.
The city needed the federal government to provide $69 million for the construction of the building on the city-owned property at 557 Wellington St., which is west of Albert Street and Bronson Avenue. The city will pay $99 million for a new Ottawa Public Library (OPL) main branch in the facility, replacing the aging library building on Metcalfe Street.
Coun. Tim Tierney, chair of the OPL board, welcomed the long-awaited news.
“This is not only a win for two levels of government and the taxpayer but it will allow for a world-class library next to light rail,” Tierney said. “This is a major milestone. Our board had the vision and the wait has been worth it.”
There are still outstanding questions about the city’s portion of the project, mostly when it comes to money.
The project estimate doesn’t include the cost of an underground parking garage. The OPL’s analysis put the parking cost at $18 million and city staff were tasked to research ways to pay for it. The city could ask the private sector to build and operate the parking garage. There could also be opportunities to provide a combined parking garage with land developers since the city and the National Capital Commission plan to develop the land around the facility.
The City of Ottawa and the National Capital Commission hired a planning firm to come up with a preliminary development plan for the future central library site at 557 Wellington St. and the land to the west, near the Pimisi LRT station.
The city will rely heavily on the sale of its current main library to reduce the $99-million cost and lower the burden on property taxpayers. There could also be a campaign to raise money from the community. The city will no doubt ask Queen’s Park to pay for some of the construction costs, and timing could be in the city’s favour, since provincial election candidates will hit the campaign trail ahead of the June election.
The preliminary building plan calls for 215,458 square feet in a four-storey building, divided 61 per cent and 39 per cent between OPL and Library and Archives Canada, respectively. Shared amenities would include the entrance plaza, meeting rooms, outdoor programming space, an exhibition gallery and a genealogy centre.
“This new building will be an iconic community hub, a single door to the national library and archives, and a world-class public library in Canada’s capital city which will increase citizen participation in the community and improve access to Canada’s history, culture and collective knowledge,” the federal budget says.
The feds expect the building to open in 2023.
The city is in the middle of hiring an architect for the project. It has wanted to break ground in 2018, which would be convenient for Mayor Jim Watson, who made a new central library a cornerstone of his re-election campaign in 2014. Watson has said he’ll seek re-election in the October vote.
Ottawa Centre MP Catherine McKenna also committed to fight for library money during the 2015 federal election.
Municipal library advocates will be pressing the city for more public consultations on the building design and programming.
Council voted in favour of the project in February 2017 with hopes the federal government would quickly confirm their own funding. That ended up taking more than a year.
Coun. Catherine McKenney, who represents downtown Ottawa, was the only city councillor who voted against the project. She opposes the location, which is just outside the traditional downtown borders and is an uphill walk from the closest LRT station on Booth Street near Albert Street.
NCC gets cash for asset repairs
The National Capital Commission can chip away at its deferred maintenance tab with the $55 million set aside in the federal budget for asset repairs.
The budget proposes to give the money to the NCC over two years for critical repairs.
The NCC is a major landholder in the Ottawa-Gatineau region, with responsibility for maintaining official residences, Gatineau Park, federal roadways, bridges and other historic attractions.
The Crown agency has been under pressure to track the status of its assets and make repairs.
A 2017 special examination by the federal auditor general revealed a “significant deficiency” in asset maintenance. At the time, the NCC assessed the condition of 27 per cent of its assets as fair, poor or critical and said there was a shortfall in funding required to restore the infrastructure, the auditor general learned.
Of those assets, 10 per cent were found to be in poor or critical condition.
The report pointed out that many of the NCC’s assets generate revenue, and it’s in the NCC’s interest to keep the infrastructure up to snuff to help its operations budget.
The NCC said it was working with the federal government to secure more funding. When the auditor general filed the special examination, the NCC said it hadn’t received any increases in funding, other than for specific purposes, since the 2009-2010 fiscal year.
The agency said its capital budget actually decreased by about $5 million in that time.
The federal budget is silent on money for renovations at 24 Sussex Drive, the official residence of the prime minister. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family are living at a home on the grounds of Rideau Hall because 24 Sussex needs major repairs and security upgrades.
The NCC’s lack of repair funds has trickled down to city transportation infrastructure. Hog’s Back Bridge has been one of the assets in poor or critical condition, and when that breaks down, the city’s north-south road network gets pinched.
The Ottawa River flooding in spring 2017 put a further strain on the NCC’s assets, forcing the agency to repair pathways on both sides of the waterway.
Bilingualism gets boost
There might be a larger French-language presence in Ottawa and surrounding communities, thanks to a new $400-million “action plan” in the federal budget to promote bilingualism.
The five-year Action Plan for Official Languages includes funding for community groups, cultural organizations and education providers.
The feds say they are particularly concerned about “official language minority communities.” The City of Ottawa was recently granted bilingual designation under provincial legislation, but it was more of a symbolic gesture that had no operational impacts on city hall.
More money for opioid crisis
The federal budget provides hope for more opioid addiction treatment services in Ottawa.
The budget proposes $231.4 million over five years to address the opioid crisis.
Provinces and territories are poised to receive $150 million in emergency funding to improve access to “evidence-based treatment services.”
There would also be public education campaigns, law enforcement tools to intercept fentanyl at the Canadian borders and measures to develop “innovative approaches” to treatment and prevention, the budget says.
Ottawa city council recently directed Mayor Jim Watson to ask the province for more treatment services in the nation’s capital.
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twitter.com/JonathanWilling
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The federal budget released Tuesday earmarks $73.3 million over six years for the joint facility, which includes funding for operations.
The city needed the federal government to provide $69 million for the construction of the building on the city-owned property at 557 Wellington St., which is west of Albert Street and Bronson Avenue. The city will pay $99 million for a new Ottawa Public Library (OPL) main branch in the facility, replacing the aging library building on Metcalfe Street.
Coun. Tim Tierney, chair of the OPL board, welcomed the long-awaited news.
“This is not only a win for two levels of government and the taxpayer but it will allow for a world-class library next to light rail,” Tierney said. “This is a major milestone. Our board had the vision and the wait has been worth it.”
There are still outstanding questions about the city’s portion of the project, mostly when it comes to money.
The project estimate doesn’t include the cost of an underground parking garage. The OPL’s analysis put the parking cost at $18 million and city staff were tasked to research ways to pay for it. The city could ask the private sector to build and operate the parking garage. There could also be opportunities to provide a combined parking garage with land developers since the city and the National Capital Commission plan to develop the land around the facility.
The City of Ottawa and the National Capital Commission hired a planning firm to come up with a preliminary development plan for the future central library site at 557 Wellington St. and the land to the west, near the Pimisi LRT station.
The city will rely heavily on the sale of its current main library to reduce the $99-million cost and lower the burden on property taxpayers. There could also be a campaign to raise money from the community. The city will no doubt ask Queen’s Park to pay for some of the construction costs, and timing could be in the city’s favour, since provincial election candidates will hit the campaign trail ahead of the June election.
The preliminary building plan calls for 215,458 square feet in a four-storey building, divided 61 per cent and 39 per cent between OPL and Library and Archives Canada, respectively. Shared amenities would include the entrance plaza, meeting rooms, outdoor programming space, an exhibition gallery and a genealogy centre.
“This new building will be an iconic community hub, a single door to the national library and archives, and a world-class public library in Canada’s capital city which will increase citizen participation in the community and improve access to Canada’s history, culture and collective knowledge,” the federal budget says.
The feds expect the building to open in 2023.
The city is in the middle of hiring an architect for the project. It has wanted to break ground in 2018, which would be convenient for Mayor Jim Watson, who made a new central library a cornerstone of his re-election campaign in 2014. Watson has said he’ll seek re-election in the October vote.
Ottawa Centre MP Catherine McKenna also committed to fight for library money during the 2015 federal election.
Municipal library advocates will be pressing the city for more public consultations on the building design and programming.
Council voted in favour of the project in February 2017 with hopes the federal government would quickly confirm their own funding. That ended up taking more than a year.
Coun. Catherine McKenney, who represents downtown Ottawa, was the only city councillor who voted against the project. She opposes the location, which is just outside the traditional downtown borders and is an uphill walk from the closest LRT station on Booth Street near Albert Street.
NCC gets cash for asset repairs
The National Capital Commission can chip away at its deferred maintenance tab with the $55 million set aside in the federal budget for asset repairs.
The budget proposes to give the money to the NCC over two years for critical repairs.
The NCC is a major landholder in the Ottawa-Gatineau region, with responsibility for maintaining official residences, Gatineau Park, federal roadways, bridges and other historic attractions.
The Crown agency has been under pressure to track the status of its assets and make repairs.
A 2017 special examination by the federal auditor general revealed a “significant deficiency” in asset maintenance. At the time, the NCC assessed the condition of 27 per cent of its assets as fair, poor or critical and said there was a shortfall in funding required to restore the infrastructure, the auditor general learned.
Of those assets, 10 per cent were found to be in poor or critical condition.
The report pointed out that many of the NCC’s assets generate revenue, and it’s in the NCC’s interest to keep the infrastructure up to snuff to help its operations budget.
The NCC said it was working with the federal government to secure more funding. When the auditor general filed the special examination, the NCC said it hadn’t received any increases in funding, other than for specific purposes, since the 2009-2010 fiscal year.
The agency said its capital budget actually decreased by about $5 million in that time.
The federal budget is silent on money for renovations at 24 Sussex Drive, the official residence of the prime minister. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family are living at a home on the grounds of Rideau Hall because 24 Sussex needs major repairs and security upgrades.
The NCC’s lack of repair funds has trickled down to city transportation infrastructure. Hog’s Back Bridge has been one of the assets in poor or critical condition, and when that breaks down, the city’s north-south road network gets pinched.
The Ottawa River flooding in spring 2017 put a further strain on the NCC’s assets, forcing the agency to repair pathways on both sides of the waterway.
Bilingualism gets boost
There might be a larger French-language presence in Ottawa and surrounding communities, thanks to a new $400-million “action plan” in the federal budget to promote bilingualism.
The five-year Action Plan for Official Languages includes funding for community groups, cultural organizations and education providers.
The feds say they are particularly concerned about “official language minority communities.” The City of Ottawa was recently granted bilingual designation under provincial legislation, but it was more of a symbolic gesture that had no operational impacts on city hall.
More money for opioid crisis
The federal budget provides hope for more opioid addiction treatment services in Ottawa.
The budget proposes $231.4 million over five years to address the opioid crisis.
Provinces and territories are poised to receive $150 million in emergency funding to improve access to “evidence-based treatment services.”
There would also be public education campaigns, law enforcement tools to intercept fentanyl at the Canadian borders and measures to develop “innovative approaches” to treatment and prevention, the budget says.
Ottawa city council recently directed Mayor Jim Watson to ask the province for more treatment services in the nation’s capital.
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jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling
查看原文...
