NDHQ(CARLING) NEW PARKING POLICY AND PHASED ALLOCATION OF PARKING SPACES Meeting
The following information was gathered from the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) National Consultation Team and the Institute’s stewards who are affected by the Department of National Defence(DND) decision to move to a new headquarters in Ottawa’s West end located at 3500 Moody Drive in Nepean.
In a meeting with Lieutenant- Colonel David Gendreau Operations Officer of the Canadian Forces Support Unit (Ottawa) and Glenn Maxwell, the President of the National Department of National Defence Consultation Team confirmed that the Department of National Defence will be moving 9,300 people to the Carling Campus facility with only 5000 parking spots.
The Ottawa-Carleton Transportation Commission (OCTranspo) has not committed to provide any additional bus routes to service the new DND Carling Campus by the end of the project later this fall. Additionally, Public Service Employees cannot count on the extension of the long awaited Ottawa Light Rail Transit – Confederation Line to solve the parking issues in the future. The proposed extension stops short by 2 kilometres with no plans to service the DND Carling Campus any time in the future.
In the meeting the following questions were asked:
Glenn Maxwell - What solutions has the department been able to come up with in the short term now that the final move dates have been confirmed and there is a shortage of available parking spots for Single Occupancy Vehicles (SOV)s?
LCol Gendreau – We have just finished meeting with the Point of Care Facility with (National Commissioned Land leased property) this morning to investigate possible agreement to get additional parking space there.
The Point of Care Facility is approximately a 1.5 km walk from the Carling Campus and there are concerns with the path to Carling, it does not have sidewalks all the way to Carling Campus and was not properly lit for safety.
The LCol was not optimistic that this would be a solution because of additional work having to be completed make the walking paths safe for use. The LCol also indicated that he was investigating the possibility of providing parking at the Shirley’s Bay facility and shuttling employees from there.
Glenn Maxwell – Has the department considered moving DND vehicles and not allocate “reserved” parking to make additional parking space available to employees?
LCol Gendreau – We have already moved DND vehicles to Shirley’s Bay inside the fence to compile with regulations. This has only resulted in freeing up 500 or so parking spaces so it would not have much of an impact. The department is promoting carpooling and flexible work arrangements for employees to reduce the demand for parking at Carling Campus. The project team cannot simply cut down trees and push a parking pad due to the “Green Space” zoning. One solution is to put up parking garages. We can go up but there is no project for this construction. The Strong, Secure and Engaged policy implementation impacted our plan since more people would be moving to Carling Campus than originally planned for.
Glenn Maxwell – Is it possible to post-pone the implementation of the Phase III move to Carling Campus until a solution is found to the parking shortage?
LCol Gendreau – The Department is now planning on continuing to use the 101 Colonel By Headquarters and Tunney’s Pasture workplaces. The existing leases for temporary space are expiring this fall and we cannot extend them.
LCol Gendreau was very candid with his responses and we appreciate the information, however the CFSU(O) Colonel A.M. Banville in responding to enquires into why the Bargaining Agents were not consulted responded with the following:
“Unions were not consulted on this issue. This was neither a conscious decision nor an oversight as to my knowledge no particular union representing our Defence civilian employees would have any expertise in helping my team and I in better defining the NDHQ(Carling) parking issues nor in developing a Transportation Demand Management Plan to address these complexities. That is not meant as a slight, because I firmly believe that our civilian Defence Team members and by extension their union representatives are true professionals with extensive backgrounds in many fields including finance, engineering, procurement etc, but not specifically in the field of the parking management.”
The Department of National Defence will be reminded of their responsibility under the Public Service Labour Relations Act Division 3 as follows:
“Consultation committee 8. Each deputy head must, in consultation with the bargaining agents representing employees in the portion of the federal public administration for which he or she is deputy head, establish a consultation committee consisting of representatives of the deputy head and the bargaining agents for the purpose of exchanging information and obtaining views and advice on issues relating to the workplace that affect those employees, which issues may include, among other things,
(a) harassment in the workplace; and
(b) the disclosure of information concerning wrongdoing in the public service and the protection from reprisal of employees who disclose such information.
Meaning of co-development of workplace improvements
9. For the purpose of this Division, co-development of workplace improvements means the consultation between the parties on workplace issues and their participation in the identification of workplace problems and the development and analysis of solutions to those problems with a view to adopting mutually agreed to solutions.”
The DND National Consultation Team Executive is meeting with the Deputy Minister on the 14th of May 2019 to address the Institute Issues including the Parking shortage at Carling Campus.
Please see the addendum below with links to information to help understand the history of this issue and our members concerns for their workplace conditions.
Glenn Maxwell
DND National Consultation President
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
Links to relevant information:
Ottawa Citizen - Hunger Games of Parking Article
Ottawa Light Rail Transit Project Information
https://www.infrastructureontario.ca/Ottawa-Light-Rail-Transit/
Ottawa Business Journal - Looking to LRT extension Article
https://obj.ca/article/looking-lrt-extension-ottawa-businesses-renew-push-east-end-federal-offices
Brokerage Insurance - Does carpooling affect my insurance?
https://www.brokerlink.ca/blog/carpooling-and-insurance/
UBERX – Fare Estimator Tool