Majority of Ottawa residents support Lansdowne 2.0 plan, poll for OSEG shows

A majority of Ottawa residents support the Lansdowne 2.0 project, including 50 per cent of residents in the Glebe/Old Ottawa East and Ottawa South, according to a poll by Ekos Research.

A joint meeting of the finance and corporate services committee and planning and housing committee will vote Thursday on the $419.5 million Lansdowne 2.0 plan, which includes a new 5,500 seat arena outside the east end of the stadium, replacing the north side stands at TD Place Stadium and building two residential towers. The price tag for the second phase of the development jumped from $332 million to $419.5 million due to inflation and rising interest rates.

The Ekos Research survey, prepared for the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group and obtained by CTV News Ottawa, shows 59 per cent of respondents support the proposed new project, while 29 per cent are opposed to the redevelopment.

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Support for the project was highest in the suburbs, with 62 per cent of respondents in west Ottawa, 61 per cent of residents in south Ottawa, 60 per cent of respondents in Orleans and 58 per cent of respondents in Kanata/Stittsville supporting the project.

The survey shows 50 per cent of respondents in the Glebe/Old Ottawa East and Old Ottawa South support the Lansdowne 2.0 project, compared to 48 per cent opposed.

When it comes to the major elements of Lansdowne 2.0, 73 per cent are in favour of replacing the 56-year-old Arena at TD Place with a new event centre, and 70 per cent support replacing the 56-year-old north-side stands at the stadium.

There is "somewhat more division on additional housing" at Lansdowne, according to Ekos, with the survey showing 63 per cent of residents support the residential towers and 27 per cent are opposed.  Eighty-one per cent of residents support the enhancements to the public realm/park at Lansdowne, compared to 10 per cent opposed.

Renderings of what Lansdowne Park will look like when Lansdowne 2.0 is complete. A new 5,500-seat arena can be seen in the background outside the east end of the stadium. The north side will see new residential towers and stadium seating. (City of Ottawa)

If Council approves the Lansdowne 2.0 plan, construction on the new event centre would begin in 2024 and be completed by 2027, while construction on the north side stands will begin in 2026 and wrap up in 2029.

The survey finds a majority of residents believe Lansdowne 2.0 will "strongly or moderately" benefit Ottawa's sports and entertainment life, according to Ekos. The survey finds 51 per cent of respondents anticipate a strong improvement to the area, while 29 per cent expect a moderate improvement. Nearly 70 per cent of respondents feel Ottawa's tourism industry and the local economy will benefit from the project.

OSEG president and CEO Mark Goudie tells CTV News Ottawa that changes to Lansdowne have been in the works for a long time.

"We have been working on this for a long time and I think everybody agrees that the old facilities here at Lansdowne need to be replaced so I am looking forward to furthering that discussion," he said Wednesday. "I think what we have seen in our polling is that two-thirds of Ottawa residents support replacing this facility. One thing that surprises me is that a lot of Ottawa residents don’t understand that the city owns these facilities. This is an investment by the city in their facilities."

When it comes to the $419 million price tag for the Lansdowne 2.0 project, the survey finds 65 per cent of respondents believe the city should cover at least some portion of the cost of the project. Only one in 10 respondents believe the city should foot the entire bill for the project, according to Ekos.

Ekos says it surveyed 1,076 residents in the national capital region between Oct. 20 and 27. The margin of error is 3 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

On Monday, Capital Ward Coun. Shawn Menard, who represents the riding home to Lansdowne, issued a councillor's office survey on the Lansdowne 2.0 plan.

Menard's office says 65 per cent of 1,886 respondents to the councillor's survey opposed Lansdowne 2.0, while 8.7 per cent support the plan. Sixty per cent of respondents said they do not support the city's continued use of a P3 (public-private) model to operate and finance aspects of Lansdowne Park.

The survey found 85.78 per cent of respondents said they would support making Lansdowne more "welcoming for pedestrians, bicyclists and other active transportation users even if it made the surface of the site less accessible to cars," while 9.92 per cent said they don't support that.

When asked how do you feel about adding 1,200 residential dwelling units to Lansdowne, 48.94 per cent of respondents to Menard's survey said "there is too much density here," while 18.29 per cent said there was an appropriate amount of density at Lansdowne and 18 per cent said there should be no additional residential units. The original Lansdowne 2.0 plan recommended three residential towers with 1,200 units.

Two weeks ago, 70 community groups voted to reject the Lansdowne 2.0 proposal.