At its meeting on Thursday, the National Capital Commission (NCC) approved the final plan for the revitalization of Sparks Street.
According to the NCC, the goal of the project is to provide a strong, renewed and common vision for the future design, management and programming of Sparks Street, a pedestrian mall in the capital.
This will be implemented by the project’s five guiding principals:
- The public realm represents Ottawa as a city and capital. It represents the “best of town,” and its design respects its unique history, location and status.
- The public realm is rich, fun and interactive. It enables a curated mix of experiences that encourage gathering, discovery and celebration.
- The public realm is welcoming, exceptionally well maintained, safe, clean and designed for universal accessibility.
- The public realm is an urban oasis that contributes to the health and well-being of residents and visitors.
- The public realm conveys a sense of harmony and timelessness but is flexible enough to adapt to changing seasons, programs and new experiential opportunities.
Mayor Jim Watson, who sits on the NCC’s board but without a voting role, says that while the improvements are a step in the right direction, he thinks the federal government should step up to fill some of the vacant shops on their site on the street.
“There’s a lot of really good ideas, very energetic, and it greens the place up a lot more than it is now,” said Watson.
“We need to convince the federal government, which is the primary over on the north side of the mall, to be more actively engaged because most of the vacancies are on the north side of the government’s side of the property.”
As for the next steps in the project, the plan will now be submitted to Ottawa city council later this month.
Through next winter and into 2022, the city will begin planning and engineering the project with spring 2022 being the earliest start date for construction.
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