wenty years ago, there were a number of times when I found myself as the only OSCA board member not voting against a local infill housing proposal. The official attitude of OSCA in those days, was decidedly conservative and hostile toward change of any kind, regardless of the merits of the proposal. Infill still occurred, most of it now successfully integrated within this community's fabric, but the attitudes then were emotionally charged and highly polarized. No one wanted to cooperate and everyone thought the other guys were entirely wrong.
In fact, during the late 1970s the OSCA board expressed their intent to take legal action against the City of Ottawa planners who had helped local residents prepare a comprehensive development plan for this community during a year-long period involving up to 4 meetings a week. People's passions were out in the open.
Today, community activists in Old Ottawa South are not as outwardly negative toward students, renters and people with big
dogs. Now maybe the time for me to revisit the old issue of infill housing and to look at a number of questions using OSCAR as our forum.
Last week while biking down the street, I noticed an interesting infill project between 57 & 63 Glen. I stopped and met the future occupants Rob and Jane Marland who now live several blocks away. I spoke briefly with construction manager Robert Wallingford, professional engineer and with the architect, John Donkin, a local resident.
During my interview with the architect, I realized that there was a wealth of interesting and useful information connected with this project, its overlap to the proposed infill east of St. Margaret Mary church on Sunnyside and to the underlying principles of infill.
For example, John explained that his concept of infill involved "good stewardship" and a shared responsibility between the home-builder client and the surrounding neighborhood. John's concept of good design involves "sympathy" with surrounding buildings, not an attempt at "slavish imitation which is dishonest." John went on to explain that Old Ottawa South is a "desirable location for new infill because it's such a great neighborhood."
There are dozens of infill housing examples we go by every day, some more successful than others. It doesn't surprise me that some of the best were strongly opposed by OSCA decades ago. What's more, as urban Ottawa grows there will continue to be infill - residential in the open spaces between our houses, and commercial in the open spaces on Bank Street.
Should we attempt to put more restrictions on our community's infill? If so, whose values and criteria should be followed? Do we have an obligation to allow more housing around us? Or is it our responsibility to restrict and dictate design guidelines, as they do in some European locations?
As an OSCAR contributor, my first concern is to identify the critical and essential issues involved, and to put on paper what people's feelings are. I look forward to the next several months where we will examine various aspects of infill housing in more detail.