Minutes of Meeting 4 March 1996

Attendees:

Regional Councillor, Wendy Stewart, reported on the following: Regional budget. Hunt Club residents to pay $9 less in regional taxes this year (1996). Mill rate, which determines how much of the tax dollar is allocated to what, was adjusted to lessen the impact of current and future changes on those least able to adjust. Personal accountability. First year in office has concluded. Complete statements (financial and otherwise) are available from Wendy's office. OC Transpo bus service (see below). Traffic calming along McCarthy Rd (see below) Hunt Club Road/Airport Parkway interchange (see below). SOGRAT report (see below). Bowesville Road (see below). Garbage and recycling. Regionalization of garbage collection and recycling program predicts $6 million saved. Blue box recycling to be expanded to include plastic, other kinds of paper, aluminum, paint, etc. Collection rate to become weekly. Improving life in downtown Ottawa (core area), with focus on transportation. New newsletter, Restore the Core - March issue available, next issue to be published in April. Fuel tax/license plate fee increase. Seeking representative to OC Regional Housing Authority for 2-year term. Options '96 report card (see below). Call Wendy's office for more information.

City Ward 0T8 Councillor, Karin Howard, reported on the following: Traffic calming along McCarthy Rd (see below) Wading pools and outdoor rinks. Petition being circulated by Robin Sobrino re wading pool at Owl Dr. Karin to attend a meeting at the HCRRA at 7:30 p.m. on 20 Mar to discuss issue. Karin is organizing group of concerned citizens to keep rinks and pools open. Draft Z2020 zoning bylaw (see below). Bowesville Road (see below). Development along the Hunt Club side of the Rideau River (see below). Alta Vista greenway corridor (see below). Pedestrian advance sign recommended at corner of Killdeer Bay and Cahill Dr. W. Distribution of our tax dollar. School boards get 51%, Region 34%, City 15%. 3 greatest loads on City tax portion are fire/emergency services 3.2%, maintenance 3.5%, and debt 2.7%. 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. Region submitted staff report to Transportation Committee on 6 Mar. Decision on funding is still to be made. Land agreement with NCC to be scheduled asap. HCCO passed a motion to support the ramps. 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 at 3 pm on 20 Mar in Champlain Rm to make decisions on revising transit routes. Wendy (RMOC) to submit several recommendations (available) regarding proposed route changes. Wendy (RMOC) supports Nancy's call to Council (Chair Peter Clark) for a full public audit and value audit of OCT. Call Nancy Seaby for more information.

Medical and other community resource center (CRC) for the Hunt Club area: Hunt Club (R8) is the only area in the region that does not have such a resource center. RMOC agrees to allot sustainable funding for a new CRC as soon as fiscally conceivable. 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. RMOC to allocate partial interim funding to SOGRAT in partnership with South East Ottawa Community Health Centre (SEOCHC) and the GCCR in order to ensure that critical programs and services are offered in our area. HCCO passed motion to write letter to Chris Cavan to support their efforts in this area. Call Ann Brandel or Fred McLennan for more information.

Open/closing Bowesville Road: On 28 Feb, RMOC voted to close road. HCCO passed motion to continue monitoring the road to ensure that the Hunt Club Golf Club continues to meet its obligations re ensuring that closure does not affect cyclists, pedestrians, or emergency vehicles. Concern that, with Bowesville Road closed, those living in Hunt Club Place will have further to go to be able to get to Bank Street. On 5 Mar, RMOC passed motion to sell portions of the land around Bowesville Rd. to the Hunt Club golf course. Call Alan Asselstine for more information.

Turning from Hunt Club Place onto Hunt Club Road: Those living on Hunt Club Place can't turn left (east) onto Hunt Club Road to go towards Bank St., but must do a U turn or loop around through Riverside/Uplands Road. Although only two houses are affected at the moment, a small number of houses will be built there in the future, and will have the same problem. Call Tryfon Constantinou for more information.

8. Options 96 is composed of some 200 contact people and represents some 8 organizations, including the Federation of Citizens' Associations (FCA): They scrutinize budgets and other government commitments (usually federal and provincial) and assess and the impact, and judge the results, of those commitments on the Region and the City. Their council report card, which was rather negative regarding the Region, was directed at how the Region redistributed the tax savings and the impact of that redistribution. These items are now being discussed by the parties involved. Wendy's 4 Mar 96 letter to HCCO (cc'd to the Federation of Citizens' Association (FCA) attempts to clarify some of these points. Archie Campbell, Chair of FCA's budget committee, plans to respond to this letter. Wendy's office has FAXed a copy of their 4 Mar report to the HCCO, which addresses the distribution of the tax savings. Archie has offered to send a representative to one of our meetings to introduce themselves and their role. Next outreach meeting for Options 96 takes place 16 Apr. Call Archie Campbell 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. City is looking at enhancing the salting during winter, reviewing the elevations and curves, considering high-friction pavement, extending the sidewalk on the west side (funding not available in 1996), adding indicators. Call Art Miskew for more information.

Protecting our green spaces - Z2020 bylaw: 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. Z2020/Z bylaw to be finalized before City's Natural Open Spaces study is completed, meaning that areas now designated as environmentally sensitive will not be zoned that way and if and when they are, the zoning changes will need to be added to the bylaw as amendments. Although the current version of the bylaw, published Nov 95, is a valiant 300-page attempt to describe it all, it has been criticized by many (results of Carleton Heights Community Centre open house on 26 Feb) as not being thorough enough. City has the option of living with and justifying current draft, or spending the additional resources to draft an update. The ability of the City to begin and to complete the implementation of the bylaw depends directly on the City's ability to fund and conduct the surveys necessary to establish the boundaries of any zoning changes specified in the new bylaw. It could take years before all the surveying is completed. Therefore it may not be necessary to finalize all of the bylaw before the such funding and surveying activities are completed. Perhaps the process of finalizing and implementing the bylaw could be phased to keep pace with the City's ability to implement it: bylaw x - general principles first, bylaw x+1 - certain important areas next, bylaw x+n - finally all the detailed rest? Sue Taylor of Coady Coop has invited Anna Hercz, who is doing an environmental study of McCarthy Woods and area, to talk at our next HCCO meeting. It was emphasized that McCarthy Woods without its surrounding meadows would become a dead forest and lose its environmental significance. HCCO motion passed to support Karin in her bid to get City to postpone the date of bylaw approval. Call Bill Royds for more information.

Protecting our green spaces - 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 held in Ellwood Hall at the Jim Durrell Recreation Centre 19 Feb was attended by some 150 people, many of whom opposed the rezoning of the lands for residential development. 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. Richard Levitan, President of Larco Management Ltd., gave a presentation of his proposed Quintelle residential development. Larco is petitioning the City to remove subdivision charges they inherited when they purchased the land for development, based on recent changes in the law: subdivision charges are no longer required. No subdivision charges will make it easier and cheaper for Larco to develop the land, and may benefit the community by making it more likely that Larco will build and provide jobs and be able to sell housing at lower cost. Call Karin Howard's office 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.

HCCO softball is about to start for the 1996 season: Registration is to take place at the HCCC on 25, 26, and 28 Mar from 6:30 to 8:30 pm in the Games Room. Call Dena Splinter for more information.

Next HCCO meeting is Mon 1 Apr 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.