Minutes of Meeting 1 October 2012

Attendees:

John Sankey: Passed out the agenda and asked for its approval.

Motion: To approve the September minutes as amended. Moved by Peter Brimacombe, seconded by Peter Foulger, carried.

John Sankey: We have applied to adopt three parks. On Uplands Park, John Sankey is the lead; on Erin Crescent, Christine Johnson is the lead; on Paul Landry Park, Peter Foulger is the lead. Christine is also looking at the overall picture.
Christine Johnson: She wants to clean up the area around Sawmill Creek west of Bank Street and north of Hunt Club but the area is not in our ward and it is not officially designated as a park.
Nicole Espenant: She noted that Liz Russell has already adopted McCarthy Road, Plante Drive and Owl Park. The Gateway Program may allow for official recognition of Christine's effort to clean up the area around Sawmill Creek.
Christine Johnson: Someone has sprayed graffiti on a sign near the path from Twyford to Metro Plaza.
John Sankey: Report it to Service Ottawa

John Sankey: We have asked Marie McRae a number of questions and I would like to go over them tonight. First question, the HCCO passed a motion to restrict left hand turns from T&T onto Hunt Club. What is the status?
Nicole Espenant: The Councillor is working with staff and will have a response soon.
John Sankey: Next question. Do we have the traffic counts on Hunt Club/Riverside and Hunt Club/Prince of Wales?
Jerry Beausoleil: This question was raised over a year ago. Volume of traffic has steadily increased along Hunt Club, ambulances and other emergency vehicles are delayed, traffic is taking Uplands to bypass Hunt Club, extra traffic on Uplands causes safety concerns on Uplands. The City's response was delayed because a key staff member was occupied with the Lansdowne appeal. A junior staff engineer said that if you considered the two intersections Hunt Club/Riverside and Hunt Club/Prince of Wales as one spot, it was the number 1 accident spot in the City.
Nicole Espenant: The question was raised before she started working for the Councillor. Even so, there has not been enough communication and we will work to to answer your questions. There is a new Transportation Master Plan (TMP) and this should be the target of our efforts.
Jerry Beausoleil: We are impacted by the worsening traffic conditions on Hunt Club Road but we are not in the 5 year plan. We hope the Strandherd Bridge will help but City staff doubt that it will. 2030 is the earliest date when something may be done. Staff have said that they do adjust the timing on traffic lights according to the volume.
John Sankey: There are a few small things that can be done to improve the intersections of Hunt Club/Riverside and Hunt Club/Prince of Wales. The traffic volumes and problems will become more pressing next year when the 417 will connect directly to Hunt Club Road.
Nicole Espenant: The Transportation Master Plan refresh will allow these new ideas to be considered.
Gisèle Loiselle: When emergency vehicles turn on their flashing lights to clear the traffic ahead of them, drivers don't seem to know what to do. For example they don't know what lane to be in and they don't know if they should stop.
John Sankey: Another question: Neighbours have asked him what is the environmental justification for constructing the approaches to the bridge out of big plastic blocks?
Nicole Espenant: The designer Genivar made the decision. She will ask.
John Sankey: Another question: In the last meeting, we asked what is the process to ask for a library branch in our community?
Nicole Espenant: We are the only ward in the City without a branch. Councillor McRae has worked to get a kiosk in the expanded Community Centre. A new branch does not appear to be a priority of the present Council.
John Sankey: So the process is to go to the Councillor and the Library Board where Councillor Jan Harder is the Head.
Christine Johnson: I appreciate the kiosk but there should be a library branch within walking distance, it is something we should keep at the forefront. The kiosk is not really that convenient.
John Sankey: Christine is a former principal and has first hand experience in how reading is encouraged and fostered. In one small way, it should be easy to improve the co-ordination between the Greenboro Library Branch and the Kiosk in the Community Centre. Greenboro delivers books to the Kiosk on Wednesday but prepares the delivery on Thursday so requests are delayed unnecessarily.

Motion: That the HCCO make getting a public library branch in our community a priority. Moved by Christine Johnson, seconded by Jerry Beausoleil.
John Sankey: Most of the material in the Library is copyrighted and so it is not available on the internet.
Issie Berish: Council can provide more direction on how the Library can be accessed. His daughter goes to Bayview where the Bookmobile stops. It's an excellent service.
Vote on motion: carried.

John Sankey: Another question: What is the process to request a new park? The first criterion is that the property be owned by the City.
Nicole Espenant: The request should be sent to the Councillor who then requests the opinion of staff. The HCCO has sent three requests to Councillor McRae. She has forwarded them to City staff.
John Sankey: Another question: What is the construction south of the Days Inn on Hunt Club Road?
Nicole Espenant: It's not the Airport Authority. She will follow up with City staff.
John Sankey: Another question: We have tried to promote the idea of a waste container at bus stops provided that a near-by owner adopt it. What does this idea stand?
Nicole Espenant: Waste containers were removed because some households were putting their household garbage out at them. Also there were problems with people walking their dogs putting dog poop in them. The Councillor is meeting with John Manconi, Head of OC Transpo, she will raise the issue then.

Christine Johnson: Marilyn Koch organized a clean-up last Thursday. There were nine ladies from the Aerobics Class, they met at the Community Centre, from there three went down McCarthy to Hunt Club, three went down Paul Anka to Hunt Club and three went down Uplands to Hunt Club. They collected nine bags of garbage not including the cans and bottles they put in blue boxes along the way.
Gisèle Loiselle: The City should clean up the leaves before winter sets in so that in the spring there is no blockage because of them.
John Sankey: If there are specific problems report them to the City.

Christine Johnson: She and Issie Berish have been working on ideas for a community newsletter: we could have articles on the community association (HCCO), progress on adopting Paul Landry Park and the other parks. A library branch in our community, news from the schools. We could showcase members and community groups. Ideas for a banner: "HC Views", "HC Review", "It's Happening in HC".

John Sankey: Next meeting will be our Annual General Meeting: November 5 at 19:00.