Questions linger after NCC picks Tunney's Pasture for new Civic hospital

On Thursday, the National Capital Commission's board of directors voted to recommend that the Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly transfer 20 hectares of Tunney's Pasture to the Ottawa Hospital for a new Civic campus.

• Tunney's Pasture picked as NCC's top site for new Civic hospital
• Reaction to NCC's hospital decision mixed

The hospital, which had been advocating for a 24-hectare site on the Central Experiment Farm across from the current Civic, was disappointed.

And that's almost all we know for sure at this point. 

In fact, we don't even know how many people opposed the farm as a possible hospital site.

Survey results

More than 8,000 people were consulted for the NCC's review of 12 potential federal sites for the new Civic campus, with 7,695 people who filled out a survey. But like the questionnaire on the LeBreton Flats redevelopment bids (which received about as many answers as this survey), there's no question that asks respondents directly which option they like most. Instead, they were asked to rank three different groups of criteria.

Interestingly, the things most people agreed on were about the importance of access to the hospital, for emergency vehicles as well as patients and staff. (Of least importance was displacing federal offices.)

The final question, though, was an open-ended one asking for "comments regarding any of the specific sites." The analysis of those answers by Environics Research shows that just 38 per cent of respondents made specific reference to the "farm," the "CEF" or any of the proposed sites on the farm.

And of those respondents, only a little over half "voiced opposition to locating the new hospital on any of the four CEF sites," writes Environics.

That means about 19 per cent of the 7,695 who filled out the online survey took the effort to explicitly express they opposed putting the hospital on the farm. That's still more than 1,400 people — and loud ones at that — but not anywhere near a majority of survey respondents. 

Traffic questions

The biggest hurdle for locating a new Civic campus at Tunney's Pasture is access for emergency vehicles from the highway, one of the hospital's biggest concerns with this location.

Parkdale Avenue between Highway 417 and Scott Street is often congested. Holland Avenue, just to the east, isn't much better. However, the NCC noted that the hospital did not submit any traffic studies during the past six months of discussions.

The NCC consulted with the Ottawa Paramedic Service about their needs for emergency services at a new Civic location.

"Our requirements were that a new Civic was in the urban core and that it had quick and easy access to the 417," said paramedics spokesman J.P. Trottier. 

He said Tunney's Pasture meets those requirements, but "with caveats because there are a lot of unknowns." 

Trottier pointed out the current Civic is about the same distance from the Queensway as Tunney's, but paramedics still have questions about the design of the hospital campus and how ambulances will travel in and out of the site.

One option could be for emergency vehicles to use the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway to access Tunney's. The NCC was musing about shrinking the lanes, but perhaps they can be kept for exclusive hospital access instead.

Who pays for what?

The hospital is also worried about the cost and delays of demolishing existing buildings at Tunney's.

It estimates it'll cost about $2 billion to build a new Civic campus — and doesn't have money for demolitions.

There are six buildings in the affected area at Tunney's, with the rest being parking. It's too early for heritage officials to say whether they'll pick up the tab for preparing the property for a hospital build.

The 20-hectare segment that Joly is expected to offer to the hospital is on the west side of the site, land that a previous long-term plan pegged for redeveloping and possibly even selling. There were no plans to have federal government workers in this part of Tunney's in the long run, so in theory, relocating those public servants shouldn't be a major issue.

And with the Tunney's site, the hospital wouldn't have to pay to connect the site to city services like water and sewers, as they would with on the farm. 

What's next?

The NCC board will make its formal recommendation to Joly in the coming days. An official in the minister's office told CBC News it will begin discussions with the province (which will ultimately decide whether to build a new hospital), public works (which oversees the management of Tunney's Pasture), and relevant stakeholders groups about transferring the land.

The official says the minister is committed to moving quickly.

However, as the NCC's Mark Kristmanson made clear, the hospital can say, 'No, thank you,' to the Tunney's land. In a terse statement released Thursday afternoon, the hospital said — yet again — that Tunney's is not one of its top-ranked preferences, and it worries about access to the Queensway.

But what happens if the hospital says no? It's certainly not ideal for a hospital to spend scarce resources buying private land, and what other public land is there in the urban core? The hospital can hold out for one of its favoured locations on the farm, but that risks delaying the project further for years.