Monthly Meeting
May 4, 2015
Attendees:
- John Sankey, President
- Christine Johnson, Vice President
- Peter Foulger, Treasurer
- Peter Brimacombe, Secretary
- Marilyn Koch
- Vanessa Sutton
- Sue McCarthy
- Ijeoma Udechukwu
- Brian Wade
- Jennifer Radley
- Pauline de Gonzague
- Al Gullon
- Lynda Pedley
- Linda King
- Anne Castle
- David Armitage
- Celsa Barnhardt
- Dorothy Gamage
John Sankey: Asked for approval of agenda.
Vanessa Sutton: Asked that the education seminar be added.
Motion: To approve the April minutes. Moved by Ijeoma Udechukwu, seconded by Christine Johnson, approved.
Comfest
Sue McCarthy: Comfest is the community festival, originally run in October. This year the HCCO is partnering with the Hunt Club-Riverside Park Community Centre. It will be held September 12 between 9:00 and 14:00. Most activities will be under cover. The bicycle rodeo will feature safety tips, the South East Ottawa Community Health Centre will have a display. Sponsorships are needed.
John Sankey: Maybe Enbridge and Caisse Populaire would be sponsors.
Expansion of Otto’s BMW
John Sankey: Otto’s BMW has presented a site plan to expand its facilities on Hunt Club Road.
David Armitage: He has studied the site plan and is concerned that Hunt Club Creek is not protected. There should be a 50 foot vegetation buffer on either side of the Creek but the proposed driveway would encroach on it. The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority has said that there are no plans to restore vegetation in the buffer. Otto’s has leased the land from the Airport Authority and is anxious to proceed with its plans but the City’s site plan development process should be followed.
Motion: To oppose Otto’s proposed driveway because it encroaches Hunt Club Creek’s buffer zone and it does not provide for the required re-vegetation. Moved by David Armitage, seconded by Sue McCarthy, carried.
Paul Landry Park
Christine Johnson: There was a very successful clean-up of the Park on Saturday May 2. The volunteers made a big dent.
John Sankey: Thanks to Christine for organizing the event.
Sue McCarthy: The Park has been neglected for years. The clean-up on Saturday has changed people’s attitudes and a monthly clean-up would help even more.
John Sankey: The present zoning interferes with the development of Paul Landry Park. Most of the Park is EP which stands for Environmental Protection which requires the forest be preserved. The zoning should be changed to O1C which would allow an open park.
Motion: To change the zoning of the EP section of Paul Landry Park to O1C as soon as possible. Moved by John Sankey, seconded by Al Gullon, carried. Motion: Once the zoning has been changed, the new design of the Park be referred to the HCCO for public consultation. Moved by Vanessa Sutton, seconded by Brian Wade, carried.
Newsletter
Sue McCarthy: She has found a high school student who will be the guest editor for the June issue.
Treasurer’s Report
Peter Foulger: Presented the Treasurer’s Report.
Education Seminar
Vanessa Sutton: There were two parts to the education seminar: the first part was a presentation on the South-East Ottawa Community Health Centre. The second part was a presentation on municipal voting participation.
Ijeoma Udechukwu: Municipal voting participation has been dropping for the last 10 years! This is a concern.
Vanessa Sutton: Voter participation has dropped from 53% to 33% city-wide. One explanation is an aging demographic – older people are simply less engaged. Perhaps this could be reversed if they realized that they need to be involved in political decisions in order to provide a nurturing environment for their grand children.
Vanessa Sutton: There should be more awareness of the monthly education seminars. The HCCO should send out e-mails to everybody!
Pauline de Gonzague: In Sweden, children aged 10 and up, debate social issues in school. There could be a debating contest to have children debate the issues.
Ijeoma Udechukwu: She will follow up.
McCarthy Road Clean-up
John Sankey: Thanks to Liz Russell and Christine Johnson for cleaning up McCarthy Road.
The Great Hunt Club Garage Sale
Linda King: She is an agent for ReMax. She and Anne Castle are organizing a Hunt Club community garage sale. There needs to be a creative marketing plan. They will be the glue.
Anne Castle: Right now they are looking at a date in early June – either Saturday June 6 or June 13. Sunday would be the rain date. The idea is co-ordinate individual households to hold their own garage sales. She and Linda King will have flyers and advertising and also be the contacts to register individual households. They could advertise in the Hunt Club Newsletter.
Linda King: We need your help.
Vanessa Sutton: You could invite the Mayor and the Councillor.
Next meeting: Monday June 1 at 19:00