The Ottawa Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) is considering options to address a shortage of parking for staff at Mutchmor Public School. One of the options under consideration included converting approximately 1/5th of the Mutchmor Field in the Glebe (between Third and Fourth Avenue) into a parking lot. Recently, OCDSB staff recommended instead leasing space in a local municipal garage as a short-term solution and examining other long-term options which do not include using Mutchmor Field for parking. The Glebe Community Association welcomes and supports the options provided by the OCDSB staff.
The Glebe Community Association is against any conversion of the Mutchmor Field into a parking lot for the following reasons:
1) Mutchmor Field is located in the heart of the Glebe
and is one of the primary outdoor recreational spaces
in the area.
2) The proposed parking lot would have
significant negative effects on children and other members of the community:
- It would
negatively impact a total of 6,000 children from the Glebe and beyond who use this space yearly as part of Glebe Neighbourhood Activity Group Programming and the close to
1000 students from Mutchmor Public School and Corpus Christi School who use the Field for recess and physical education classes.
- It would result in the
loss of the two community-supported ice rinks that are heavily use by adults and children.
- It would result in the
loss of a soccer field for the Ottawa Internationals Soccer Club that would be crippling for the Club's program in the Glebe.
3) Paving part of the Mutchmor Field would take away from the Glebe’s limited green space which is
less than half of the City standard of parkland.
4) Mutchmor Field has been
used in a consistent fashion for recreation and leisure for more than 80 years.