DND sets up temporary lot at Connaught Range to ease parking woes

The DND Carling campus has about 5,000 parking spots for a facility designed to house more than 10,000 staff. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia

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The Defence department has set up a temporary overflow lot at the Connaught Range in hopes it might alleviate some of the ongoing parking problems at its Carling campus headquarters.

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“Temporary overflow parking arrangements are in place at the Connaught Range Primary Training Centre with shuttle service to the Carling campus, while additional parking solutions, as well as other commuting initiatives, are being explored,” Department of National Defence spokesperson Kened Sadiku confirmed in an email to the Ottawa Citizen. “This arrangement will continue until an alternative off-site parking solution is in place.”

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Sadiku did not provide further details about the temporary parking lot at the Shirley Boulevard location.

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But DND public servants, concerned that the department and Canadian Forces were not being forthcoming with information, provided the Ottawa Citizen with a copy of the May 4 internal message about the initiative.

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The overflow parking is for 30 vehicles, and two 15-person passenger vans are being used to shuttle staff to the Carling campus headquarters, according to that document.

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A bus will be offered in the future to move employees who park at the range, which is about seven kilometres from the Carling campus.

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“At this time, the overflow parking will be available on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays only,” the message noted. “Availability may be expanded to include Mondays and Fridays. This trial will assess the demand and use of the service.”

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Those using the overflow parking will still need to pay.

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No information was available on how much this service will cost taxpayers.

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The shuttle hours are limited to between 8:30 a.m. and 10 a.m., and from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., according to the document.

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At the heart of the issue is that the DND campus has about 5,000 parking spots for a facility designed to house more than 10,000 staff. Military staff and government workers can buy a monthly parking pass for $75. But even with a pass, not everyone is guaranteed a spot.

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DND staff report that each morning there is a scramble to find spots, and some workers have taken to parking partially on grass or at the end of rows of vehicles in what are considered non-designated spaces.

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Military police recently ordered the towing of 13 cars belonging to government workers and military personnel.

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The federal government spent $800 million on acquiring and outfitting the former Nortel complex, which sits southwest of the corner of Carling Avenue and Moodie Drive, for the DND’s needs. The department argued that the initiative would see substantial savings from consolidating many of DND’s employees into one site.

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The Ottawa Citizen previously reported that the overflow parking and shuttle service from Connaught Range was originally proposed in 2019 but that it was not pursued.