Minutes of Meeting 6 December 2010

Attendees:

Motion: To approve the November minutes. Moved by Peter Brimacombe, seconded by John Sankey, carried.

John Sankey: Liz Russell sends her regrets but would like to thank Peter Brimacombe for the photos he took of McCarthy Road, Councillor Maria McRae for her work in arranging for the garbage bins on McCarthy and John Sankey for his help in the fall cleanup of McCarthy Road. Liz reports that the McCarthy Road Fire Station has agreed to adopt Paul Landry Park. The firemen are working with Councillor Maria McRae on the Park.

Greg Killough: Presented the Councillor's Report. Two items were possible speed reductions on local residential streets and the Integrated Road Safety Program.
Peter Brimacombe: The speed limit on Plante Drive is 50 km/hour and this limit should be maintained to allow efficient movement of buses.
Greg Killough: In order to reduce the limit, staff expect that 2/3 of the residents sign the petition.

Peter Foulger: The police should write tickets for tail-gating!
Gisèle Loiselle-Branch: They should also write tickets for improper lane changes!

John Sankey: There is pressure to reduce Bronson Avenue to two lanes north of the Canal.
Motion: The HCCO wishes to express its concerns over possible restrictions to Bronson Avenue that would seriously impede the flow of traffic from our neighbourhood to downtown and Gatineau. Moved by John Sankey, seconded by Peter Foulger, carried.

John Sankey: There are three priorities this year:

Peter Brimacombe: Commends the police officer who ticketed drivers who passed a school bus which had stopped with its lights flashing. This action took place on Walkley Road just east of Bank Street.

Gisèle Loiselle-Branch: What is the construction at Brookfield and Riverside?
Greg Killough: The intersection is being reconfigured.

Gord Graham: Traffic east bound on Hogs Back Road wanting to make a right-hand turn onto Riverside Drive is routinely backed up. Why doesn't the City make a longer right-hand turn lane to help the flow of traffic? Why is Shenkman building its Convention Centre on Uplands Drive? Extra traffic will follow Uplands Drive through our neighbourhood. Hawthorne will be extended to connect the 417 directly to Hunt Club. Hunt Club is already severely congested and this will make it worse.
John Sankey: The NCC controls Hogs Back Road and it doesn't want to spend money to solve Ottawa's traffic problems. Trade shows are conventions. The Convention Centre has to be close to the airport. Most of the traffic from the Convention Centre should take the Airport Parkway but there is no question that there will be extra traffic on Uplands Drive. The extension of Hawthorne will increase traffic on Hunt Club by 20 to 30 percent and we are concerned.
Gord Graham: Hunt Club is not a ring road. There are 35 stop lights along its length. Traffic east of the bridge over the Rideau River is routinely backed up 2 kms. We need a ring road around the south end of the City.

Next meeting: Monday, Jan 10, 2011 at 19:30