Ottawa City Council has voted in favour of examining the possibility of moving a downtown light rail station closer to Confederation Square following public anger after the station originally slated for that location was cancelled.

City staff have been asked to examine whether the downtown east station, which was to be located at the intersection of O'Connor and Queen Streets, can be moved further east to Metcalfe Street, making it a block closer to Confederation Square and landmarks such as the National Arts Centre and the National War Memorial.

Council has also directed city staff to work with NAC officials to study the possibility of an underground connection between the downtown east station and the arts centre.

"We've got three large office towers, many major employers and tens of thousands of workers and we think Elgin Street needs to be part of this transit system," said Rosemary Thompson of the National Arts Centre.

But Mayor Jim Watson said any underground connection between the station and Elgin Street will have to be paid for by the private sector.

The decision comes the day after the Gillin Family, owners of the Lord Elgin Hotel, offered the city $2 million to help fund the construction of an LRT station on Elgin Street.

Watson refused the offer, citing the projected $40 to $50 million cost of the station and his belief that adding more downtown stations to the LRT route will slow down service.

But not everyone agrees with the proposal to move the downtown east station from its current location closer to Elgin Street.

"By shifting the Bank Street station even further east of Bank Street, they are going to create more problems to and from Lansdowne Park," said transit expert David Jeanes.

With a report from CTV Ottawa's John Hua