Memo to minister raised flags over Sir John Carling, Tunney's sites for future hospital

Two of the nine sites on the National Capital Commission's list of possible locations for a new Civic campus of The Ottawa Hospital have already been flagged as problematic by the federal department in charge of government property, CBC News has learned.

On Tuesday the NCC's board of directors voted to review nine potential sites after Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly asked it to broaden the search beyond the four sites shortlisted by the hospital.

• National Capital Commission restarting site selection for Ottawa Hospital relocation
• Heritage minister asks NCC to mull more sites for Civic hospital move

But according to a memorandum prepared for Public Services Minister Judy Foote, and included in her briefing notes dated April 26, 2016, two properties that appear on both lists — the site of the former Sir John Carling Building and adjacent lands on the Central Experimental Farm, and Tunney's Pasture — pose a variety of problems.

Fault near Sir John Carling site 

According to the memorandum, obtained by CBC News through an access to information request, a geological fault runs near the Sir John Carling site. A geotechnical report prepared previously "had made suggestions for situating the building for best foundation locations."

The memorandum notes that it's not known whether the fault is primary or "a fracture that is associated with a primary fault." The department's senior geotechnical engineer advised that faults in Ottawa "have not been known to move in many years and are considered to be dormant, with no recorded displacements in recent history," according to the memorandum, which also notes that building construction near a fault line is "not uncommon" in the National Capital Region.

Perhaps more problematic is the geography of the 51.2-hectare property, which the memorandum describes as "odd-shaped ... with additional development challenges of slope and grade changes."

PSPC is currently in talks to transfer the site to Agriculture Canada, but the parcel is "not developable on its own," according to the memorandum.

The Sir John Carling Building was demolished in July 2014. An annex building was retained for re-use by Agriculture Canada, but that department hasn't yet accepted transfer of the property, and "cost estimates to ... repurpose the annex are significantly higher than anticipated," according to the memorandum.

Tunney's Pasture unsuitable for hospital

Tunney's Pasture, on the other hand, remains "a significant federal employment node accommodating a daytime workforce of approximately 10,000 employees" working in 22 government buildings spread across the 49-hectare property.

"Therefore it does not have sufficiently large contiguous blocks of land that would be suitable for a new hospital campus," the memorandum concludes.

PSPC recently undertook a five-year public consultation process about the future of Tunney's Pasture, which led to the approval of the NCC's 25-year master plan for the property in September 2014. That plan did not include a hospital, the memorandum notes. 

A committee of two NCC board members, two architects and a heritage expert will review the nine sites shortlisted on Tuesday. Following public consultation, the committee is due to deliver its recommendations Nov. 21.