Attendees:
Regional Councillor, Wendy Stewart, reported on the following: Hunt Club Road/Airport Parkway interchange (see below), OC Transpo bus service (see below), SOGRAT report (see below), Bowesville Road (see below), Traffic calming along McCarthy Rd (see below). Call Wendy's office for more information.
City Ward 0T8 Councillor, Karin Howard, reported on the following: McCarthy Woods (see below), Alta Vista greenway corridor (see below), Development along the Hunt Club side of the Rideau River (see below), The City has made spending cuts and therefore managed not to raise taxes. These cuts will begin to take effect later this year. For city-related issues, call Karin's office.
On/off ramps at Hunt Club and the Airport Parkway: Full interchange at Hunt Club and Airport Parkway is the only system expansion project to be included in the budget, and is confirmed by Region for earliest implementation. Such an interchange would lessen the traffic on Riverside, Bank St., Brookfield and any other roads now being used by commuters. The Region is now in the process of obtaining funds to go ahead with the surveying, planning, and construction. Call Peter Vasdi for more information.
Better bus service: Discussed results of public meeting held 31 Jan about 100 people attended that meeting. Non-peak hour services for routes 87, 146, and 8 are to be changed. Peak hour services will not change at this time, but will be evaluated in Nov 96. OCT transit forum (for the public) scheduled 9am-3:30pm Sat 10 Feb in Champlain Rm at Regional HQ 111 Lisgar. OCT public hearing scheduled on 20 Mar in Champlain Rm to make decisions on revising transit routes. Call Nancy Seaby for more information.
Medical and other resource center for the Hunt Club area: Gloucester is suggesting to share cost and put up a center around Sawmill Creek. South Ottawa Gloucester Resource Action Team (SOGRAT) meeting was held 18 Dec. Report to be presented at 3:00 p.m. 7 Mar in Champlain Rm. Call Ann Brandel or Fred McLennan for more information.
Open/closing Bowesville Road: Current feeling and recommendation is that it should stay open. Transportation Committee public hearing date set, 7 Feb at 1:30pm. Corporate Services Committee for the land sale (property report) on 20 Feb. Both the hearing results and report to be considered jointly by City council on 28 Feb. Call Alan Asselstine for more information.
Speeding and property damage as a result of cars going out of control along McCarthy south of the railway lines: Road is City's jurisdiction; therefore Region can only police the road and make recommendations. City needs to escalate issue in writing to Region before Region can initiate a traffic study. Regional police (as per Superintendent Devon Fermoyle) continue to monitor and enforce speed limits. Additional suggestions to calm/direct traffic: Because the NCC has had to repair their fence several times due to car damage, it may be more effective to spend that money on putting a guardrail between the sidewalk and the road, installing a flashing beacon, and/or putting in a sidewalk along the west side of McCarthy. Call Art Miskew for more information.
Protecting our green space: The new Z2020 zoning still splits McCarthy Woods (an environmentally sensitive zone) in half: north half as light industrial, and south part as recreational. Although we have verbal assurances from the Region and the City that the area is protected in other ways, the paper support does not exist. Fred McLennan is writing a letter to the City on our behalf. Open house and meeting to be held 6:30-9pm 26 Feb at the Carleton Heights Community Centre 1665 Apeldoorn Ave. Heron-Walkley greenway corridor lands in Alta Vista: There is a land trade being negotiated between the Region, City, and NCC in order to protect the green areas around Alta Vista, the tradeoff being to protect forested areas at the expense of the greenway corridor connecting those forested areas with the green spaces in Hunt Club. There seems to be a conflicting interpretation of what a greenway corridor is intended to be: a pathway for animals to move more freely vs. a pathway along which humans can cycle and walk. Need to interact with AVERT the Alta Vista environmental lobby group so that their requirements are balanced against ours. Open house for the public being held 2-6pm followed by a public meeting 7-9pm in Ellwood Hall at the Jim Durrell Recreation Centre 19 Feb. Call Bill Royds for more information.
Development along the Hunt Club side of the Rideau River: The amount and variety of development being proposed for this area is very much in progress, and too complex for Karin Howard to negotiate on her own. She would like to set up a team of interested people from our area to monitor this development and provide her with advice. If we are interested in having any input (and control) over this, we need to supply the people. Retrofitting a community after the fact is always more expensive than exerting an effort ahead of time to build for the future. Call Karin Howard's office for more information.
Concerns of the Uplands on the Rideau community: They have problems with unidentified people dumping garbage along the road that leads from Riverside Road to their community by the Rideau River. If this happens again, they should contact the Region IMMEDIATELY, and the Region will send inspectors to the area. They need a better, safer road from their community to Riverside, especially when turning from the community road onto Riverside. Call Roy Melbourne for more information.
Library facilities for our area: The bookmobile is still in place for the moment. Some discussion about the pro's and con's of accepting cigarette and alcohol company advertising dollars in ventures like this. Perhaps graded library cards and user fees could be implemented? Call Alan Asselstine for more information.
Stop sign at Cahill and Plante, a traffic calming measure: After several years of negotiation, this has been put in. Bus stops may need to be moved as a result. Call Fred McLennan for more information.
Report on Confederation Heights stormwater committee and questionnaire: That part of the Rideau River is the best muskie spawning area on the Rideau and is ecologically sensitive with rare plants, etc. Ironically, Confederation Heights is the greatest polluter along the Rideau River, with most of the chemical pollution coming from the parking lots. There is a need to reconfigure the parking lots to minimize stormwater runoff into the river. Perhaps some of this water need not drain directly into pipes leading into the river, but could be channeled into holding ponds and other slowing/filtering mechanisms. It is very difficult to get money and resources to stop this kind of pollution after construction has been completed; however, in order to protect the Rideau at this point some pollution protection needs to be implemented. Call Bill Royds for more information.
Next HCCO meeting is Mon 5 Mar at 7:30 p.m. at the Hunt Club Riverside Community Centre at the corner of Paul Anka and McCarthy. Anyone is welcome. Call Fred McLennan for more information.