Three times more trees, outdoor rink planned for park

Posted Feb 16, 2012 By Laura Mueller

EMC news - Mayor Jim Watson highlighted how the Lansdowne revitalization project will "re-green" the park, adding grassy areas and boosting the number of trees from the current 230 to 880 when the project is done.

Lansdowne currently has 2.4 hectares of parkland on 15 hectares of public property, including the stadium field. The new Lansdowne will have three times that amount, the mayor said.

In particular, a grid of trees has been added to the design for the plaza in front of the Aberdeen Pavilion that will house the farmers market. That won't reduce the number of stalls planned for the farmers market, said Jeffrey Staates, a senior landscape architect with Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg, which is in charge of the public park portion of the Lansdowne project.

A refrigerated outdoor skating and curling rink has been added to the most recent version of the plans, to be situated south of the Aberdeen Pavilion, adjacent to the community garden and orchard.

It will be the second refrigerated rink along the banks of the Rideau Canal, the first being the Rink of Dreams that was built this winter at city hall. The Lansdowne rink could be a general-purpose outdoor refrigerated ice surface, or it may be used for curling, Staates said.

A children's play park is planned beside the rink, which could function as a basketball court in the summer.

A more intricate network of multi-use pathways is in the process of being developed, particularly between the refreshed Frank Clair Stadium and Queen Elizabeth Drive-Rideau Canal. Options for bicycle parking are still being considered, but there will need to be a lot of it, according to a member of the design review panel for the project.