Bridging Barrhaven's gap(Wednesday, April 2, 2008 by Peter Kovessy, Ottawa Business Journal Staff) Strandherd-Armstrong Bridge remains missing link in business park development, say proponents With the RCMP secured as an anchor tenant and the city set to build a new road link to Woodroffe Avenue, Barrhaven is now looking to the Strandherd-Armstrong Bridge to kick start development in the area's business parks. "We definitely need that bridge," says Andrea Steenbakkers, the executive director of the Barrhaven Business Improvement Area (BBIA). "That's going to be a main deciding factor in the development of the South Merivale Business Park." The BBIA recently commissioned a study to develop a development strategy for the community's business park lands, which it believes could provide the high-value employment that will transform Barrhaven from a bedroom community into a self-sustaining community where residents can both work and live. The business park-driven economic evolution is already underway. JDSU opened its new 150,000-square-foot office and research lab in January and approximately 4,000 RCMP employees are scheduled to start working at their new headquarters at Merivale Road and Prince of Wales Drive by 2010. The fate of the long-awaited, $105-million Strandherd-Armstrong Bridge depends on the outcome of the city's downtown rapid transit network. The Rideau River crossing is included as a bus rapid transit line in all four staff transit proposals. Council will choose between the four proposals in May. A new bridge would create an additional entrance and exit to Barrhaven and cut down travel time between the South Merivale Business Park and the Ottawa International Airport, says Ms. Steenbakkers. "Being that close to the airport is clearly a really good selling feature," she says. Likewise, the developers of the Southpointe Business Park, also just off Merivale Road, say a new bridge will make the property much more attractive to businesses. "When you can cut timing by half an hour by being able to access the site better, that's huge. And it was promised for that development a long time ago," says Barbara Farber, the CEO of the Leikin Group, which has 85 serviced acres at the site. Similarly, Regis Trudel, the senior vice-president at Minto Commercial Properties Inc., which owns 40 acres in the South Merivale Business Park, says the bridge will help the overall transportation network in the community by connecting it to Highway 416. However, Mr. Trudel says the crucial connection to the business park is the proposed construction of Longfields Drive, which would connect Woodroffe Avenue to the business parks at Leikin Drive. Included in this year's draft capital budget, the $2-million minor collector road would provide more direct access to the Transitway and Fallowfield park-and-ride. "That, to us, is the key connection right now for the park," says Mr. Trudel. The importance of transportation linkages was highlighted in the BBIA study, which noted the transportation and warehousing sector would be a good fit for the business parks because of the proximity to Highway 416 and the Ottawa airport. The study, which also looked at the Nortel lands at Highway 416 and Fallowfield Road, concluded the public administration, professional and high-tech sectors are most likely to locate or relocate to the South Nepean business parks. Ms. Steenbakkers says the study reinforced earlier findings that the area lacks financial and businesses service providers, such as lawyers and accountants. Working with industry associations, economic development agencies and land developers, the BBIA plans to directly market Barrhaven to specific firms in these targeted sectors, says Ms. Steenbakkers. The pitch is expected to highlight the community's large and educated population base, recently widened arterial roads, as well as Barrhaven's established commercial-based retail and service businesses. And even though it appears the area can no longer tout a future light rail connection, each of the city's proposed rapid transit plans include extending the Transitway from Greenboro station into Barrhaven via the Strandherd-Armstrong Bridge. Ms. Steenbakkers says she envisions the improved transit access, combined with high-value employment created in the business parks, creating a high-density downtown core extending outwards from the current commercial centre at Greenbank Road and Strandherd Drive. Increasing employment in Barrhaven is hoped to plug the "leakage" of the community's consumers, who frequently do their shopping while leaving work in other parts of the city, says Ms. Steenbakkers. "It's about making Barrhaven a sustainable community, giving people the option to live and work in Barrhaven," she says. -- 30--
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