I have corresponded with the City of Ottawa on this matter, raising some of the concerns raised in Fred’s article, and it is interesting what a strong push back I received in defense of the plan.

Most interesting was that in responding to my inquiry, with reference to Fred’s criticism of another of PFS’s projects, the City Manager included a note from PFS principal, Greg Smallenberg, esseintially denouncing Fred and this article.

 FYI, I have included Smallenberg’s response below:

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PFS RESPONSE TO Mr. KENT’s CRITIQUE of SHERBOURNE COMMON

Mr. Kent has a reputation of unfairly criticizing design
and design professionals throughout North America and so it’s not surprising
the blog contains opinions we do not agree with. More importantly it contains
observations that seem intentionally misleading or perhaps just poorly
researched. Mr. Kent’s comments reveal a lack of understanding with respect to
the complexities and considerations of designing and building within the public
realm. For years now Mr. Kent has taken a very decided position that
well‐designed spaces are bad unless they adhere to a somewhat narrow and
prescriptive formula developed by behaviorist William Whyte in the 1970s and
1980s and adhered to by PPS ever since. If only creating beauty, joy and experience
in an urban context was that simple. Mr. Kent’s vitriol for the design
community is palpable and unrelenting. For this reason, and because of the
narrowness of his views, many in the North American design community have chosen
to simply ignore Mr. Kent and his diatribes which are consistently one‐sided
and almost always anti‐design. In fact the only reason we read his blog was
because of Mr. Vickers’s reference to it and our need to respond.

We take a very different view from that of Mr. Kent, one
where beautiful design and vibrant, functional

space are not mutually exclusive. And for the record, what
Mr. Kent fails to point out in his blog about Sherbourne Common is that the park
is located on a post industrial brownfield site in the midst of a massive redevelopment
and that a complete new community is just beginning to form around the park.
Along with an adjoining waterfront promenade and Sugar Beach, another fantastic
public space already delivered in East Bayfront, Sherbourne Common is an
example of building public amenity before private development, a proven strategy
for revitalizing cities all over the world.

Currently no one lives in the East Bayfront community
(where Sherbourne Common is centered) or

within easy walking distance of the park. So, for the next
few years, to find the park somewhat empty at certain times is not surprising. However things are
changing rapidly. A new college with a full time

student population of 3,000 directly adjacent to
Sherbourne Common has just opened this September.

Anticipating this, PFS has strategically located a large
open green directly across from the college for

informal sports and outdoor performance. The green is
lined with ample seating for hanging out with

friends or to people watch. In addition, thousands of
employees will be drawn to several new office

facilities either just completed or on the boards in East
Bayfront, and in the very near future

approximately 10,000 residents will be living in the
community. No one in the community will be further than a 5 minute walk from the park. The eastern edge of
the park will be lined with a variety of shops, cafes, a daycare and all sorts of community amenities that
will create a lively and vital component to life in Sherbourne Common. These amenities will be directly on
the park with no intervening roads.

On the south side of the park there are gardens for
passive enjoyment and an ice rink‐come‐splash pad for more active pursuits. Adjacent to the splash pad / ice
rink is a beautiful pavilion that Mr. Kent

derides in his blog, yet this pavilion houses public
washrooms, the mechanical system for the ice rink

and splash pad, the UV system that cleans the storm water
of East Bayfront and a soon‐to‐be‐leased

café within the park that will help activate the pavilion
area.

Sherbourne Common is a park and a storm water treatment
facility. In addition to the UV treatment

facility beneath the pavilion, public art that is not only
beautiful but functions as a part of the storm

water treatment train has been seamlessly incorporated
into the design, drawing attention to and

celebrating our water resource.

The children’s play area has been located on the north
side of the park to respond to the anticipated

family oriented residential buildings located north of
Queens Quay. The first of many is currently under

construction and directly adjacent to the park’s play
areas (again there is no intervening road). Once

completed, it is anticipated that the residents in this
building will be heavily utilizing the facilities in

Sherbourne Common ‐ North.

The children’s play area itself, which takes up almost 50%
of the total park area, was designed in close consultation with the City of Toronto Parks’ Department’s
play specialists. The various pieces of play equipment have been carefully placed to adhere to strict
CSA standards for fall zones. This has resulted in the pieces being somewhat separated from one another but
nonetheless successful in achieving a compliant and complete composition for active play. These
elements are interspersed with ample seating for parents who want to keep a
close eye on their children. Gravel surfacing in the play area (that Mr. Kent complains
about) responds to resiliency requirements for fall surfaces while allowing
ground water recharge, minimizing maintenance and providing contiguous planting
zones for the playground trees to thrive in. Planted areas of wispy long
grasses delineate spaces and bring children in close contact the more natural
aspects of play.

As Mr. Vickers has chosen to forward you what we consider
to be unfairly representative photograph

from Mr. Kent’s blog and purposely showing an empty park,
we felt compelled to attach a few

photographs that indicate how the park is used on a good
day and at different times of the first year

after completion. You will see in many of the photos that
the park is currently in the middle of a

construction site. Once the community is completed around
Sherbourne Common everyday will be a

good day and the park will be the social hub of East
Bayfront.

Greg Smallenberg 

[And then included 4 photos of people happily using the facilities at Sherbourne Common.] 

And a side note, there is something conflicted in the logic of our planning system that builds places that take 10+ years to become relevant (perhaps we should think more incrementally?).I think the author’s core point is spot on. 

We discovered the park when we visited the fabulous Sugar Beach nearby. My 3 kids ask me to take them to this park now, and they love the water features in both parks & the funky equipment. And let me tell you, it’s a rare occasion when all 3 of them ask to go to the same place! When I was there during the height of the summer tourist season, the area was filled with smiling people. The sculptural metal building is a welcomed change to the usual boring stuff we see. Come back in 10 years & then make a fair comparison.

You’re reading a freakin’ press release. I would be amazed if the language didn’t sound manufactured. But misleading? Seriously?