Renewing Merivale Road
Restoring Nepean’s heart: Renewing Merivale Road
Merivale Road represents both a challenge and an opportunity for our community. Years of unmitigated expansion have led to a road filled with commercial activity and many of the issues that come with it.
Too much of a good thing can be bad. Perpetual traffic congestion is hampering local business. Vast parking lots with no designated walking or cycling paths and a general lack of community space have turned Merivale Road away from the original role of Nepean’s ‘Main Street’.
However, a new citizen-centred approach to urban planning and strong community leadership can help turn Merivale back into a destination—enhancing the commercial district by encouraging people to walk, cycle, and take public transportation in addition to driving. Let’s create new public meeting places for entertainment, sports, recreation, and enjoying time with friends and family.
Renewing Merivale Road is a community project we can all take part in.
This seven point proposal is intended to kick start public discussion and debate on what we can do to improve Merivale Road and enhance the quality of life in the communities surrounding it:
1. Completing the Nepean Trail of cycling and walking paths will open up Merivale Rd. and its businesses to additional activity (see map)
The most pressing issue regarding Merivale Road is car and truck traffic, and yet the current transportation system leaves little alternative for shoppers and residents. As part of completing the Nepean Trail, we need to offer alternate pedestrian and cycling paths on Merivale’s east side. This traffic will be segregated from cars, providing safe access for citizens who are not in a car.
2. Create a public square to host all-season entertainment, a farmers’ market and community events
Making Merivale Road into a destination for residents of Nepean and beyond requires gathering spaces and entertainment options. There are plenty of spaces on Merivale Road and nearby that should be used for the benefit of all residents—not just shoppers. This will add culture to an area that sorely needs more than big box stores and parking lots.
3. A multiplex movie theatre (cinema)
Merivale Road needs some spice and variety. There is very little entertainment on the strip right now. Even though residents have long expressed an interest in having a movie theatre closer to home and within walking distance, it has never come about. A movie theatre will improve Merivale’s destination appeal and bring new business to the area.
4. Expanded sports and recreational centre at Merivale Arena
Along with culture and entertainment, Merivale Road needs better recreational facilities. Small, versatile, and cost-effective sport venues will create a community atmosphere along Merivale Road. Nearby residents and their children shouldn’t have to travel to Ottawa’s east or west ends to have access to basic sports and recreation programming.
5. Future LRT route along Merivale
Light rail transit is the future of Ottawa. Merivale Road is uniquely positioned to be a part of future light rail expansion. Let’s advocate bringing light rail to Merivale Road as a means of alleviating traffic congestion along this important and highly used artery and to encourage economic development in the area.
6. Establishing a Merivale Road Business Improvement Area (BIA)
There has been a serious lack of planning and community involvement regarding Merivale Road’s expansion and growth. This has lead to an area that is not friendly for pedestrians and cyclists, and has little strategy for its future. Creating a BIA will give businesses the representation they need to come together to improve access and to improve the appeal of their commercial interests.
7. Updating Merivale’s Secondary plan in conjunction with new community design plans for Fisher Heights-Skyline and the communities of General Burns
Merivale Road does not exist in isolation. Traffic and businesses effect the residents that live nearby and vice-versa. Priorities need to be set, and the community needs to be involved in how this area will grow in the coming decades. Undertaking community design plans at the same time Merivale’s Secondary plan is updated will allow the residents of Fisher Heights-Skyline and the General Burns communities to help shape the future of their greater community and chart a new path for Merivale Road.
By consulting all necessary stakeholders and developing both short- and long-term plans for Merivale Road, we can create our own Main Street. With entertainment, better access for pedestrians and cyclists, and public gathering spaces, we can make Merivale Road more than what it is now, we can make Merivale Road the Heart of Nepean again.
Position Papers:
