Urban Design And Zoning Study Étude de conception urbaine et zonage Rue Bank Street, Old Ottawa South/Vieux Ottawa Sud Development Services Department/Services d’aménagement City of Ottawa/Ville d’Ottawa Planning and Development Committee – June 26, 2003 le Comité de l’urbanisme et de l’aménagement – le 26 juin, 2003 TABLE OF CONTENTS Sommaire – Étude de conception urbaine et zonage Ottawa sud 3 Introduction 5 Background.........................................................................................................................5 Bank Street Community Vision..........................................................................................6 Existing Conditions ............................................................................................................ 7 Design Principles for the Redevelopment of Bank Street in Ottawa South 19 Design Principle #1: Develop a Compact Building Form................................................20 Design Principle #2: Create Prominent Gateways ...........................................................29 Design Principle #3: Provide a Continuous Building Facade ..........................................34 Design Principle #4: Create a human-scale, pedestrian-friendly environment ................44 Design Principle# 5: Improve Visual Quality ..................................................................54 Implementation of Design Principles 55 Existing and Proposed Zoning..........................................................................................55 Other Development Approvals Implementation Mechanisms .........................................59 Potential Redevelopment Incentives ................................................................................60 Possible Redevelopment Under Proposed Guidelines......................................................62 2/64 Ce document est disponible en anglais seulement, mais le sommaire ci- dessus résume les grandes lignes directrices du document. Pour de plus amples informations en français, veuillez communiquer avec Françoise Jessop au 580-2424, poste 13862, ou Jean-Guy Bisson au 580-2424, poste 13317. Sommaire – Étude de conception urbaine et zonage Ottawa sud Le plan d’aménagement du quartier Ottawa Sud, adopté en 1979, prévoyait le maintien et l’aménagement de la rue Bank en une artère commerciale de quartier, axée sur la circulation piétonnière avec des commerces desservant principalement les résidents du quartier, mais pouvant accommoder également des commerces visant une clientèle plus régionale. Ces objectifs demeurent toujours aussi valables aujourd’hui. Le zonage actuel tend à mettre en oeuvre ces objectifs mais pas de façon satisfaisante. La présente étude sur la conception urbaine et le zonage de la rue Bank dans le quartier Ottawa Sud a pour but de renforcer ces objectifs par les propositions suivantes : • éliminer les terrains et structures de stationnement; • limiter la dimension de certains commerces; • établir une limite maximale de recul des édifices; • accroître la largeur des trottoirs; • prohiber le stationnement dans les parties avant et latérales des propriétés; • exiger que les façades des édifices soient orientées sur la rue Bank; • accroître la dimension des édifices en général (minimum de 2 étages; maximum de 4 étages) et de façon plus marquée a l’entré sud du quartier; • éliminer le nombre de stationnement requis pour les constructions situées sur de petites propriétés et favoriser le stationnement partagé dans les autres cas; • limiter le nombre d’accès pour véhicules aux propriétés; • favoriser l’utilisation des ruelles dans le réaménagement des propriétés là où la situation le permet; et • définir des normes qui vont favoriser l’amélioration de l’apparence des édifices. 3/64 4/64 Introduction Background Bank Street is one of Ottawa's historic arteries, beginning near the edge of the Ottawa River, adjacent to Parliament Hill. It directly crosses and bisects numerous communities with different building forms, streetscapes and architectural styles. These vary from the high-rise office developments in the downtown to the predominantly automobile-oriented character of the street serving the southern part of the City’s urban area, near Hunt Club Road. Bank Street bears witness to the successive stages of the City's growth. In the community of Old Ottawa South, Bank Street is located between two bridges crossing the Rideau Canal and the Rideau River. Here it is characterized by both a mix of two to three storey buildings with continuous facades and some buildings of heritage interest and elements reflective of the traditional mainstreet development; as well as more recent construction that is automobile-oriented, with buildings that are set back from the street and where a large portion of the land is used for vehicular storage and parking. Of interest to note is that the original terminal of Ottawa’s former streetcar line along Bank Street was located in Old Ottawa South, at about mid-point along the street. 5/64 Bank Street Community Vision Even though the Old Ottawa South Neighbourhood Plan was developed and approved in 1979, almost 25 years ago, the vision contained in the Plan for the community was of a medium density, pedestrian-oriented urban neighbourhood with a variety of small scale shops and commercial activity which primarily serve the neighbourhood, but that may also attract a city wide clientele. This vision continues to be relevant today; the community believes that the primacy of the pedestrian is very important on Bank Street and that an attractive, densely developed and diverse retail environment should be created along Bank Street. These objectives are very much in line with the policies of the City’s new draft Official Plan (March 2003) that designates Bank Street as a “Mainstreet”. It is intended that change and renewal of lands within this designation “will be carried out in accordance with the principle of an environment that is architecturally pleasing, lively in its mix of uses, oriented to the street, friendly to pedestrians and that presents a strong, continuous building edge along the sidewalk”. Approach While there has been some turnover in businesses (of note is the emergence of antique shops in the past number of years), there has been limited redevelopment of properties in this part of Bank Street for the last 25 years. Of the redevelopment that has occurred, there is the sense by the community that it has not fully reflected the objectives of the neighbourhood plan. This became particularly evident recently with the demolition of the former Strand Theatre and its replacement with a one- storey restaurant on the site. During the consideration of the site plan on November 8, 2001, for a new Tim Horton’s on this site, the City’s Planning and Development Committee directed staff to: “Bring forward within six months, zoning changes for Bank Street between the Rideau River and the Canal to more clearly reflect the Old Ottawa Neighbourhood Plan”. In response, the Old Ottawa South Community Association’s committee on planning and development issues prepared an “Analysis and Recommendations for Planning Policies and Tools to Improve Bank Street in Old Ottawa South” (April 2002) which contained a number of recommendations that have been brought forward in this report. On the basis of a few guiding design principles established by staff, the suggestions made by the committee, and comments submitted by the public following a public meeting held on April 30th, 2003; a number of changes to the zoning regulations for Bank Street are proposed in this report. As well, for those design aspects that cannot be regulated through zoning, or where a more flexible approach is desirable, some guidelines have been prepared which would be 6/64 applied through the development approvals processes (primarily through Site Plan Control approval or through the review of applications for minor variances to the Committee of Adjustment) as new developments are proposed. It is recognized that refinements and incentives in the zoning regulations and the application of design guidelines will not by themselves realize the desired revitalization of Bank Street in Ottawa South. In order to fill in vacant areas and intensify the street, there needs to be an economic and market interest for construction of the type of compact mixed use buildings that is promoted by the Official Plan as the keystone in the development of designated Mainstreets such as Bank Street. Existing Conditions What’s Great Continuous store fronts • A few blocks of continuous building facades with large windows close to the sidewalk; • Attractively designed Bank Street Bridge crossing the Rideau Canal; • Beautiful stone church and public library building which serve as gateways at the north end of community; • A mix of commercial uses with interesting specialty shops; and • Linear park system at south end along the Rideau River. 7/64 What’s Not Bank Street looking north towards the Canal • Narrow sidewalks and hydro poles and wires; • Few trees and other amenities; • Many empty lots, and under-developed sites; and • Some buildings set back from the sidewalk with parking in the front. Built Form Building form can be supplemented to fill in gaps and reinforce the existing neighbourhood fabric 8/64 The key characteristics of traditional, pre-war mainstreet development are: • a continuous building façade, that is buildings located directly beside each other and sharing walls; • the facades of building are along