Spears: NCC fixes up Westboro Beach even as 24 Sussex Drive is gutted

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On a damp Monday morning this week, workers were busy on the new pavilion that has mostly taken shape at Westboro Beach.

For decades, the beach and its weird concrete building have been a popular place for locals to swim, have nachos and drinks on the patio, and watch sunsets over a lake-sized section of the Ottawa River.

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Now, the little neighbourhood attraction is expanding both in size and content, as the National Capital Commission is investing $21 million in a makeover.

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There will be a second building: a pavilion with restaurant, “multi-use” room and a terrace. Workers will rip out the invasive plants overgrowing the ruins of a sawmill that burned in 1888 (James Skead built the first in 1870, but it burned down. E. B. Eddy owned a later mill, which also burned.)

They’re adding a volleyball court, picnic area, lookouts, interpretive signage and play areas that will focus on the history of the site. The parking lot shifts farther away.

All this makes Ottawa a city of two tales: the NCC can’t repair or replace 24 Sussex Drive, now mothballed after decades of neglect. (In polite language, that’s a “maintenance deficit.”) But it has $21 million for a beach that mostly serves nearby residents — and is likely to continue that way, as there’s limited parking space compared to the big lots at Britannia and Mooney’s Bay beaches.

In the NCC’s view, it will be more than a beach. It will preserve local history and “animate” the area just uphill from the beach. More room to play and picnic. The old concrete bunker will remain, but fixed up inside: more accessible, with gender-neutral washrooms.

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I’ve taken my grandkids to Westboro Beach in the fall and watched them happily clamber up and down the steep slope where the mill once stood, over rocks and tree roots. I grew up exploring the outdoors in summers, finding garter snakes and Queen Anne’s lace and wild raspberries (and poison ivy). Do children need to be told how to play in historically authentic ways? It’s a beach and a hillside. Just let them go.

It would be one thing if this were a city park, where people can always debate the merits of one feature versus another. But we’re asking the Canadian public to pay for it.

I’ve lived about half my life in Ottawa and I’m looking at this through the eyes of someone from far away. Should someone in Alberta be paying for me to go to the beach? And, of course, the patio and washrooms and volleyball court and the counter serving light lunches?

Different question: When tourists visit Ottawa, is this the type of attraction that draws them?

For years, I’ve listened to the NCC say it has a mandate to make the capital region a place Canadians can be proud of, and that’s great. Yes, people want to see Parliament, and the museums, Rideau Hall, the canal that really put Ottawa on the map, and more.

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But I don’t feel that little Westboro Beach will pull them in, no matter how you design it.

The beach has never been a major draw. It had only 65 parking spaces until the recent work, and transit doesn’t come anywhere near it, although a bike path does. The future parking lot can’t be big either, given the site. For years, I’ve passed it on the Kichi Zibi Mikan and on a nice July weekend the beach will be reasonably full, but I wouldn’t put the numbers far over 100 people at a time.

And that’s in summer. For most of the year it doesn’t draw anyone but walkers and cross-country skiers, who are all just passing through.

By contrast, the century-old River House, which reopened last summer after a $20-million makeover, has a bistro, two wraparound balconies with stunning views of the Ottawa River, boat and kayak docks and an enclosed area for river swimming. It was expensive too, but at least it preserved a heritage building and offers docks, which Westboro cannot.

Coincidence: The combined costs of refurbishing Westboro and River House about equal the budget estimate for fixing 24 Sussex Drive top to bottom.

Yes, we want the capital to preserve its attractive traits. But with 24 Sussex gutted and unfunded, it’s hard to make the case that people across Canada should pay — and pay this much — for beach-side nachos in Ottawa.

Journalist Tom Spears is a former Ottawa Citizen environment reporter.

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