Doucet questions Lansdowne Park rezoning

Capital Ward councillor and mayoral candidate Clive Doucet said plans to eliminate Sylvia Holden Park as part of the redesign of Lansdowne Park could impact the fate of other parks in the city.

On Sunday Doucet challenged his rivals to state their position on the fate of the Sylvia Holden Park, the strip of grass and trees slated to disappear with the redesign of Lansdowne.

Doucet said that in 1994 the city adopted a policy that required the approval of two-thirds of council members before a park could be decommissioned, and that no such vote occurred as part of the Lansdowne Park redesign.

"If you support the decommissioning of Sylvia Holden Park, would you also support decommissioning parks in other parts of the City?" Doucet asked in a prepared statement.

Doucet, a vocal opponent of the Lansdowne redesign, said he would ask for a legal opinion on the issue when council meets on Wednesday.

The city has already approved a plan to allow the rezoning of Lansdowne Park to allow two residential towers — 17 and 20 storeys high — on Bank Street, as well as a row of four-storey condos, with 30-metre buildings set just behind them, along Holmwood Avenue.

City staff has said the park is part of the larger Lansdowne site, and can therefore be rezoned along with the rest of the property to allow development.

Mayor Larry O'Brien has already come out in support of the rezoning, while mayoral candidate Jim Watson, who represented Capital Ward when the park was officially named in 1994, has said he won't stand in the way of council's decision to approve the Lansdowne redesign.

The rezoning of the area where the park lies is part of the plan to upgrade and renovate the hockey arena and Frank Clair Football Stadium at the 16-hectare central Ottawa property on Bank Street, just north of the Rideau Canal.

Under terms of the deal, Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group would bring a CFL franchise and build shops, restaurants and condos at the site.