Attendees:
John Sankey: Presented the agenda and asked for approval.
Motion: To approve the February minutes. Moved by Christine Johnson, seconded by Steve Long, carried.
Almeera Ismail: Presented the Councillor's Report.
Christine Johnson: Presented an update on the newsletter Hunt Club Our Community. A draft of the April edition is ready. She asked for volunteers to distribute the newsletter in Wisteria. There are 164 households and the newsletter is sent out four times a year. Steve Long said he would help.
Motion: To approve an approximate cost of $630 to print the newsletter. $600 to be offset by sponsorships. Moved by Christine Johnson, seconded by Marilyn Koch, carried.
Peter Foulger: Presented the Treasurer's Report. The expense of printing the quarterly newsletter is roughly $630 of which $600 is matched by income from sponsorships.
Christine Johnson: The Federation of Citizens Associations has put forward four points on the Official Plan:
John Sankey: There are three shifts in population that affect development in Ottawa:
shift to single parent families;
shift to urban areas from rural; and
shift in immigration to Muslim and Asian instead of European, John Ibbitson has chronicled this change.
Peter Brimacombe: The Southern Corridor is the largest vacant section of land in Ottawa apart from the Central Experimental Farm. Talk of higher densities and better energy efficiency has to include the Southern Corridor. It has to be and will be developed.
Christine Johnson: Ottawa is a hodge podge. There is no consensual vision.
John Sankey: Ottawa is a collection of different cities that have grown into each other. The OMB (Ontario Municipal Board) favours developers. It is killing us.
John Sankey: Including Wisteria, there are eight parks in our boundaries. Three have been adopted:
the HCCO has adopted Paul Landry Park;
John Sankey has adopted Uplands Park; and
Liz Russell has adopted Owl Park.
The minimum requirement to adopt a park is to do a clean-up in the spring and the fall. Riverwood Park in Quintera and Wisteria Park could be adopted by one person. Three parks, McCarthy, Cahill and Riverside-Uplands, would be too big a project for one person.
There are two separate programs to protect the rivers and streams in the City. Stream Watch is a City program which uses City resources to clean up and protect the streams. The Constructed Wetlands just to the east of the Airport Parkway is an example of a City program. The other program is Adopt a Stream which is run by the Rideau Valley Conservation Program. Christine Johnson wants to take care of Sawmill Creek between Dazé and Hunt Club but her project is not part of either program.
Theresa Hendricks: How are skating rinks in the parks organized?
John Sankey: There are two ways:
the City pays part-time help to prepare and maintain the ice. The skating and hockey rinks at Owl and McCarthy Park are maintained in this way;
unpaid volunteers prepare and maintain the ice. The skating rink at Uplands Park is maintained in this way.
A City 1-1/2 inch water pipe is used at Owl and McCarthy, a neighbour's 1/2 inch outdoor tap is used at Uplands. Household hoses are inadequate for any but the smallest puddle rink.
Next meeting: Monday April 8 at 19:00