Shared spaces, new places all around Ottawa

Take a look around Ottawa.

For the most part, you’ll see the city loosely separated into residential neighborhoods, commercial spaces and industrial areas.

But those uses can and do share spaces, Wynndee Lee, director of planning and codes, said.

One example is downtown, she said.

On Ottawa’s Main Street, restaurants, offices, and apartments co-exist to offer different services for different people.

Churches are another example of shared spaces, Lee said, where, in addition to providing a place for worship, they can be spaces for day cares and preschools, as well as places for meals and other services.

Lee said separation of uses began long ago, primarily in response to industrial businesses and their impacts on communities.

While many industries have good environmental practices today, that wasn’t always the case, Lee said, noting that waste materials from an industry could easily flow into a residential area or farm.

For those reasons, cities didn’t consider residential and industrial to be a good mix, she said.

Today, homes typically are situated away from heavy industry, Lee said, though that depends on the size and scale of the business, as well as other factors.

In Ottawa, for example, homes are just across the street from American Eagle Outfitters, a large distribution facility at 1529 N. Davis Ave., in the Ottawa Industrial Park.

In larger cities, mixed-use developments like The Legends, a retail and entertainment destination development in Kansas City, Kan., and The Country Club Plaza, are examples of many uses in one space, Lee said.

Lee said a smaller development like those could be in Ottawa’s future; it’ll just take the right parcel of ground and the right developer.

Herald staff writer Jodie Garcia can be e-mailed at jgarcia@ottawaherald.com.