From Councillor Hobbs:
Who: Councillor Katherine Hobbs
What: Come and chat with your Councillor, whatever you may wish to discuss
When: Friday, March 2nd, 10 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Where: Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC)
Lower Lobby
1233 Wellington Street West
http://ourkitchissippi.ca/events/lets-chat-on-friday-march-2-10-12-at-the-gctc/
Katie Paris, WVCA President
Councillor Katherine Hobbs
Yasir Naqvi, MPP
Councillor Peter Hume
Public Forum panel
WWBIA Chair Randy Kemp
Jay Baltz, HCA and FCA
Lorne Cutler, HICG
Mary Ellen Kot
From Councillor Hobbs:
Between March 5,2012 and June 1, 2012, Merivale Road will be closed between Island Park Drive and approximately 100 m south of the Highway 417 overpass structure. The road closure is required to allow for the construction of the Cave Creek Collector and for the reconstruction of Merivale Road under the Highway 417 overpass structure.
Traffic disruptions will be kept to a minimum and residents are reminded to use extra caution and follow signs around the construction zone.
There will continue to be two lanes of traffic in each direction on Merivale Road between Carling Avenue and the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre entrance, but north exit to Island Park Drive will not be possible. The Island Park Drive right turn lane to Merivale Road will also be closed.
Access to all shopping malls and businesses in the area will be maintained, and through lanes and turning lanes at the Carling Avenue and Merivale Road intersection will also be maintained.
http://ourkitchissippi.ca/construction/merivale-road-%e2%80%93-road-closure-march-5th/
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
7:00 PM
Collected Works
On the agenda: our recent Public Forum on the CDP, Section 37, 1451 Wellington, and more!
All are welcome – see you there!
From the FCA:
Ottawa, Feb. 13 – The discussion around Section 37 of the Ontario Planning Act will heat up Tuesday when City Planning Staff ask the Planning Committee to recommend Council approve the ‘Guidelines and Protocol for the Implementation of Section 37 of the Planning Act’.
Section 37, which allows for increased height or density in a new development in exchange for community benefits, has been in place for 10 years in Ontario and is often used in Toronto to help ensure the increased height or density of a development does not prevent or inhibit the creation of a sustainable community.
Jay Baltz, Chair of the Federation of Citizens’ Associations of Ottawa’s (FCA) Planning & Zoning Committee and member of the Hintonburg Community Association will present the FCA’s position paper on Section 37 to the Planning Committee on Tuesday.
“While the FCA supports Section 37 in principle and agrees with many of the City’s recommendations, the current implementation proposal for Section 37 in Ottawa is, unfortunately, seriously flawed”, Baltz said. “We cannot support the implementation of these guidelines unless amendments are made that satisfactorily address the issues we have identified.”
The difference between the proposal put forward by the City to Community Associations last Spring and the current proposal is significant. “Closed-door meetings with developers over the last eight months have watered down the City’s Section 37 proposal for Ottawa’s communities”, Baltz said. “The loopholes are large enough to drive a bus through.”
The FCA position paper identifies eight areas of concern, three of which stand out.
First, the FCA disagrees with the City’s valuation strategy of creating two very large land valuation areas instead of calculating the real increase in land value for each rezoning application, as they do in Toronto. “To assume land valuations will be the same in areas of the City that are vastly different is a mistake”, Baltz said. “This strategy will seriously undervalue the uplift in areas with the most intense development activity, such as Sandy Hill, Lowertown, Vanier, Centretown, and the West Wellington St. / Richmond Rd. area from Hintonburg through Westboro.”
Second, because City Staff consistently rule current zoning not to be in line with the Official Plan, the FCA anticipates this loophole will be used by developers and City Staff to circumvent the intentions of Section 37 to award community benefits. Therefore, the FCA opposes uplift being reduced (“drawn down”) because of the age of the zoning, its relevance to Official Plan policies and the implementation of public benefits such as ‘plazas and pathways’ as it is outlined in section 2.7 of the City’s proposal.
Third, the FCA opposes the exception which allows redistribution of permitted density in a ‘manner that is consistent with the City’s design guidelines’.
“While developers and Staff often make the argument that permitted volume may be redistributed into taller, thinner towers”, Baltz said, “we contend that if this flexibility is desirable, it should be written into the zoning bylaw using the tool most appropriate for this purpose, which is the Floor Space Index (FSI). Unfortunately, in the ‘consolidation’ of the zoning bylaws and in recent Community Design Plans, FSI has been largely removed as a zoning tool, despite protestations from many Ottawa area planners.”
The Federation of Citizens’ Associations of Ottawa (FCA) is a city wide association and forum for community associations and citizens’ groups in Ottawa. The FCA is comprised of urban, suburban and rural community associations from across the amalgamated City of Ottawa. Members share information about issues facing their communities and take joint action on city-wide issues.
Media Contact:
Jay Baltz
Planning & Zoning Committee Chair
Federation of Citizens’ Associations of Ottawa
e: email hidden; JavaScript is required
w: www.fca-fac.ca
From the NCC:
From Conversation to Vision: Join us for a workshop on the future of the Capital.
Canada’s Capital is your capital — and we’re asking you to help us plan for its future. Last fall, we collected thousands of ideas, both online and in person. Now, we need your help to bring these ideas together as part of the next steps of the plan.
It is with great pleasure that we invite you to join us for an evening workshop where we will take these ideas and turn them into the foundation for the vision and goals of the next Plan for Canada’s Capital. Share your hopes and aspirations for Canada’s Capital, and help us ensure that the Capital becomes an even greater place of meaning and influence, and continues to be a great place to live.
6 pm to 6:30 pm: Welcome and presentation
6:30 pm to 9 pm: Workshop
Tuesday, February 21, 2012: Canadian Museum of Civilization
Wednesday, February 22, 2012: Canadian Museum of Nature
Please email hidden; JavaScript is required by Friday, February 17, 2012, to email hidden; JavaScript is required or at 613-239-5000.
This interactive session will take place in a welcoming environment that promotes dialogue and the sharing of ideas among participants. Your participation is crucial to the success of this event!
You can also contribute your thoughts and ideas online by answering a few key questions. The discussion forum will be open from February 20 to March 16, 2012.
Please be advised that the report on IMPLEMENTATION GUIDELINES FOR SECTION 37 OF THE PLANNING ACT is now available to be read online on the City of Ottawa website using the following link: (Press Control and click to follow the link)
http://ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/pec/2012/02-14/agendaindex28.htm
The report is No. 7 on the Planning Committee agenda of Tuesday, FEBRUARY 14TH . The meeting commences at 9:30 a.m. in the Champlain Room 2nd Floor City Hall. If you wish to address the committee members when the item comes up, please sign a sheet at the entrance to the room and hand it to the Committee Administrative Assistant at the front of the room.
WVCA has received notificication of a minor variance application to change the existing legal non-conforming use (office/personal service/workshop) to a retail/office use (Right Bike) which will occupy the entire basement of 76 Holland Ave. This proposal will be considered by the Committee of Adjustment on Wednesday, Feb 15, 2012.
To comment on this application, letters may be submitted to the Secretary-Treasurer of the Committee, email email hidden; JavaScript is required, or in writing to 101 Centrepointe Drive, Ottawa, K2G 5K7.