New Ottawa Water Park

Does Ottawa want a Water Park? Absolutely!

—Don Jersey,

Watts Creek Water Park

Ottawa is due for a [Water] Park, you just have to make sure it’s not too big in the beginning

—Tim Dodge,

Water Safari Park

It’s a great idea, but Not In My BackYard

—Community activist

There is a system in place so [the community] can get up and scream about it

—Mike Nutella,

Birmingham Development Corporation

In March of 2001, Frank Casino, manager of Birmingham Development Corporation in Ontario, faced the following situation: 63 acres of zoned rural recreational/commercial land, is located west of Ottawa at March Road and the 417 highway. The land is valued at approximately $1 million, with engineering and site plans for a family entertainment centre. Mr. Casino wondered what he should do now.

Water Safari Park

In 1997, Tim Dodge was on the verge of creating a water park, in the west end of Ottawa, called Water Safari Park. At the intersection of highway 17 and March Road in Carp sat a plot of land 63 acres in size, zoned, and engineered for a $5 million water park project.

Tim Dodge was working with Wilderness Tours and Verne Capital Corporation to get Water Safari Park established. Each had financial risk in the project with Tim as the majority holder. Verne Capital Corporation was involved as consultant and financial advisor. Mary Coldair was the principal consultant involved from Verne Capital Corporation.

Tim Dodge has been in residential construction for most of his working life, since 1987. Mary Coldair is a principal of Verne Capital Corporation and a PhD in urban economics.

The location had many advantages. Being on the corner of a major road and a highway provided the transportation infrastructure needed to accommodate the traffic to a water park. The land, however, was a considerable distance from Ottawa created a possible significant travel time for patrons. Tim Dodge didn’t believe this to be a factor stating, “when spending five to six hours [at a park] an hour drive is not a big deal”[1]. Mary Coldair stated that the “next best interchange past Palladium [Drive] is March [Road]”[2].

Market analysis was completed for the project. It was assessed that there was a shortage of family entertainment in one of Canada’s fastest growing cities, Ottawa. Furthermore, the traffic passing by Water Safari Park made it ideal for advertising. The target market was established as young to middle-aged families with children. A lesser market segment was teenagers. Families decreasing in size and increasing in disposable income created a higher need for entertainment centres.

Community involvement was not a concern. The land was located far enough away from any community to not create a discussion. Tim had no confrontation with the surrounding community stating “I have a strong belief in the west”[3] and “they are friendly to development here”[4].

Tim believed that the design of the park was essential for its success. The right mix of rides had to be planned to meet market demands. Site and engineering plans were constructed for Water Safari Park. All that was needed now was financing.

Unfortunately, the last piece of equity could not be secured. This left Water Safari Park short by approximately $500,000. Tim believed that “the sponsorship person wasn’t up to snuff”[5]. As the financial advisor, Mary Coldair of Verne Capital Corporation added, “Tim was in charge of that”[6]. After a considerable effort to finish the final financing, the project was abandoned.

Arrowhead Springs

It was at another Senator’s game, in the early months of 1999, that Frank Casino first heard about Mary’s new project. Mary Coldair had invited Frank to yet another hockey game to discuss the new plan to start a Family Entertainment Centre (FEC) in a new site in the east end. Frank assumed that Mary’s idea had sprung from their previous project in the west end, Water Safari Park. Because the project had failed to get off the ground, the demand was still unsatisfied. Therefore, they thought a new venture that would satisfy this demand would definitely be successful.

Frank Casino is a long time friend of Mary Coldair and a Bachelor of Commerce graduate.

The Project. Mary’s idea was to develop a FEC in Cumberland, east of Ottawa. This would be an outdoor recreational theme park called Arrowhead Springs, built on 52 acres of land and located north of Regional Road 174, south of the Ottawa River and east of the Village Boise neighbourhood. The park would be based on a theme of early settlement by Algonquin Indians and pioneers. It would have a go-cart track, an 18-hole mini golf course, a bumper-boat pond, walking trails, a reptile zoo, a picnic area and a playground area. The park would operate during warm weather months, except for the reptile zoo, which would operate year-round because of its indoor facilities. The projected opening date for the first phase of the project was the summer of 2000.

The primary components of the development would be located on the 30 acres next to Rural Road 174, on the southerly part of the property. Because the northerly part of the property is located within the Ottawa River 100-year-old flood plains, this area would not be developed. Instead, it would be used for parkland purposes with walking trails for recreation. Although the Regional Official plan designates this area as “General Rural Area”. The Cumberland Rural Official Plan designates the subject site as a “Waterfront Development” area that allows uses such as campgrounds, resorts, theme parks, motor hotels, tourist establishments and/or a marina. However, the existing zoning of the area is “Country Residential”. Therefore, application for re-zoning was needed.

In May 1999, Mary hired an architecture student, Mike Nutella, who had just graduated from university. Mike started working at Birmingham Development Corporation with the role of getting the Arrowhead Springs project off the ground. His job was to put the idea onto paper and get the park running. Once the park is running, Frank would take over and be in charge of the day-to-day operations. The first step was to build a business plan and develop site plans of the venture. Once that was completed, Fred and Mike proceeded to talk to the City Planners and the City of Cumberland. They met with individual counsellors and went through the business plan. After the counsellors and City Planners reviewed the plans, Mike and Frank were advised to apply for re-zoning. The City Mayor and City Planners were very receptive of the project. They recognized the lack of ventures in the family entertainment market in the east end and believed that Arrowhead Springs could fill this gap. The City of Cumberland also advised Mike and Frank to talk to residents of the communities affected: the Village of Boise and Cumberland Estates. They were to talk to residents of the Village Boise, where the mayor had most of the support. Upon speaking to the community about the proposed plan, Mike and Frank encountered 95% support for the project.

By the end of the summer, and after speaking with the City of Cumberland and the Village of Boise and getting their suport, application for re-zoning was made by Birmingham Development Corporation and Arrowhead Springs. The proposed zoning for the area was “Rural Recreational/Commercial - Exception Five” zone, which would permit the following uses of the land: bumper boats, golf driving range, mini-putt golf course, outdoor recreational space, private zoo, recreational go-cart track, retail store, restaurant, take-out restaurant, seasonal retail sales of locally-grown farm products and buildings for storage, administration, offices, and an accessory dwelling unit. However, before the proposal could be granted an approval, a series of studies had to be undertaken to address various concerns. The studies included: a traffic impact study, a noise impact study, well-water supply assessment, soils report and an archeological assessment. Review and approval of issues relating to storm water management and a Certificate of Approval from the Ministry of the Environment and Energy for the go-cart track were also needed.

The land, in turn, was to be bought under the condition that re-zoning would be approved.

Community Activists. In September 1999, a notice of public meeting was circulated to all people within 120 meters of the property to announce the re-zoning proposal and further plans. As it turned out, the people in the community already knew about the proposed plan. Mike and Frank had visited the Village of Boise. However, Cumberland Estates had found out about the proposed venture “through the grapevine”. The people of Cumberland Estates had heard “rumors” about the project and felt that “the township was very suspicious and did not tell [them] much about it”.[7] Since they had not been formally contacted beforehand, the people from the community were not happy. Most of them believed that it was a great idea, but they did not want the venture to take place close to their community. “It’s a great idea but Not In My BackYard!”[8], said one of the community activists that opposed the project.

There were a number of reasons the community did not want to have such a project in their neighbourhood. Therefore, they decided to fight back and stop the approval for re-zoning and the project altogether. Under the direction of the community activist leader, Mel Botswana, four couples gathered together and collected enough money to hire two lawyers and a planner that could do a series of studies on the issues that they believed were crucial and were being overlooked by the developers. They also created strategies to put pressure on and attack the mayor, the city planners and the developers during the council meeting. They gathered over 100 signatures of “virtually anyone that was remotely close”[9] to the property and put out a petition to stop the project. About 90% of the entire community opposed the project. They called on the media and made the issue public. They contacted the Ottawa Citizen newspaper, the New RO television station, and the CBC radio station to create more pressure on the developers. They even went as far as inviting the Regional Chair to attend the town meeting and threatening the developers to sue them by taking the case to the Ontario Municipal Board, if needed.

The two main issues they were concerned with were the improper use of land and the threat to safety caused by increased traffic. One of their main arguments was that the developers had not done enough research on the land and were not fully aware of the consequences of building on that land. The community believed it was an improper use of land because the developers were going to build on 100-year-old flood plains. They believed that it was not feasible to have a development on this land because it was wetlands. “The septic beds couldn’t hold themselves on the land because it is all clay!”[10], said a member of the community. Also, some of the land close to the river had given in and collapsed into the river. Previously, a house nearby had to be moved from its original foundation because the land eroded and gave in under it. The owner of the house had sued the builder for the expenses of moving the house. Everybody around that area knew about that incident and was aware of all the problems. The previous owner of the land was not able to build homes in that area because of the problems with the land. Therefore they argued, “if the land was not stable, not even for development, how can they build”[11] such kind of development. This was the community’s main argument on this issue. Also, the conservation ministry was not consulted, even though the ministry protected this land. The community was concerned that ecosystems would be endangered by the project as was expressed by a member: “How can you be sensitive to wildlife when you have go-carts going all over the place?”[12].

The other main concern was the increase in traffic caused by the new development. The residents were exceptionally concerned with this issue because there had been a few accidents around that area, one of them that killed a renouned member of the community. The strip of road that was adjacent to the property was particularly dangerous, as it had some blind spots that had caused a number of accidents in the past. The residents of the community believed that the increase in traffic flow would lead to an increase in the number of accidents and the number of fatalities of that area. To access the site from downtown Ottawa, people would have to make a left turn to get into the property. The residents believed that because there were no traffic lights there, that turn would be a safety hazard. The community was upset because they were not offered any remedial measures on this concern, such as building an off-ramp or putting up a stop sign or traffic lights. “Safety was the fist thing in my mind”, said a resident of Cumberland Estates, “We don’t want to see any more deaths around here”[13].

Another concern that ranked pretty high on the community residents’ list was the go-carts. It was clear that the residents did not want to have a go-cart track in their neighbourhood because of the noise and pollution that it creates. The residents believed that the developers were trying to hide the park’s main attractions – go-carts and the reptile zoo, under the façade of a Family Entertainment Center. The residents believed that the reason why the developers wanted to call it a Family Entertainment Center was because they knew that the residents would definitely oppose a go-cart development. One of the residents, an elderly lady, had specifically built her house in the quiet countryside as a retirement house. When she heard about the projected development, she was enraged and cried: “I didn’t come to the country to spend the rest of my days with a go-cart next to my home!”[14]. The go-carts, they believed, would not only be very noisy but would also contaminate the air with all the exhaust fumes.

There were also other minor problems that the community was concerned with. The residents believed that there were a series of contradictions within the project. For example, the projected number of visitors did not match the number of parking spaces that they were building. The developers projected that about 14,900 to 19,000 vehicles per day would visit the park.[15] A minimum of 85 paking spaces is required by the by-law. “This number exceeds the recommended number of spaces in the traffic study but was agreed to by Birmingham to ensure adequate parking on site for peak period use”.[16] The two numbers provided by the developers and planners are not congruent with eachother. By far, there are more vehicles projected than there are parking spaces. The residents also believed that they were not being told the truth. According to the residents, the developers claimed that Arrowhead Springs was only going to be a seasonal development. However, at the same time, they were trying to extend the hours of operation as much as they could. Also, the reptile zoo was going to be open year-round.

Overall, the community believed that the developers had not done their homework. People around the area already had problems with the land and the water. “Had they done their homework, they would have realized that this was not the right place for that project.”[17] The residents honestly believed that it was not feasible to build such a development on this type of land. The project was “not well thought-out”[18]. Also, the residents believed that such a development should not be built on a residential area; instead it should be built on an industrial area. Besides, the Cumberland Estates community was an affluent community of highly educated individuals who were prepared to take all the means necessary to stop the project. As one resident stated: “A lot of people here have a lot of money...[therefore], we are not prepared to let something like this ruin our community. Unlike the developers, we are organized; we did our homework.”

Results. After extensive pressure from the community, Birmingham Development Corporation decided to withdraw the application for re-zoning on September 28, 1999. With a letter addressed to the City Planner, Mike Nutella thanked the City and the Planning Commitee for their work on the file. However, they believed that zoning amendments required the support of the neighbours. Mike was quoted as saying, “If the community doesn’t want us to be there, we don’t want to be there”. Mike and Frank were not ready to invest in lawyers to fight back the community of Cumberland Estates. It was clearly a “democratic abuse of power”, Mike stated; “there is a system in place so they can get up and scream about it”[19]. According to the developers, the community activists had gone overboard with irrational concerns. The community wanted answers but did not wait to hear what the developers had to say. The project had the merits to succeed and the application was complete. Therefore, the project could have been approved, had they kept on pushing against the community pressures. However, everybody- from the politicians and city planners to the staff and management-“succumbed to pressure”[20]. All in all, they did not think it was worth the time or the effort to continue with the project in such a community.

From the community’s point of view, the project did not have the merits to succeed. The community of Cumberland Estates strongly believed that Birmingham Development Corporation had not done enough research for this project. There was far too much that they hadn’t accounted for. “We had more questions and answers than they did!”[21], expressed one of the community members. There was a big problem with the land, and various impacts of traffic, noise, and pollution that the developers did not address thoroughly. Also, due to the demographics in Cumberland Estates, there was a potential risk. This view is clarified by a community activist: “Had they done their research, they would have known better not to mess with us because we are all smart here and have lots of money to spend in fighting for this”[22].

In December 1999, Mike Nutella resigned and left Birmingham Development Corporation. Mary stated that he was “deeply wounded by the public reaction”.[23] The proposed plan in Arrowhead Springs had been dropped completely. Because the land in Cumberland was never bought, Birmingham has been looking for a new site for their project. Frank will take over Mike’s previous job. The FEC project proposal plan was put in the desks of Birmingham Development Corporation waiting to be put in place.

A week after the fiasco and after the withdrawal of the Arrowhead Springs project, one of the proponents was sitting in a west end dance academy waiting for her daughter. By coincidence another parent sitting next to her was reading an east end paper, and in particular an article on Arrowhead Springs. The following conversation took place.

“Mary Coldair turned to Jose and said ‘Jose, I didn’t know you lived in the east end.’

Jose replied in a beautiful French accent ‘Mais oui, I have lived in Cumberland Estates for more than ten years.’

Mary asked, ‘Do you know anything about Arrowhead Springs?’

Jose replied, ‘Yes, I was at the meeting. We told those young people to go get stuffed and take the terrible project with them, we yell at the mayor, we yell at all these people, and we win.’

Mary then changed the subject. ‘How come you bring your daughter all the way to the west end, four times a week, all the way from Cumberland Estates?’

Jose said ‘It is terrible in Cumberland and the east end. We have no dance studio, we have no jobs for the kids, we have no entertainment for the kids, there is nothing for them to do.’[24]

New Ottawa Water Park

In February 2000, Tim Dodge contacts Mary Coldair regarding the sale of his land in Carp. This posed a possible solution for the new site of a FEC.

Tim stated a selling price that was drastically lower than market value. Verne Capital Corporation advised against the sale of the land at such a low price. Tim insisted stating, “I’ve had enough of it”[25]. At this price, Birmingham Development Corporation became a buyer and purchased the land.

Birmingham Development Corporation now had a new site for a FEC that wais already zoned, engineered, planned, and tested. However, the site was planned for a water park, not a FEC. Birmingham then redeveloped a site and engineering plan for a FEC for the 63-acre lot in Carp. Since 1997, highway 17 had been expanded into the 417 and March Road is now the most prestigious high-technology address in Ottawa.

The Competition

Meanwhile, since 1995 a $15 million project called Watts Creek Water Park had been underway. Don Jersey, a construction company owner and a previous school principal and university entrepreneur studies instructor, was heading the project.

In 1993, the location of Watts Creek was at Carlington Hill. Community activists not wishing to have a Water Park near them killed this site in 1995.

Watts Creek was then repositioned in the City of Nepean on Carling Avenue. This new location was on the greenbelt of the Greater Ottawa Area and owned by the National Capital Commission. Therefore, the land was leased, through a non-competition agreement, with the National Capital Commission. Don firmly believed that “location was the most important factor”[26] stating that “people hate to travel”[27]. This new location is closer to the central part of Ottawa than the New Ottawa Water Park.

Watts Creek had gone under a lot of studies, including ecological, safety, and noise.

Through Don’s experience, he felt that some communities wanted the convenience but not the facilities or changes that an entertainment complex brings. In his second time looking for a location, Don interviewed community groups. He was targeting communities that had children, and not communities that are mainly empty nests and retirees. Don said to “talk to community groups run by young parents, get them on side: granola [nuts and flakes] groups are always opposed”[28].

Don is in the last stages of financing and plans to start the engineering development in May 2001. Landscaping will then start in May and extend to November 2001. In August, the marketing campaign will start and continue to the launch in May 2002.

[15] Arrowhead Springs and Little Ray’s Reptile Adventure – Planning Merits, A Summary.

[16] Report to Planning Committee. Page 3.