Make convent community centre: Ottawa councillor

An Ottawa city councillor is fighting for a convent to be used as a community centre and not as a commercial outlet.

The 135-year-old Sisters of the Visitation convent in Westboro is a protected heritage building. But the developer that owns the building wants to incorporate it into a commercial highrise project.

Many Westboro residents oppose plans for commercial outlets and nine-storey highrises around the walled convent. They will soon meet with city planners and the developer to see if they can negotiate compromises on the project.

Ashcroft Developers intends to build 600 condominiums and apartments in three highrise buildings around the convent. The developer expects to tear down a wall and begin construction of the site next summer. 

But Christine Leadman, the councillor for the area, wants the city to step in and take over the convent so it can be turned into a community resource. She wants the city to negotiate for the convent with the developer, so residents can use it.

"A centre of innovation perhaps, a cultural centre, an arts centre, a community centre … all the ideas have been brought forward," she told CBC News. "But there also has to be an incentive. Let's see what the city comes to the table with as well."

Negotiations involving the city, the community and the developer are expected to start next week.

Dozens of people living in the area appeared before the city's planning committee earlier this week to oppose the project.

And in a rare move, the committee invoked a section of the Municipal Act that allows the ward councillor, city staff and the developer to try to negotiate a new deal.

The group has until Nov. 16 to come up with a new plan for the site.

The convent was built in 1865 and sits on 2.1 hectares of land along Richmond Road.