Attendees:

• John Sankey, President
• Peter Foulger, Treasurer
• Peter Brimacombe, Secretary
• Christine Johnson
• Maria McRae, Councillor
• Al Gullon
• Bernie Geiger
• Barbara Carroll
• Mike Patton
• Karyn Simpson
• H W Sankarsingh
• Brent Scollie

John Sankey: He presented the agenda and asked for approval.

Motion: To approve the June 2014 minutes. Moved by Peter Foulger, seconded by Peter Brimacombe. Carried.

Motion: To approve the September 2014 minutes. Moved by Peter Foulger, seconded by Peter Brimacombe. Carried.

Yield to Pedestrian Sign at the Airport Parkway On-Ramp
Al Gullon: In reference to the motion at the September meeting concerning the pedestrian crossing of the on-ramp onto the Airport Parkway, he is concerned that the proposed yield to pedestrian sign would increase the rear-end collisions on Hunt Club Road.
General discussion: Several alternative ideas were discussed but there was no consensus.

Councillor’s Report
Maria McRae: Presented the Councillor’s Report. She will not be seeking re-election. She thanked everyone who helped her in her role as Councillor.
Peter Brimacombe: His daughter lives on 4th Avenue and she likes the play structure at Lansdowne.
Christine Johnson: She expressed her thanks to the Councillor for improving the library services.

146 bus
Bernie Geiger: Service on the 146 dropped from every 10 minutes to every 15 minutes. Coming home it’s impossible to time the buses. What can be done to restore the service levels?
Maria McRae: Restoring service levels depends on OC Transpo. It’s on John Manconi’s radar.

Newsletter
Christine Johnson: She will be the editor for one more issue but there doesn’t seem to be a new editor. The whole operation is a demanding exercise. There are volunteer hours and printing costs. She would like to organize a social event to thank the volunteers.

Motion: To approve a budget of $200 for a social to thank the newsletter volunteers. Moved by Christine Johnson, seconded by Peter Brimacombe, carried.

Treasurer’s Report
Peter Foulger: In accordance with the motion passed at the September meeting, the Tangerine and Toronto Dominion accounts have been closed and a new chequing account at Alterna has been opened.

Motion: To send the City the information on our Alterna chequing account required for direct deposit. Moved by Christine Johnson, seconded by Peter Foulger. Carried.

Wisteria
John Sankey: Wisteria is outside River ward. It can no longer be associated with the HCCO.

Constitution
John Sankey: He is working on revising the constitution to conform to present practice. The current wording is that Robert’s Rules will be followed as far as practical. Comments?
Christine Johnson: Robert’s Rules are redundant.
Most of the other members felt that the clause should be kept as is.
John Sankey: He will send out proposed amendments prior to a vote next meeting.

All Candidates Meeting
John Sankey: There will be an all candidates meeting this Wednesday.

Green Bins
Bernie Geiger: In Toronto, people put organic waste into plastic bags because it holds the waste better but an extra step is required in processing. In Amsterdam they have big green bins, outside in public places for organic waste but in Ottawa they would freeze in the winter.
Maria McRae: There is vigorous debate on waste disposal including use of plastic bags and diapers. It’s extremely expensive to allow plastics – they diminish the quality of the compost. Glad Biodegradable bags cannot be used to hold organic waste because they do not decompose. It’s irresponsible to kill the green bin collection program. Commercial/ Industrial waste is not the City’s responsibility.

Paul Landry Park Cleanup
Peter Foulger: Christine Johnson, Peter Foulger and two others showed up to clean up the Park. There wasn’t too much garbage and they did clean it up.

Next meeting: AGM Monday November 3 at 19:00

Attendees:

• John Sankey, President
• Peter Foulger, Treasurer
• Peter Brimacombe, Secretary
• Christine Johnson
• Marilyn Koch
• Fred McLennan
• Glenn MacCrimmon
• Louise Leduc
• Al Gullon
• Shirani Wijesekera

John Sankey: He presented the agenda and asked for approval.

Motion: To thank Councillor McRae for her hard work and dedication. She first worked with the community organizing the Services Centre and then worked as a Councillor for 11 years. Moved by John Sankey, seconded by Marilyn Koch, carried unanimously.

John Sankey: The approval of the June minutes will be deferred.

Louise Leduc: Distributed a flyer Retirees in Motion.

Peter Foulger: Presented the Treasurer’s Reports. There is one report for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2014 and another for August 2014. The major financial activity revolves around our newsletter Hunt Club My Community where revenues generally meet expenses. As of the end of August there was a member’s surplus of $9,150.61. He has reviewed various banking options. There are a number of factors to consider: cheques must be signed by both the President and the Treasurer, fees for writing cheques should be minimized and interest from the member’s surplus should be maximized. Considering all factors he recommends switching back to the Alterna Bank.

Motion: To switch to Alterna Bank from the TD Bank and cancel the Tangerine account. Signing authorities would continue as both the President and the Treasurer. The amount deemed surplus to the chequing account should be invested in short-term GICs with the Alterna Bank. Moved by Peter Foulger, seconded by John Sankey, carried unanimously.

Christine Johnson: The September issue of the newsletter Hunt Club My Community has been distributed. John Sankey did the layout. Thank you and another thanks for his history article. She is stepping down as Editor but a new Editor has volunteered.
Al Gullon: Matt Young, the provincial PC candidate for our riding, mentioned John’s history article.

John Sankey: At Uplands Park, construction is underway for a swing for children ages 5 to 10. Construction costs are double to provide access to impaired people.
Peter Brimacombe: Costs are double but who is actually impaired? The children or their parents? Costs are certain but benefits are not.

Christine Johnson: No provision is made for pedestrians walking along the sidewalk at a particular spot on Hunt Club. The spot is the ramp from Hunt Club westbound onto the Airport Parkway north.

Motion: Given the dangers that pedestrians face when using the crosswalk at the on-ramp for vehicles heading north onto the Airport Parkway, when driving west on Hunt Club Road, we request that a Yield to Pedestrians sign be erected at that crosswalk (just like the crosswalk for the on-ramp heading south onto Bronson and Airport Parkway when driving south on Colonel By Drive). Moved by Christine Johnson, seconded by Al Gullon, carried.

John Sankey: He received a certificate thanking us for the adoption of Paul Landry Park.

Next meeting: Monday, October 6 at 19:00

Attendees:

• John Sankey, President
• Peter Foulger, Treasurer
• Peter Brimacombe, Secretary
• Christine Johnson
• Issie Berish
• Marilyn Koch
• Steve Long
• Fred McLennan
• Maria McRae, Councillor
• Glenn MacCrimmon
• Marc Rivard
• Louise Leduc
• George Plante
• Annette Bourgeois
• Murray Manley

John Sankey: He presented the agenda and asked for approval.

Motion: To approve the May 2014 minutes as amended. Moved by Fred McLennan, seconded by Marilyn Koch, carried.

Requests to the Councillor
Christine Johnson: We make many requests to the Councillor’s assistant but we rarely get an answer.
John Sankey: Last meeting we made three motions concerning cleaning up Paul Landry Park
Motion 1: asking that the City remove the heavy debris: not done
Motion 2: asking Ottawa Community Housing to remove its garbage: done
Motion 3: asking that Bylaw Enforcement pursue whoever dumped the flyers: Bylaw Enforcement did not get involved but MetroLand, the company that distributes the flyers did clean them up.

Newsletter: Hunt Club My Community
Christine Johnson: The June issue is out. Finding sponsors is getting more difficult. We need more help in delivering the four issues a year.
Glenn MacCrimmon and George Plante volunteered to help with delivery.

Treasurer’s Report
Peter Foulger: Presented the Treasurer’s Report. There is members’ surplus of $9,161.94.
Fred McLennan: What are we going to spend it on?
John Sankey: We are awaiting proposals. The money was used to bankroll the newsletter which is now basically breaking even.
Louise Leduc: The park equipment is geared for young children but there are more and more seniors why not invest in gazebos where they can visit with each other while enjoying a shaded area and see the kids playing?

Councillor’s Report
Maria McRae: Presented the Councillor’s Report. One item was operation “Take it Back”. Some of the waste is hazardous and cannot be safely left at the curb for pickup. Some retailers will accept hazardous waste for recycling.
Fred McLennan: Can you return hazardous waste to a store even though you have not bought it there?
Maria McRae: Yes but considering just paint, many stores do not take it back. By taking it back, stores can contribute to its proper disposal as well as reduce the costs to the City. Many other products have an environmental disposal fee which the Province collects but in many cases the City disposes of them so in effect there is a double charge.

Another item in the Report was “Investing in River Ward Parks”.
Peter Foulger: Is there anything related to Paul Landry Park?
Maria McRae: Four years ago, the City rejuvenated the equipment in the Park.
John Sankey: Almost nobody uses it.
Christine Johnson: The equipment in Paul Landry Park is geared towards very young children but parents don’t take their children there because of undesirable activity.
Maria McRae: People prefer to use the equipment on their own property. The equipment in Ottawa Community Housing projects is quite good and that’s where the parents feel comfortable taking their children.
Peter Foulger: The City arborist has promised to visit the Park. Is he coming back?
Maria McRae: Paul Landry Park is in the queue. Five years ago there was a major blitz.

Another item in the Report was “Baseline Road Resurfacing”.
Christine Johnson: There are a lot of pot holes on Paul Anka. Do I call 311 or the Councillor?
Maria McRae: Go through 311. In the case of Uplands Drive, I personally made sure that the road was resurfaced.
Fred McLennan: This year, pot holes have been especially bad. Does the City have an plan to deal with them?
Maria McRae: The winter was unusually cold. This is the direct cause of the number and severity of the pot holes. The intense cold even without freeze-thaw cycles makes the asphalt brittle and causes it to break.
George Plante: There was a huge pot hole in Bronson Avenue. The City fixed the one hole but left many others. Question: What is the long term strategy to fix the pot holes?
Maria McRae: Staff is constantly looking at best practices across Canada to see if they can be adopted in our City. As I said, in the case of Uplands Drive, I made sure that it was resurfaced. Transportation Committee is responsible for pot holes and roads in general.

Christine Johnson: The Mayor has invited people to the Doors Open Ottawa, June 7th and 8th.

Retirees in Motion
Louise Leduc: She presented a program for seniors “Retirees in Motion”. The idea is to find activities that seniors could do that would add value to the community. She offered to support HCCO projects.
John Sankey: We need volunteers to clean up the parks, to deliver the newsletter and to develop articles for the newsletter.
Louise Leduc: It’s hard to find space in the Community Centre, for example to do exercise programs for seniors.
John Sankey: That’s because the Retirees in Motion program is part of the South East Ottawa Health Centre which is entirely separate from the Hunt Club-Riverside Park Community Centre. The two organizations share space in the Community Centre but they are entirely separate.
Christine Johnson: We could put an article about Retirees in Motion in our newsletter.

Update the HCCO Web Page
John Sankey: He sent out an e-mail with suggestions for the home page. He is looking to highlight advantages of Hunt Club. One of them: Hunt Club has three times the publicly accessible green space as the rest of the City.
Christine Johnson: Do we have demographic statistics for our community?
John Sankey: Hunt Club is covered by two Census Districts.

Annette Bourgeois: How do you become a member of the HCCO?
John Sankey: Membership is $10 a year. The period is from September in one year to June in the next so he’ll sell memberships in September.

Airport Parkway Environmental Assessment
John Sankey: Bernie Geiger alerted us to this issue but he’s not here tonight. The City has proposed widening the Airport Parkway. The extra lanes may be dedicated to High Occupancy Vehicles (HOV). To have input to the Assessment we need to go through the Councillor.

Motion: HCCO requests the Councillor that it be given an opportunity for input into all phases of the Airport Parkway widening. Moved by Peter Foulger, seconded by Christine Johnson, carried.

Next meeting: Monday September 8 at 19:00

Attendees:

• John Sankey, President
• Peter Foulger, Treasurer
• Peter Brimacombe, Secretary
• Christine Johnson
• Issie Berish
• Marilyn Koch
• Sylva Baroody
• David McGuinty, Member of Parliament
• Jackie Grace, Assistant to David McGuinty
• Kamal Ubhi, Councillor’s Assistant
• Bernie Geiger
• Al Gullon
• Glenn MacCrimmon
• Chris Elie

John Sankey collected memberships.
Marilyn Koch: You don’t have to be a member to attend the meetings.
John Sankey: But you do to vote or propose motions.

John Sankey: He presented the agenda and asked for approval.

Motion: To approve the April 2014 minutes. Moved by Christine Johnson, seconded by Peter Foulger, carried.

146 bus schedule
Bernie Geiger: The 146 bus used to come every 10 minutes but now it comes every 15 minutes. On his way home he cannot time his transfer and could have to wait 15 minutes. OC Transpo has put the bigger articulated buses on the route. Since they aren’t full, OC Transpo sees no need for more buses.

Councillor’s Report
Kamal Ubhi presented the Councillor’s Report.
Christine Johnson: On the subject of Spring Tree Planting: What kind of trees does the City plant?
John Sankey: There is a list of approved trees. It rarely plants fruit trees or nut-bearing trees because many people object to the mess.

Christine Johnson: There was a presentation of the Area Traffic Management Study on Paul Anka. The presentation was held in the Community Centre. She would like to have known about it because it impacts her directly. She attended a civics bootcamp given by the Citizens Academy. One item of interest was the cash-in-lieu payments that developers can make. Developers are required to create landscaped areas as part of their development. They can however make a cash-in-lieu payment which the City uses to make capital improvements to parks. She discovered that Ward 16 (our Ward) had $5000 from cash-in-lieu payments but $8000 was actually spent. Can we find out where the money was spent?
John Sankey: No. We could have input but nothing more.

Peter Brimacombe: He attended the Special Waste Collection held at the Rideau Carleton Raceway. There were hundreds of cars and it was well organized. He would be interested to see statistics from the day.

Christine Johnson: On the subject of the municipal elections – will we have an all-candidates meeting?
John Sankey: Last time we organized it and it was held in the Community Centre. Only candidates for Mayor and for Councillor were invited because it was too much work to include candidates for the school boards.
Kamal Ubhi: The cutoff for nominations is August 22.

David McGuinty, Member of Parliament
John Sankey: Welcomed David McGuinty, Member of Parliament for Ottawa South.
David McGuinty: He introduced his assistant Jackie Grace. Jackie is from Calgary. She is keenly interested in the political process. David McGuinty likes to welcome young people to Parliament Hill. Building democracies around the world is one of his chief interests. He went to the Ukraine to help build democracy there. He is here today to present Christine Johnson with a Volunteer Recognition Certificate. There was a short ceremony where David McGuinty presented the Certificate to Christine and she accepted. Everyone applauded.

Al Gullon: He spoke about Bill C23, the Fair Elections Act. Despite its name, it has strong elements that contradict justice and the right to vote.
David McGuinty: On matters concerning the right to vote, the House normally votes unanimously. At the very least the Bill should be met with wide-spread support. Top experts have said that Bill C23 is wrong.
Bernie Geiger: He is extremely concerned about the move to abolish the Senate. It should be preserved. The House should have to earn the support of the Senate.
Chris Elie: He spoke about the West-East Pipeline. What can be done to oppose it?
David McGuinty: Opposition has been made more difficult. The number of groups that can present has been reduced. Cabinet can now reverse the Canada Energy Board. The Liberal Transportation Critique has said that even if all the proposed pipelines were built it would not be enough to transport the oil.
John Sankey: CPAC broadcasts sessions of the House in either English or French. If one speaker speaks English and the next speaks French then you can hear both in English or both in French. The CRTC forbids us to hear both in the language spoken.

Treasurer’s Report
Peter Foulger: He presented the Treasurer’s Report. The chief item was the term deposit of $8600 at the Alterna Bank which has come due. With it was $212.66 in interest. The money should be deposited in a savings account at the TD Bank.
Motion: To direct the Treasurer and the President to open a TD Savings Account where the bulk of the money would be deposited to earn interest. Moved by Peter Foulger, seconded by Christine Johnson, carried.

Clean Up
Peter Foulger: Organized the clean-up of Paul Landry Park. He thanked Marilyn Koch, Christine Johnson and John Sankey for their help. The clean-up crew was faced with a daunting task – there were broken beer bottles and a great deal of litter. Someone is dumping old trees and other lawn waste . There’s an old dog kennel that’s too heavy to lift. The City needs to send a crew to pick it and the downed trees up. There are 27 bundles of flyers. It looks like the delivery boy just dumped them. There was an appalling amount of debris from Shearwater Court.
Motion: Request the City to remove the heavy debris including the dog kennel from Paul Landry Park. Moved by Peter Foulger, seconded by Sylva Baroody, carried.
Motion: Request Ottawa Community Housing to remove the garbage the contractor and the residents have dumped in Paul Landry Park. Moved by Peter Foulger, seconded by Christine Johnson, carried.
Motion: To request Bylaw Enforcement to take acton against those who have dumped flyers in Paul Landry Park. Moved by Peter Foulger, seconded by John Sankey, carried.
Peter Brimacombe: Liz Russell has done a tremendous job cleaning up McCarthy Road, Owl Park and Plante Drive. Sylva Baroody has organized the Optimist Junior Ottawa South which is a group of young people. They have cleaned up McCarthy Park and McCarthy Woods.

Request to post notices
Christine Johnson: She would like permission to post Help Needed Posters in the Community Centre. The help is needed to distribute the newsletter Hunt Club My Community.
John Sankey: Go ahead. Old notices are taken down after a month, so repost them as needed.

Next meeting: Monday June 2 at 19:00

Attendees:

• John Sankey President
• Peter Foulger Treasurer
• Marilyn Koch Temporary Secretary
• Christine Johnson
• Steve Long
• Issie Berish
• Kamal Ubhi Councillor McRae’s Assistant
• Glenn MacCrimmon
• Shirani Wijesekera
• Bernie Geiger
• José Cardoso Caisse Populaire Rideau-Vision d’Ottawa

There were no new memberships. The Agenda was circulated and several topics were requested to be addressed later in New Business.

John Sankey presented José Cardoso, future director of Caisse Populaire which is relocating a branch office to 700 Hunt Club Road. Mr. Cardoso anticipates they will be ready to move in this October. In answer to questions from Issie Berish, Mr. Cardoso indicated they will not have a drive-thru but will have 10 parking spots and 2 ATMs and a total of seven employees. His company also is active in community outreach activities and demonstrated with advertising support to our Community Newsletter. He was welcomed to our community by all those present.

Minutes of the March meeting were approved. Motion to accept moved by Bernie Geiger, seconded by Peter Foulger, and carried.

Business arising from the minutes involved follow up by Bernie Geiger re bus schedule reduction in the Hunt Club and his observation of a lack of announcements and publicity. A response from Maria McRae’s office indicated a reduction was made April 2012 when articulated buses were introduced to make up the difference in reduced timing of single buses. He was appreciative of getting a response to his inquiry from her office. Additional concern was expressed re what happens when Hurdman closes for construction of the LRT.

Councillor’s Report was presented by Kamal Ubhi. Clean-up and preparations have commenced for work on the Airport Parkway Pedestrian/Cycling Bridge. Cleaning the Capital campaign begins April 15-May 15, 2014. Speed boards are available on request.
Follow-up questions/comments:
Christine Johnson asked if there is no cycling lane, is there an automatic limit on car speeds. The response was 80 km per hr. is legal. If there is a cycling lane and a car is turning right, who has the right of way? John Sankey responded that cars must yield to bikers. Is it different if there is no cycle lane? No definite answer.
Issie Berish questioned if an informal pathway near the Fire Station used by Twyford residents could be formalized when a recent trench for a gas line was being refilled.
Paul Landry Park, Uplands Park, Hunt Club Creek and McCarthy Park are claimed for spring clean-up. Those in charge of McCarthy Park are not identified.
Issie Berish reported on Hunt Club : My Community March issue. Delivery has been impacted by the weather. March is not the best month because of weather and delivery people being away on vacation. Possibly it should be officially changed to April. Preparing packaging, drop-offs and then follow-up requires about eight and a half hours labour. More people and smaller routes might be better but more help is required . Christine Johnson confirmed the need for more involvement to sustain the Newsletter. Issie Berish suggested that a request for more help could be made in the Newsletter.

New Business:
John Sankey indicated that Westboro has a bike riding and safety program. Perhaps we could do something similar in our area. We would need a sponsor. Would the Councillor have an interest and support this?
Bernie Geiger expressed a long standing concern re safety and the McCarthy Road curve. He suggested a speed board be requested via our Councillor and that traffic calming devices such as speed bumps might slow down speeders. A fence damaged in previous accidents needs repair.
John Sankey and Peter Foulger are concerned that a beaver dam in the Hunt Club Creek was removed by an unknown source. They have contacted the Councillor and the NCC.
Christine Johnson reported that the Federation of Citizens’ Associations support s the initiative of the Ottawa Water Study/Action Group to urge the City of Ottawa to adopt a greener and more sustainable approach by phasing out the sale and use of bottled water in all city premises and at city events.
Christine Johnson also reported on the city response to her inquiries re reducing speed along Hunt Club Road from Cleopatra to Conroy Road to 60 km per hour. The reduction was not supported.

Next meeting is Monday, May 5, 2014, 7. p.m.

Attendees:

• John Sankey President
• Peter Foulger Treasurer
• Peter Brimacombe Secretary
• Steve Long
• Issie Berish
• Marilyn Koch
• Sylva Baroody
• Maria McRae Councillor
• Kamal Ubhi Councillor’s Assistant
• Bernie Geiger
• Al Gullon
• Murray Manley
• Marc Rivard
• Lynda Pedley
• Iga Dzikiewicz
• Richard Lawrence

John Sankey invited people to join the HCCO. He presented the agenda and asked for approval.

Motion: To approve the February 2014 minutes. Moved by Bernie Geiger, seconded by Al Gullon, carried.

DND Lands
The property is a narrow strip of land north of Hunt Club Road between the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club to the west and the backyards of the individual homeowners on Paul Anka Drive to the east. Hunt Club Creek runs down one side of the strip of land.
Richard Lawrence: Sale of the property could take several years. The Canada Land Corporation is in charge of the sale. The Golf Course is interested, the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority is too but it would need donations to take it on and the City of Ottawa is not.
John Sankey: Richard will keep an eye on this issue.

Bus Routes
Bernie Geiger: The 146 bus doesn’t come as often. It used to come every 10 minutes but now it’s only every 15 minutes during rush hour.
Marilyn Koch: Are there any buses in our community coming more often?
John Sankey: No. The 87 goes right by his house.

Councillor’s Report
Maria McRae: Presented the Councillor’s Report. She had asked for a Third-Party Independent Review of the pedestrian bridge over the Airport Parkway. The Review is now complete and she has meet with the Mayor, the City Manager and the City Solicitor. She thanked John Sankey for his advice and professional manner.
Murray Manley: What percentage of City vehicles are green?
Maria McRae: She doesn’t know the exact percentages but there are hybrid-electric buses, and electric Zambonis. The Parking Enforcement cars are hybrid- electric. Conversion to hybrid vehicles is done in the context of vehicle life-cycle.
John Sankey: There is a page on his website that shows how to calculate your carbon dioxide budget.
Al Gullon: Within the automotive industry it is common practice to measure pollution and energy consumption of vehicles from the well to the wheel (well-2-wheel).  For example the fuel consumption and pollution of an all-electric vehicle is not zero but would include the fuel consumed and pollution created both in the production of the fuel and in the generation and delivery of the electricity.
Al Gullon: In the report, composting is now 51.9% of the total. How is the total calculated?
Maria McRae: The figures are for 2013. The percentage is based on tonnages of which the City has a very accurate count.
Al Gullon: Speed boards are devices set up on roads that measure and display the speed of vehicles passing by. He thought that the speed board on McCarthy Road should be in the other direction.
Steve Long: Speeding on Hunt Club Road is a problem. He was going 80 kph and noticed a lot of cars passing him.
Lynda Pedley: She would like a speed board on Paul Anka Drive.
Maria McRae: She thinks that is a good idea. There will be a miniature traffic study on Paul Anka Drive.
Issie Berish: Councillor Wilkinson talks about the traffic counts at the intersection of Hunt Club and Prince of Wales. Why cannot we get traffic counts along Hunt Club?
Maria McRae: City staff told her the counts are not available. She will ask for new counts to be done and make them available to the HCCO.

Treasurer’s Report
Peter Foulger: Presented the Treasurer’s Report.

Newsletter
John Sankey: The March issue is ready to go.

Emergency Measures
Murray Manley: Does the City of Ottawa have an emergency measures plan? He is concerned about a catastrophe such as an earth quake. During the Ice Storm of 1998 he lived in the country and was without power for 14 days.
John Sankey: Ottawa has a large number of very small earth quakes but it’s very unlikely to have a big one. His bigger concern is our vulnerability to a failure in our electrical system. A major point of failure are the electrical sub-stations.
Bernie Geiger: He referred to the City of Ottawa’s Office of Emergency Management.

Next meeting: Monday April 7 at 19:00

Attendees:

• John Sankey, President
• Peter Foulger, Treasurer
• Peter Brimacombe, Secretary
• Fred McLennan
• Kamal Ubhi, Councillor’s Assistant
• Iga Dzikiewicz
• Christine Tausig Ford
• Phil Ford
• Samantha Neeb
• Richard Lawrence
• Dawn Lawrence
• Marc Rivard
• Michelle Ouimet
• Jamie Stewart
• Bernie Geiger
• Vlad Tonkykh
• Al Gullon
• Bethany Hartgerink

John Sankey invited people to join the HCCO. He presented the agenda and asked for approval.

Motion to approve January 2014 minutes
Motion: To approve the January 2014 minutes. Moved by Peter Foulger, seconded by Fred McLennan, carried.

DND Lands
Richard Lawrence: First it was noted that regardless of what the owners thought, they have no rights to the stream property or its usage. There is no such thing as squatters’ rights when it comes to federal land. The usage that everyone currently enjoys was granted by DND and Public Works in 1999 providing the home owners made no further improvements on the strip of land on either side of the stream and that the fence that was installed was honoured. Failing that, they would erect standard seven foot chain link fence with three strand barbed wire along the actual property lines. The result of investigation so far is as follows:

• Federal: no contact was made
• Provincial: no contact was made
• Municipal: despite several attempts to contact our Municipal representative, no information has been forthcoming
• Rideau Valley Conservation Authority: Contact with Chelsey Ellis who stated that the RVCA would probably have little interest in this strip of land because they are usually interested in more important wetlands and would have to come up for the money to purchase and maintain the waterway. They are funded primarily by donations.
• Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club: Mr. Theo Mayer indicated that the Golf Course would be interested in acquiring the land but only if it was not expensive. Their possible uses of the land would be to primarily leave things as they are but that would be subject to discussion with the Board of Directors after any acquisition. They are very open to discussions with the homeowners.
• Nature Conservancy Canada: No contact back from this group.

John Sankey: Presently the Canada Lands Corporation is tasked with disposing of federal land. If it has little value than it will be given to the Federal Public Works Department to dispose of. Public Works has a fixed policy of how to dispose of land: first priority would be federal agencies, next provincial and finally municipal.
Christine Tausig Ford: How do we know that DND is getting rid of the land?
John Sankey: He wrote the Minister of Defence who replied that it is.
Christine Tausig Ford: Yet there is no evidence that the Canada Lands Corporation has an interest. There are many reasons why the land would not be suitable for development. One reason is there are power cables buried under ground for which Hydro has an easement.
Phil Ford: He finds it hard to believe that anyone would have an interest in developing the land.
John Sankey: The City has an interest in the land because Hunt Club Creek is part of storm water management.
Bernie Geiger: He brought a map of the area. He asked if the land behind Boone Crescent was part of the DND land but it isn’t. The worst case scenario would be if the Golf Course acquired the land and then put the whole Golf Course up for sale for development.
Christine Tausig Ford: We need to look at facts and not speculation.
John Sankey: Do the residents agree that Richard Lawrence continue to lead on this issue?
There was general agreement.

Freedom of Information Request
John Sankey: HCCO has asked the City repeatedly for traffic counts along Hunt Club Road but to no avail. Finally he submitted a Freedom of Information request to the City. The answer was there is no data at all.

11 Royal Hunt Court
John Sankey: There is an application for a minor variance at 11 Royal Hunt Club Court. A dozen residents went to City Hall and appeared before the Committee of Adjustment. After a four and a half hour wait, they made their presentation but the Committee decided to give the developer everything he wanted.

Councillor’s Report
Kamal Ubhi distributed two documents: the Councillor’s Report and the Council Member Inquiry Form, subject Traffic Congestion Along Hunt Club Road and Riverside Drive

Treasurer’s Report
Peter Foulger presented the Treasurer’s Report. Money was received from two sponsorships: City of Ottawa (Maria McRae) and Candace Kroeger. Sponsorships approximately cover the cost of the newsletter.

Auction of Tim Horton’s Gift Card
John Sankey received a $50 gift card to Tim Hortons for adopting Uplands Park. He auctioned it off with the proceeds going to the HCCO. Bernie Geiger was the winning bidder.

Bus Routes
Bernie Geiger: The 146 used to come every 10 minutes. It now comes every 15 minutes. Leaving from home you can time your departure but returning from downtown you cannot time connecting routes.
John Sankey: The 87 runs every 15 minutes but on a route schedule downtown he saw that it comes every hour.
Bernie Geiger: The LRT (Light Rail Transit) is the largest infrastructure project in the City Ottawa. There will be major changes to the existing bus facilities and routes. Hurdman Station will be shut down. He has a question to the Councillor: What are the anticipated route changes?

Official name of Hunt Club Creek
Motion: The HCCO calls the described creek Hunt Club Creek. Description: The Hunt Club Creek flows north from the DND property across Hunt Club Road, through the Golf Course. It then flows westwards into the Rideau River. Hackett Pond is a part of it. Moved by John Sankey, seconded by Al Gullon, carried.

Ecology Ottawa
Marc Rivard Ecology Ottawa is organizing workshops to promote reducing the carbon footprint of the community.
Al Gullon: He published a scientific paper that examined the cause of increased CO₂ in the atmosphere. Whether it was caused anthropogenically or through increased solar radiation. His conclusion was that it was caused by increased solar radiation. He will make his report available. Still he is very interested in promoting energy conservation.
John Sankey: He is also a scientist and he argues that the increased CO₂ is caused by human activity.
Motion: The HCCO supports Ecology Ottawa’s initiative to outreach to homeowners. Moved by Marc Rivard, seconded by Al Gullon, carried.

Arterial Roads, Hunt Club Road
John Sankey: Two views on the future of Hunt Club Road have emerged. It has been the view of the Board that Hunt Club Road is an arterial road, that through traffic be allowed to flow along it as smoothly as possible and as a corollary that local roads be protected from traffic. He has written an article: http://www.johnsankey.ca/arterials.html The other view is that Hunt Club Road be redesigned so that people feel safe walking beside it and crossing it. Since the two Board members who advocate the second view are not present tonight there will be discussion but no vote.
Bernie Geiger: Work on the 417/Hunt Club interchange is underway and may be complete this summer. When complete it will bring significant increase in traffic, especially truck traffic. The obvious question is “should Hunt Club Road be widened?”.
Peter Foulger: America does arterial roads better. They are better separated from community roads and the traffic flows more smoothly along them. Traffic flow on Hunt Club Road is hampered by too many traffic lights and the presence of malls that are too close. The best way to move cars is to have roads where the traffic flows smoothly. The present congestion on Hunt Club Road is caused by extra traffic from outlying areas.
Al Gullon: The bottlenecks are the two interchanges Hunt Club/Riverside and Hunt Club/Prince Of Wales. The solution is to elevate two lanes in each direction so that traffic can pass over the River without interference from turning traffic.
John Sankey: That would cost in the ballpark of $150 million.

Next meeting: Monday, March 3 at 19:00

Attendees:

• John Sankey, President
• Peter Foulger, Treasurer
• Peter Brimacombe, Secretary
• Christine Johnson
• Steve Long
• Issie Berish
• Marilyn Koch
• Sylva Baroody
• Kamal Ubhi, Councillor’s Assistant
• Denis Aubin
• Steve Martin
• Bernie Geiger
• Donna Allen
• Ralph Harrison
• Claude Paul Boivin
• Lynda Pedley
• Glenn MacCrimmon
• Judy Kelley
• Gordon Sexton
• Doris Yee
• Iga Dzikiewicz
• Richard Lawrence
• Dawn Lawrence
• Eileen Lalonde
• Chanel Boucher
• Peter Lidington
• Julian Taylor
• Gary Guzzo

John Sankey presented the agenda. The major item is the disposal of the DND property. The property is a narrow strip of land north of Hunt Club Road between the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club to the west and the backyards of the individual homeowners on Paul Anka Drive to the east. Hunt Club Creek runs down one side of the strip of land. Hunt Club Creek is described at this link: http://www.johnsankey.ca/hccreek.html
He asked if there are any other items.
Bernie Geiger: There is the issue of reduced bus service – in particular route 146.

DND Lands
John Sankey: To dispose of the land, DND must first transfer it to the Canada Lands Corporation (CLC). CLC does not deal with individual property owners. There are four options:

1. persuade a public entity, such as the City of Ottawa or the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, to take over the land,
2. form a land trust, perhaps under the Nature Conservancy of Canada, to manage the land in the interests of adjacent property owners,
3. hire a real estate broker to buy the land then distribute it to individual homeowners, and
4. work with the golf course for them to buy the land with access for homeowners.

He invited the homeowners to express their views. If there is a consensus then the HCCO can represent them.
Richard Lawrence: He is a homeowner that abuts the property. DND put up the existing fence to exclude the public from Hunt Club Creek. It is to the west of the property lines of the homeowners so the effect is to give them a bigger backyard.
John Sankey: Portions of the Creek are not well maintained. He doubts that the golf course would want to take on the maintenance of the Creek. The HCCO has status under the Stream Watcher program of the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority.
Richard Lawrence: After the 1998 ice storm, the homeowners complained about the state of the Creek. After some discussion, DND put up the existing page wire fence. It’s to the west of the homeowners’ property line.
Denis Aubin: DND has maintained the area. He did find junk but the contractors working for DND have cleaned it up. A lot of good has happened. Another option is to maintain the area as is.
John Sankey: “As is” is not an option. Any of these options could be pursued if there is a consensus of abutting homeowners. The City already owns 2 sections along the Creek where the public is allowed.
Judy Kelley: There are so many trees on her side of the Creek that it would be difficult to put a path along it.
John Sankey: On the other side, most of the trees are quite small.
Bernie Geiger: The golf course has acquired more land. They could buy this land to expand and protect the golf course. Canada Lands Corporation has to sell for the highest price. What is the zoning?
John Sankey: It doesn’t have zoning because it is federal land.
Lynda Pedley: She is not clear on the difference between public and private partnerships.
John Sankey: The City and the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority are two public bodies. The City can buy and maintain the land within its existing budget. The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority cannot. It would have to have extra funds to buy and maintain the land. The Nature Conservancy is a private body. Private bodies have more flexibility. For example if the City bought the land, it would be a public park and the public would have access to it. The Nature Conservancy could allow or exclude the public.
Bernie Geiger: If some homeowners buy the property but some don’t then the ones that don’t would have the same benefits as the ones that do.
Julian Taylor: The likelihood of all property owners buying the land is low.
Gary Guzzo: The Hunt Club Golf Course believes it owns the property. The Creek is a municipal ditch, the municipality should be responsible.
John Sankey: He does not sense a consensus among the homeowners. Richard Lawrence is a homeowner who has knowledge and experience with the management of this land. Is there agreement among the homeowners to have Richard lead in following up this issue?
There was general agreement.

Motion to approve December 2013 minutes
Motion: To approve the December 2013 minutes. Moved by Issie Berish, seconded by Sylva Baroody, carried.
Christine Johnson: She would like to receive all draft meeting minutes even when she is not able to attend a meeting.

Councillor’s Report
Kamal Ubhi distributed the Councillor’s report:

Newsletter
Christine Johnson drew the winner of the free pizza: Jinzhao Wang
John Sankey: Reported that four articles have already been submitted and three sponsors secured for the March issue.

Treasurer’s Report
Peter Foulger presented the Treasurer’s Report. There were two new sponsors of the newsletter: City of Ottawa (Maria McRae) and the Legislative Assembly of Ontario (John Fraser).

Traffic
John Sankey: Jerry Beausoleil has been trying to get traffic statistics from the City. Jerry is busy with family matters so John Sankey is trying to get them. He has asked for the traffic box data along Hunt Club Road under the Freedom of Information rules.
Lynda Pedley: Can we have traffic lights at Paul Anka and Uplands?
John Sankey: It’s a question of warrants. It’s definitely a possibility.
Al Gullon: He is an engineer who is an expert in traffic. The Shared Space is an urban design approach which we should follow
John Sankey: Pointed to his own paper on arterial roads and invited people who had other views to prepare their own position paper.

Minor Variance
John Sankey: There is an application for a minor zoning variance at 11 Royal Hunt Club Court. The Committee of Adjustment is scheduled to hear this matter on January 15, 2014.

Next meeting: Monday, February 3 at 19:30.

Attendees:

• John Sankey, President
• Peter Foulger, Treasurer
• Peter Brimacombe, Secretary
• Fred McLennan
• Steve Long
• Issie Berish
• Marilyn Koch
• Sylva Baroody
• Kamal Ubhi, Councillor’s Office

John Sankey asked for approval of the agenda.

Minutes
Motion: To approve the October minutes. Moved by Fred McLennan, seconded by Marilyn Koch, carried.
Motion: To approve the November minutes. Moved by Fred McLennan, seconded by Sylva Baroody, carried.
Issie Berish: He would like to get the minutes even though he is not at the meeting.
Peter Foulger, Marilyn Koch, Sylva Baroody, John Sankey and Steve Long said the same thing.
Peter Brimacombe: Will do.

Councillor’s Report
Kamal Ubhi presented the Councillor’s report: He wished everyone happy holidays, Merry Christmas. The first item was the speed boards. They are signs which display the speed of vehicles as they pass by.
John Sankey: He would like to get detailed reports from the speed boards, whatever they are.
Steve Long: He would like to see the speed on Hunt Club Road reduced. The present speed is 60 but it’s not enforced. It’s not safe for bicyclists nor for pedestrians. Outside rush hour, traffic is going 80.
John Sankey: Speed and traffic on Hunt Club Road will be an item on the January agenda.
Steve Long: Councillor Diane Deans put together a meeting on the recent assaults and robberies in her ward. Does Councillor Maria McRae have any meetings planned?

Newsletter
Issie Berish: Distribution of the December issue of the newsletter is almost complete – 52 out of 81 routes. The route lists have been reorganized and seems to be working well. There are 3 routes without volunteers: Uplands, Paul Anka and Shearwater Court. (Marilyn Koch, Sylva Baroody and John Sankey took them.)
Marilyn Koch: What do we do when we see a ‘no junk mail’ sign?
Issie Berish: Don’t deliver them. Sometimes they are delivered anyway but no one has complained.

Financial Report
Peter Foulger presented the Financial Report. The major expense is the publication of the newsletter but this is balanced by its sponsorships. The term account at the Alterna Bank is due in April 2014 when the money will be available.
Issie Berish: Are there any proposals to spend this money?
John Sankey: He will be listening attentively to any proposals.

Next meeting: Monday January 6, 2014 at 19:00

Attendees:

• John Sankey, President
• Peter Foulger, Treasurer
• Peter Brimacombe, Secretary
• Christine Johnson
• Fred McLennan
• Marilyn Koch
• Michael Dunlop
• Janice McLean
• Andy Yee
• Leslie Saunders
• Theresa Yan
• Paul McRae
• Marc Rivard
• Robert Dussault
• Maria McRae, Councillor
• Kent Kirkpatrick, City Manager
• Nancy Schepers, City Deputy Manager
• Carina Duclos, Manager Infrastructure Services

John Sankey: He asked everyone to introduce themselves. He presented the agenda and asked for approval.

Minutes
Motion: To approve the September minutes. Moved by Peter Foulger, seconded by Fred McLennan, carried.
John Sankey: From the previous minutes: Does the City charge for the commercial shopping carts that it collects?
Maria McRae: No it doesn’t. There is a new by-law which is now in effect.

Pedestrian bridge over the Airport Parkway
Maria McRae: The most pressing business is the pedestrian bridge over the Airport Parkway so she discussed only briefly other items in the Councillor’s Report. She brought three City staff to the meeting to address the issue of the bridge and asked to preside over their presentations. Her role is to hold everyone accountable. The City Manager Kent Kirkpatrick is responsible for delivery of this project. In order to protect the City’s interest there will be legal action. Public discussion is constrained as a result. She has asked for a third-party arms-length review of the project.
Fred McLennan: Does this review involve a change in the bridge design?
Nancy Schepers: There are two independent reviews now underway: the first is a review of the bridge design. This review is strictly an engineering analysis of the existing structure with the goal of designing the completion of the bridge and a contract has been awarded to Delcan to complete it. The Delcan review should be ready by the end of November. The second review is a third-party review of the internal decisions and processes and will be presented to Councillor McRae and Mayor Jim Watson and to the FEDCO Committee of Council.
John Sankey: The bridge consists of a deck attached to a tower. Usual practice is to attach the deck to the tower by cables. Instead the design calls for rigid stays. He was unable to find any other bridge like this.
Nancy Schepers: Delcan is completing an engineering review of the existing built elements with the goal of completing the design.
Leslie Saunders: So the process review is separate from the Delcan review? It’s a debacle. Why should there be such a fancy design? She would like to see it finished.
Nancy Schepers: The final bridge must be fully functional and be able to be maintained with minimum cost as part of the City’s infrastructure.
Leslie Saunders: Right now construction is stopped so can we expect everything to stay as is?
Nancy Schepers: Yes
Maria McRae: There were many open houses where input from the community was solicited. A common theme was that the bridge should express its role as a gateway to the City. There is a 2010 report which summarizes these open houses. She and city staff are trying to move the project along. The design must meet the City’s life-cycle expectations.
Leslie Saunders: At least she knows that Nancy Schepers and Kent Kirkpatrick are responsible. There is also the Strandherd Bridge which is a mess.
Kent Kirkpatrick: There are three factors which have impeded progress: a design concern, the supply of the concrete and staff performance. We were late in identifying problems in the construction and concerns about the design. We need to look at the processes. The project has failed to meet any reasonable expectation. Construction on the bridge has been halted and must wait for the Delcan review to be restarted. On Strandherd-Armstrong Bridge, problem was the contractor going bankrupt. Mr. Kirkpatrick acknowledged it has taken a long time to get the Strandherd-Armstrong Bridge project restarted. He apologizes on behalf of the City. On Airport Bridge, Councillor McRae was the first one to bring concerns to our attention. She has made us responsible.
John Sankey: There seems to be no recognition that Ottawa residents with relevant training could alert officials about problems. He knew of the problems but there was no route for his warnings.
Kent Kirkpatrick: We will consider them in the future.
Michael Dunlop: Everyone in Ottawa is aware of the project. He would like to thank Councillor McRae and city staff for making it a priority.
Maria McRae: She expects to receive the Delcan review by the end of November. The second review is a third-party review of the internal decisions and processes and will be presented to Councillor McRae and Mayor Jim Watson and to the FEDCO Committee of Council. The speed limit on the Airport Parkway has to stay at 60 kph because of the form work.
Nancy Schepers: The Delcan report is subject to legal review. Delcan will redo the design and then the City will approach Bray construction to complete it.
Christine Johnson: She appreciates the presentation by the three city staff. She would like to thank John Sankey who watched over this project so carefully.
John Sankey: He expressed his thanks to Kent Kirkpatrick, Carina Duclos and Nancy Schepers for their presentations tonight.

Newsletter
Christine Johnson: There are six sponsors for the December issue. She is waiting for confirmation on two articles. She would like to publish a question that invokes community involvement. Which question would be the best:
? who is responsible for keeping the walkway between the sidewalk and your house clear of snow?
? Do you use the green bin, when and how often?
John Sankey: On the green bin, he did his own study: 30% of residences on Uplands use the green bin but 100% on Rhapsody Lane use them. We should use Rhapsody Lane’s example to encourage others. He feels the city advertising could be more effective.

Treasurer’s Report
Peter Foulger: Presented the Treasurer’s Report. He must pay suppliers connected with the newsletter and there is just barely enough money from the sponsorships. He would like a float to better manage the account. John Sankey has loaned the HCCO $500 to cover the cost of printing our newsletter when payment for sponsorships has not been received in time to coincide with our payment for the printing.
Motion: The HCCO accepts a loan of $500.00 from John Sankey which would be repaid from the Alterna term deposit due April 2014. Moved by Peter Foulger, seconded by Christine Johnson, carried.

Windsor Park
Leslie Saunders: She lives in the Windsor Park area. The area is south of Hunt Club Road, west of the Airport Parkway and east of Uplands Drive. It is in Diane Deans’ ward. Leslie Saunders would like to join the Hunt Club Community Organization. She has contacted Diane Deans and would like her blessing.
Christine Johnson: That would be a perfect fit! Windsor Park is right next to Wisteria which has already joined the HCCO. There are many similarities.
Maria McRae: The interests of Windsor Park align with the HCCO. For example redevelopment of Hunt Club impacts the traffic on both sides of the Road.

Annual General Meeting
John Sankey: The next meeting Monday November 4 will be our Annual General Meeting. Fred McLennan will conduct selection of the Board.

Paul Landry Park
Peter Foulger: Reported on the clean-up: Turnout was light with only three people attending.  The tally was 12 bags of garbage, another bag of recyclables plus two smaller bags of metal items.  The worst areas are the two hangout sites.  The one in the centre of the park is on an eroded rock outcrop that has many crevices.   It’s impossible to clean up the broken glass that has fallen down the crevices.  In addition brush has been piled up for campfires.  The other problem area is along the north side where residents of the townhouses are dumping trash, sweepings, dead shrubs and waste gravel at the entry points.  Several heavy items left over from last year remain to be picked up on the south side near the midpoint of the trail: an old doghouse and a roof truss.  The City-supplied kit includes plastic gloves that are very small and not suitable for the broken glass we encounter.   The kit doesn’t have enough small Glad bags but has too many yard waste bags.
Christine Johnson: Paul Landry Park is located on Uplands Drive east of Paul Anka Drive. It connects the Metro Plaza with Uplands Drive. The HCCO has adopted the Park and we have cleaned it up. She sees Paul Landry Park as a mini Central Park. She thinks the Park could be spruced up. People should feel comfortable and safe to use it. She is looking for support to improve it particularly grant money.
Maria McRae: The Park extends to the Metro Plaza. She agrees that people should feel comfortable and safe in it.
Marilyn Koch: She was part of a group that recently cleaned up the Park. There were beer bottles and the usual garbage.