Minutes of Meeting 3 February 2014

Attendees:

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:

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