Rideau Centre police storefront could be closed to public for 1 year or more

Ottawa police plan to open a new neighbourhood operations centre in the Rideau Centre. (Josh Pringle/CTV News Ottawa)

The planned neighbourhood operations centre for the Ottawa Police Service at the Rideau Centre could remain closed to the public for more than a year after it opens, Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs suggested.

The hub is set to open in the Rideau Centre in downtown Ottawa by the spring of 2024, according to a report prepared for Monday's Ottawa Police Services Board meeting, but the first phase of operations do not include public access, due to "staffing issues."

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Police say officers are working with the community to guide "further phases and shape the design, purpose and function of the NOC."

Speaking to reporters ahead of the board meeting Monday, Stubbs said it will take time to make sure the first phase of operations at the neighbourhood operations centre are working well.

"We have a lot of objectives that we want to meet in the first year of opening up this building and what we want to accomplish, not only with the building, but also with the community and the ByWard Market," he said. "If it's solidified and we have a very good process, then we will move on to phase 2. How long that takes, in terms of phase 1, it may take a year, it may take 18 months, but we have to assess after we've been up and running for a little while."

He clarified that there is no hard timeline for when the neighbourhood operations centre is open to the public.

"Our primary goal is to make a significant difference in the safety of the ByWard Market," he said. "There's a strategy that involves a lot of moving parts… That timeline is not firm, but we know it will take at least a year, a year-and-a-half for us to work on phase 1 and all the different parts to make sure that it's mature enough and we have a program that is really contributing."

The new centre will be 2,629 square feet, and the operating costs for the first year of the lease is $245,944.95. Police will take possession of the space in the Rideau Centre in March, with renovations starting immediately.

Stubbs said there are many goals the police service hopes to accomplish with the new operations centre.

"When it comes to some of the day-to-day issues that we're experiencing, we have 18 agencies that have agreed to work with us, and when we work with them and we strategize on how we can assist certain people, a plan or a proposed path to help that person will be discussed and will be actioned," he said. "If the right strategy is chosen, I'm very optimistic that we will help a lot of people and put them into housing… or whatever the issue might be that would help that person and help the safety in the ByWard Market."

Speaking at the Ottawa Police Services Board meeting, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe called the new operations centre an important project.

"I listen to people in the community regularly about what we need to do in the ByWard Market and the surrounding area, which has been affected by a number of adverse factors and events," he said. "This is not the only thing we need to do as a community. There are many other things that are in progress and happening and other things still to come, but I think this is an important piece of the work we need to do."

Stubbs was asked to provide an update on progress to the Ottawa Police Services Board in April.

--With files from CTV News Ottawa's Josh Pringle.