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The planning committee on Thursday approved a refreshed concept plan for a Barrhaven “downtown.”

Barrhaven’s town centre is considered to be the area south of Strandherd Drive, west of Longfields Drive, north of the Jock River and east of the Kennedy-Burnett Stormwater Management Facility. It’s a major commercial area with several box-type stores.

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However, the vision is to make the district a true downtown with residential towers near transit stations and a civic square that would be a destination and gathering place for the community.

Other commercial properties in Ottawa have been eyed for similar redevelopments involving apartment or condo towers above ground-level stores.

The Barrhaven plan calls for 11,050 residential units and 9,300 of them would be apartments. Commercial space would provide 12,600 jobs.

The site has a big advantage over other large commercial districts: the southwest Transitway, which runs north-south, and will one day be converted to LRT, bisects the town centre. There’s also a rapid bus corridor on Chapman Mills Drive.

The development of a Barrhaven downtown won’t happen overnight, but the blueprint, which will require an official plan amendment approved by council on Dec. 11, would set the vision.