Pumphouse Project carried over to next spring: update by Doug Corkery, 29th October, 2006:

The pumphouse construction has ceased until spring. City staff are intransigent vis a vis a security fence and limiting access to the site. Recent meetings between staff, Councillor Holmes' staff and the NCC have not resolved this conflict. My understanding is 1. NCC are insisting on a lower and more decorative fence closer to the water 2. Diane Holmes supports this option and the landscape architect firm has been instructed to draw up plans for some type of a  4 ft. fence to follow the perimeter of the pathway around the circumference of the tailrace. This will result in the pathway being inside the fence. It is our understanding that a committee of council will have to overturn Recreation and Parks staff to approve this fence proposal. Our access agreement is to some extent contingent on the  fence. As for the building, we have submitted all of our plans to the NCC. Until the other plans have been agreed upon, the NCC planners and land management staff are not able to stamp our plans. We hope to make progress on all fronts after the municipal election and over the course of the winter.

The “Last” Word on the LeBreton Tailrace course, by D.C. 20 March, 2006

With minor editing, I could be writing the same article this year as I have written the last several years. Tailrace construction was scheduled to start in earnest early last fall and be completed before Christmas. Cash flow problems resulted in the City delaying work until late January. At press time the embankments are pretty much finished and contaminated soil removal is complete. The water is scheduled to be on anytime now. That’s the good news such as it is. The project has become more complicated than anyone would have anticipated. Read on.

Landscaping is now scheduled to start in May and it is anticipated to be complete before the summer. The City has agreed to install permanent posts for gates and we hope to have permanent gates up sometime this summer. Because of the delays last fall, many of our obstacles were not properly stabilized and we were not given permission to do the work ourselves. The City has retained the services of an engineer to look at this problem and has agreed to do the stabilization work next fall at their expense along with installing access points into the water with steps at appropriate put-in spots. The City has

recently discovered that the pumping station foundation has been eroded by water from the aqueduct. Because of this, they anticipate a prolonged shutdown this fall to stabilize the building. During this window, they plan to complete all of the Tailrace work as well.

I am pursuing the construction of a storage building with the National Capital Commission. To this end, Sheryl Boyle is drawing up landscaping plans in conjunction with the landscape architects engaged by the City for the Tailrace area. The City will submit the plans to the N.C.C. for approval. The plan will include an emergency vehicle access on the east side of the Tailrace which will go down the hill to the flats close to where our containers are currently situated. The proposal is to locate the building, a temporary prefab steel 30 x 50 ft. structure between the service road and the cliff just south of the containers. If approved, the building will have storage for a large number of boats as well as change rooms and lockers. There will be no services to the building. Cost will be around $40,000. We are looking into grant possibilities to raise part of the capital.

The City Recreation and Parks Department have not come to terms with how to control access to the site, something they are very concerned about. They have approached this in a risk averse way and would prefer to limit public access. To this end, they wish to install a 6 ft. security fence around the perimeter of the site and restrict access including no events of any kind. A second concern that they have is the proposed rapid transit train construction scheduled to begin sometime in the next two or three years. Plans at present call for a central switching hub at the Bronson, Slater, Albert, Commissioner intersection.
Juxtapose this with the N.C.C.’s recent announcement of a fireman’s memorial for the northwest corner next to the Tailrace, the City Fire Dept.’s plan to share our site as a swiftwater rescue training facility and the N.C.C.’s insistence on reinstating the Trans-Canada Trail under the Pooley Bridge and along the eastern Tailrace embankment and you begin to understand where this is going. Councillor Holmes, the local community association and the N.C.C. do not support the City Recreation and Park plan for a security fence. Our proposal for a low safety barrier close to the water is more consistent with their vision for the area. Based on all of the above, the City Recreation and Parks Dept. have not been forthcoming with an access agreement. Given that the City only owns a small strip of shoreline on either side of a public waterway surrounded by N.C.C. property, it is my opinion that they will have to compromise.

So what does it all mean for this year? My best guess based on all of the above uncertainty is that we will be able to install some temporary gates and put up with some deficiencies in the quality of the eddies etc… this year. We may only be able to access the site before and after construction hours until the summer. This fall, there will be a prolonged dewatering permitting completion and tuning up of the site as well as building construction. No events will be possible until next year. This is my best guess. Given all of the above, much could change between now and then.

“WHAT’S HAPPENING AT THE PUMPHOUSE?  By D. C., 30 March, 2005 

Can we / why can’t we paddle there? I just want to set up a few wires.” 

As most of you are no doubt aware, Jamie Cartwright, Michal Staniszewski and myself representing the Club, met with Mayor Chiarelli and his entourage in early January. Joseph Potvin, representing Whitewater Canada was also in attendance. As a result, the City endorsed the site as a training facility. 

Much work remains to be done. Construction will continue this spring, after the snow melts, with completion of the embankment stabilization on the northeast side at the bottom of the bowl. A new sidewalk will be installed under the Pooley Bridge arch, and tree planting and other landscaping measures will take place.

 Because of this, the site remains the responsibility of the site contractor, and it is unrealistic to imagine that any contractor would take on the liability risk of having recreational paddlers of all ages on a construction site.

This construction will be completed sometime this summer. However, the water will be shut off from early July to late fall at the earliest, for replacement of clean water pipes from the Lemieux filtration plant to the Fleet Street Pumping Station and Station upgrades. This is a $52 million dollar project. As such, we have been promised access in spring of 2006.

 The City and consulting engineers, Robinsons & Associates have been extremely accommodating. They have made every effort to duplicate the existing shoreline and eddies in every way possible. The new embankments are finished with rounded fieldstone on a 45 degree slope. Over $2 million has been spent to date on contaminated soil removal and embankment stabilization. 

 In consultation with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, we are fairly confident that the contractor will slot in armour stone steps into the water every 10 meters or so, on both sides of the tailrace for easy access. The City has also agreed to installing 3 inch-diameter/10 foot-high steel posts every 10 meters along the length of the site at the edge of shoreline pathways, thus allowing us to cable the whole site and permit easy installation of cross-wires and gates. The 2 meter wide pathways running almost the full length on both sides should be a boon for coaches and spectators.

  We are requesting that riprap be placed around the bases of all the obstacles to prevent erosion. Also, several obstacles require replacement or tune-up as they have settled or been removed during recent construction. Again, the City engineers appear receptive to our requests. So that’s the good news.

 The City of Ottawa Recreation and Parks Department are responsible for our continued use of the site as a training facility. This is a completely new sport for them. They are understandably concerned about liability and risk to the general public at this site. As such, they are in the process of developing a plan and a legal framework to permit our continued use of the site in 2006.

 At present, their tentative plan is to fence the whole area so that the public cannot be too close to the water’s edge, and we will presumably have a key to a gate. As I have told them, I am of two minds about this arrangement. From a Club perspective, who could complain about having your own private secure paddling facility in downtown Ottawa? My concern is that the general public shouldn’t be denied access to a unique and historically important piece of public property.

 While we would like to have slalom participate in the Ontario Summer Games scheduled for Ottawa next summer, the Recreation & Parks Department are presently reticent to permit any events on the site. The department also has concerns about the impact the new O-Train route (on Albert running east-west, just south of the pumping station) will have on us. 

 We are also attempting to negotiate permission to replace the shipping containers with a prefabricated building (at our cost), with a capacity for several hundred boats, and changing rooms. Parking also remains contentious. The Recreation and Parks Department are planning a meeting with the paddling community sometime in mid-April on a weekday evening location and time TBA. Watch for it in your e-mail.

 In the meantime, we have to get by with our flat-water gates, occasional sojourns to whitewater slalom sites and getting back to our roots, e.g., paddling more rivers. With a little luck 2005 should be a good year, and 2006 will be over the top. 

Photos taken 12 April 05