KEY ISSUES
DISCUSSED AT 3 NOV 97 MEETING
ATTENDEES
- Fred McLennan, President
- Art Miskew, Vice-President
- Alan Asselstine, Treasurer
- Peter Vasdi, Secretary
- Bill Royds, Director (memberships)
- Riley Brockington, Director (communications)
- Anne Brandel, Director (recreations/social)
- Nancy Seaby, Director (transit)
- Robert Staples, Director
- Shelley Parlow, Director (representing the Hunt Club Corridor Protection Association)
- Peter Foulger, Director (representing the Hunt Club Corridor Protection Association)
- Wendy Stewart, RMOC councillor
- Kathy Ablett, Resident
- Rick Logan, Resident
- Jan Duncan, The News
KEY ISSUES
The following summarizes the issues discussed at the 3 Nov
1997 meeting of the Hunt Club Community Organization (HCCO) at
the Hunt Club Riverside Community Centre (HCRCC).
Regional Councillor, Wendy Stewart,
submitted a report on the following:
- Regional Official Plan (ROP) approval. Ontario Ministry of Municipal
Affairs and Housing has approved the ROP, subject to minor wording changes that do
not affect its content.
- In addition to blue box items, you can now also recycle used motor oil, tires, and
propane cylinders. Called "Product Stewardship Program", there will be ads in public
media from participating businesses. Call the Region for drop-off locations.
- Pilot study is being conducted to see if a single truck can be used to pick up both
garbage and recyclables in one pass. Pilot will run for two weeks with no change in
current garbage collection days. Similar pilot being conducted in North Bay
regarding common-side street collection.
- Delay in the construction of the Airport Parkway ramps (see below).
- Southern Corridor (see below).
- Call Wendy's office for more information.
Airport Parkway ramps.
There will be no ramp construction this winter:
- City Centre Coalition (CCC) sees the tasks of constructing airport parkway ramps and that
of widening the parkway as one single project in terms of environmental issues and project costs.
The CCC would like the Region to admit that this is the case.
- The Region maintains that any improvement relative to the Parkway will be limited only to
the construction of the ramps, and that the Transportation Master Plan, which
looks forward 20 years, does not propose the widening of Bronson Ave.
- The CCC probably fears that building the ramps will increase traffic flow and that this
increase will automatically increase public pressure to twin the Parkway.
- The Hunt Club community feedback and Regional experts indicate that building the ramps
will not, by themselves, increase traffic flow north of Carleton University because all traffic
heading north in that direction (in the morning) already uses Bronson Ave.
Building ramps will merely remove this traffic from residential neighbourhoods south of
the Rideau River and not change traffic flow patterns north of the river.
- This project is accumulating some history. In Sep 97, the CCC persuaded the Ontario
Ministry of the Environment (MOEE) to direct the RMOC to wait 30 days before starting work
on the ramps in order to allow the public to comment on the proposed construction. On the
last day of the required public consultation period, the CCC submitted a 46-page
document (available from the HCCO) describing concerns that the scope of the project exceeds
the $1.5M limit and puts it into a higher project planning and management level. By combining
various efforts involved in improving the Parkway, such as a
$75,000 landscaping cost to protect the residents of Plante and Bankview from Parkway traffic
generated noise, the cost of the project is now $1.565M. The effect of introducing a new
possibility has forced the MOEE to take 66 additional days to review and
resolve the conflict. The Minister must respond by 20 Dec 97 with a decision, and construction
cannot begin before that response, and possibly (because of the season) not until Spring 98.
- For more information, call Wendy Stewart.
Southern Corridor goes federal:
- On 24 Oct, area residents, represented the Hunt Club Corridor Protection Association
(HCCPA) Shelley Parlow and Peter Foulger met with federal MP John Manley to present the community
desire to protect that corridor from development. The meeting
was arranged by Wendy Stewart who also attended. The maps presented at the meeting were
later given to Marcel Beaudré, NCC chairman.
- Unlike the Eastern and Western Corridors, the Southern Corridor is partly zoned industrial
and therefore can be developed in keeping with its zoning designations.
- The NCC, who owns the 126 hectares (areas east and west of McCarthy Woods), indicates
that it is working with the community through the Hunt Club Neighbourhood Plan effort to find a mutually acceptable plan for the area.
- For more information, call Peter Foulger.
Assigned following responsibilities to HCCO directors
elected at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held 29 Oct.:
- Art Miskew - Vice-President.
- Peter Vasdi - Secretary.
- Bill Royds - memberships.
- Fred Winters, Anne Brandel - recreation/social.
- Riley Brockington - communications.
- For more information, call Fred Mclennan.
Traffic concerns:
- Closing Bowesville Rd makes it more difficult for the people who have moved into the
houses just built west of Riverside to turn left from Riverside Dr. onto Hunt Club Road in order
to go towards Bank St. There is no (south-to-east) left-turn signal
at that intersection, however, which makes it almost impossible to make that turn, especially
during rush hours. The Region is proposing to improve the signalling at that intersection.
- Drivers all over the area seem to be getting more aggressive and less patient, not stopping at
stop signs and, in one occasion, assaulting each other. Stops signs that were mentioned were the
ones along Uplands Dr. Also, in winter the snow piles up
along Uplands Dr., and makes it difficult for pedestrians to safely cross Uplands during peak
hours (especially at the bus stop where Hackett Creek goes under Uplands Dr.
- On 1 Jan 98, the Provincial Offenses Act will transfer traffic offenses fines to the Region,
which will give the Region more resources to police and to enforce traffic regulations.
- Traffic lights at Hunt Club and McCarthy are out of sync with the traffic, resulting in cars
going through the red light.
- At any intersection where roads administered by separate authorities, signalling and other
administration is the responsibility of the most senior authority (for example, where a city road
intersects with a regional road, such as at McCarthy and Hunt C
lub, the Region is responsible.
- For more information, call Nancy Seaby.
HCCO image and funding. Methods of promoting the image of HCCO and raising
money:
- Garage sale during the HCRCC open house in Sep 98. Anne Brandel volunteered to
organize this. All directors could contribute items.
- Call Hunt Club Park organization and learn how they raise funds.
- Selling Nevada tickets. Riley has had some experience in this area and would look into it.
We may have some results in a couple of months.
- The air show used to hire community organizations to run booths and share the profits.
Riley said he would look into this possibility.
- Anne, Riley, and Shelley volunteered to pursue social fundraising possibilities.
- For more information, call Riley Brockington.
Compensate HCRCC for their Oct 97 children's Hallowe'en party:
- Motion, seconded, passed, to give the HCRCC $125 to help cover the cost.
- For more information, call Alan Asselstine.
Airport Parkway impact study:
- There is an Airport Parkway Impact Study being undertaken.
- Meeting to be held 7:30pm on Wed 5 Nov in Col. By Room at RMOC HQ on Lisgar St.
Fred McLennan to attend to promote ramps at Hunt Club. Riverside Park reps should also attend
to promote ramps at Walkley.
- Original plan (proposed 1975; approved 1991) called for full access to Parkway.
- For more information, call Fred Mclennan.
Greenspace coalition:
- Official coalition of communities around Ottawa to work together to support the
preservation of green areas and corridors.
- Communities can back each other and thus present greater public support than just
individual communities on their own.
- Bill Royds was nominated to represent the HCCO. Motioned, seconded, passed.
- Bill to write a letter to the City that Art Miskew would sign.
- For more information, contact Bill Royds.
Safety Audit:
- In any safety audit, there are 3 organizations involved: the people living in the area; the
people who are vulnerable; and those involved in enforcing safety mechanisms.
- Shelley volunteered to pursue the safety audit. She will need at least 3 volunteers to help
her. Anne volunteered. There was a motion to create a 4-person team to do a safety audit in
Spring 98. Seconded, passed.
- Jim Watson did a safety audit for Carleton Heights.
- HCCO can learn from people who were involved in other safety audits; for example,
Riverside Park's last year and Carlington in 1994. effort.
- Alan has a list of people who were
at the Owl Park safety meeting last year. Potential to solicit volunteers from that list.
- For more information, contact Shelley Parlow.
Impact of waiving financial audit of HCCO books:
- Art Miskew wanted to ensure that HCCO doesn't break the law by waiving the audit of the
financial books, and has the approval (moved, seconded, voted) to look into this.
- Can consult University of Ottawa for financial advice.
- For more information, call Art Miskew.
Concern about city's role in Hunt Club Neighbourhood
Plan effort, and the Public Advisory Committee (PAC):
- Uncertainty about who in the community officially belongs to the PAC.
- Shelley Parlow offered to organize an informal meeting of potential PAC members.
- Discussion of using alternates, who would not be official PAC members but who could
attend PAC meetings as observers.
- Discussion about whether the Neighbourhood Plan is in trouble and whether the City has a
handle on its administration.
- Shelley wants to receive a copy of all responses Bob Spicer, PAC Chair, returned to those
reviewing and commenting on his draft Neighbourhood Existing Conditions Report.
- Motion made (seconded, voted) that Shelley write a letter to Bob Spicer expressing
community concerns about the progress of the Plan.
- For more information, contact Shelley Parlow.
Involving local businesses:
- Peter Vasdi moved to promote limited advertising for local businesses on the HCCO web
site.
- Peter to write a letter to Carleton Freenet, who sponsor the Web site, offering the idea of
offering local businesses representation on the site in exchange for a yearly fee.
- $10 per business per year was suggested.
- Moved, seconded, passed.
- For more information, call Peter Vasdi.
Other issues:
- Bill's wife is a heritage architect and has offered to research and write a report on heritage
sites in the Hunt Club area.
- Suggestion that HCCO contribute to food bank at next AGM.
- For more information, call Peter Vasdi.
Next HCCO meeting:
- To be held Mon 1 Dec 97 at 7:30pm at the Hunt Club Riverside Community Centre at the
corner of Paul Anka and McCarthy. Anyone is welcome.
- For more information, call Fred McLennan.