By Mark Buckshon
Ottawa Construction News
The decades-long vision for a downtown core in Ottawa’s southern Barrhaven neighbourhood took a major step forward as a city committee approved a $10-million land deal for a new civic complex, a project championed as the missing heart of the sprawling suburb.
The City of Ottawa’s Finance and Corporate Services Committee approved the purchase of a 4.18-acre parcel of vacant land from the South Nepean Development Corporation. The site, at the future intersection of Chapman Mills Drive and Riocan Avenue, is slated to become a community hub featuring a district library, a 15,000-sq. ft. cultural centre, a 3,000-sq. ft. seniors’ space, and an outdoor urban plaza.
The project has been a priority for local politicians past and present.
Former councillor Jan Harder, who advocated for the project for years, described the need for a central gathering place for the community of over 100,000 people back in 2019. “It’s just time,” Harder told the CBC, explaining that a 2006 plan had failed to give the community a proper core.
“This is a final piece. It’s like a puzzle. I’m taking that piece and I’m putting it on the board and I’m very excited to be able to have a downtown in what is, really, a large Ontario city,” Harder said at the time.
The land purchase is the latest concrete step for a project that received a major boost in 2022 with a joint funding announcement of more than $51 million from the federal and provincial governments and the city. In the city’s 2025 budget, more funds were allocated to move the project forward.
“I’m really excited that in this year’s budget we were able to advocate to secure $32 million for funding expenditure this year,” Barrhaven West Coun. David Hill, who represents the ward where the complex will be built, said in a video posted to his website. He noted the funds would go alongside money from the library and the previously secured federal and provincial contributions “to start the construction process for the Barrhaven Civic Center”.
The total purchase price for the land is $10,032,000, a figure supported by two independent appraisals that valued the property at $2.4 million per acre, according to a city staff report. The deal also includes nearly $337,000 in additional costs for site grading and hydro upgrades. The city’s portion of the project is funded 90 per cent by development charges, with 10 per cent from the tax base.
While the complex itself is moving ahead, its design as a transit-oriented hub is facing an uncertain future. The entire Downtown Barrhaven plan is built around the assumption that the O-Train’s Line 1 will be extended deep into the suburb, with a station adjacent to the new facility.
However, the future of that light rail extension is in serious doubt.
OC Transpo is facing a projected 25-year deficit of $3.7 billion, and the Barrhaven LRT extension carries an estimated price tag of $4 billion. The provincial government has stated it will not commit new funding for Ottawa LRT until problems with the existing Confederation Line are fixed.
This has led officials to publicly contemplate alternatives.
“Maybe we can see with bus rapid transit. BRT is very good as well. You don’t absolutely need LRT,” OC Transpo General Manager Renée Amilcar told the Barrhaven Independent in October 2023, calling the financial reality a “wake up call”.
In a recent newsletter, Barrhaven East Coun. Wilson Lo noted the city’s updated Transportation Master Plan acknowledges the LRT extension is not affordable without senior governments funding it entirely, and that the plan now includes options like a shorter extension to Fallowfield station or enhancing the existing bus Transitway.
Despite the challenges, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe remains hopeful for the rail line’s future.
“I still believe in light rail as a long term solution for the residents of Ottawa,” Sutcliffe said in a November 2023 interview with the Barrhaven Independent. “I think it should go well beyond that and serve the residents of Barrhaven, Stittsville and Kanata. Those residents have been paying for light rail along with everyone else for 10 years.”
For now, the civic complex project will proceed, designed to anchor a downtown that supporters hope will finally give a central identity to one of Canada’s fastest-growing communities. The land purchase requires final approval at the full city council meeting on July 23.
