Friday, August 1, 2008

Questionable justification for AVTC - hospital link development

Earlier posts on this blog address concerns regarding planned development of the hospital link stage of the Alta vista Transportation Corridor. Here is another observation.

Councillor Peter Hume argues that planned development of the hospital lands, including the National Defence Medical Centre (NDMC) will have a significant impact on the community fabric in Alta vista. Approximately 750 new development units are planned and approximately half of the DND lands will be used for hospital related development.

With respect to the hospital lands development, there are currently some 1,100 persons working in the NDMC building and this number will likely remain stable until the building is taken down (5 or 6 years hence, based on current projections). A similar number of persons will likely be employed at this site following development of the hospital lands section of the DND-NDMC lands. In other words, a zero net increase from existing employment levels at this location.

The cost, technical and environmental challenges associated with developing the “hospital link” to address the transit needs of an estimated 750 additional residences at this location are hard to justify on this basis, particularly as community services and retail opportunities (i.e. smart growth) are also planned. The transit needs of new residents, as well as the needs of people employed at the hospitals, can be addressed effectively by improving bus services using existing road infrastructure, into the foreseeable future.

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