Tuesday, May 15, 7 pm, Collected Works

Agenda: WVCA Agenda, AGM, May 2012

Poster: AGM poster 

Feel free to print out the Poster and put it up on some telephone poles around your house/neighbourhood!

Thanks!

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.

Event Time: 9:00 am to 12:00 pm

Location: GTxpress and Red Chair Kids

We’re Spring Cleaning the Capital!
Please Join Your Neighbours and Local Businesses for a Spring Clean-Up
SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 2012 from 9am – 12noon

Pick up all the supplies you’ll need under the tents located at:
- GTxpress, 1085 Wellington St W, at Pinhey
- Red Chair Kids, 1318 Wellington St W, at Clarendon

When you’re finished, bags can be left at either location for pick-up by the City of Ottawa.
Enjoy complimentary refreshments as our way of saying thanks!

p.s. We’re sure the weather will be beautiful but just in case, the rain date will be Sunday, April 29, 2012.

Planning Summit Announcement Good News for Kitchissippi Communities
 
Mayor Watson and Planning Committee Chair Peter Hume announced their vision for investing in certainty in planning today at the City’s first Planning Summit at the CE Centre. Following the success of the recent review of the Infill Design Guidelines and the changes to the Zoning By-Law in the five inner-urban wards which will help protect the urban tree canopy, allow the option of houses without parking, and improve the ability to enforce height limits, among other measures. Most notably, the City will be seeking outside professional guidance to rapidly tighten the Westboro Community Design Plan (CDP), a forward looking document that was created early in the CDP process in Ottawa.
 
“We are turning a new leaf on planning in Ottawa today. We are sticking to our guns, and you will hear the words ‘no’ more often when inappropriate development applications come forward. A big part of getting that right comes from improving the Westboro CDP, which I have been pushing for from day one of my term,” said Councillor Katherine Hobbs, Kitchissippi Ward.
 
The proposed scope of work also goes beyond improving existing measures and looks to provide certainty for areas where future growth is expected, like the Scott Street/Tunney’s Pasture area that will see a new CDP process underway in 2012 to prepare for growth around the new LRT station.
 
Further, the Official Plan review coming up will turn to the issue of Tall Buildings, providing stronger guidance for how and where to build tall buildings in existing and new communities. Further, the City will improve its guidance on transition from multi-use centres and main streets, to better define how they interact with stable existing communities.
 
Finally, the City will look at small area rezonings through the “planning swat team” to look at the compatibility of existing zoning in areas where new development is out of step with the existing community.
 
“I am pleased that coming out of the Planning Summit we have a commitment from the Mayor, Chair Hume and the Planning Department to improve planning in our community. We have had many conflicts in our neighbourhoods as plans have meant one thing to community members and another to developers and staff,” said Hobbs. “These measures are about providing certainty and avoiding the conflict between the City, developers and residents.”
 
“While this won’t be overnight and won’t eliminate all conflict, it will put us on the road to a more consistent and understandable process for developers and residents,” Hobbs continued. “Ottawa is going to be growing up and not out; the changes around areas like transit stations will be dramatic, but Ottawa can no longer afford to grow out and out and out. It is unsustainable economically, socially and environmentally. But if we’re going to grow in our urban wards, we need to do it better, and we will.”

PDF

Ottawa River Action Plan WVCA Support April 2012

https://www.facebook.com/WellingtonVillage

PDF

WWCA Board of Directors April Minutes 2012

Are you aware that the City of Ottawa may be planning to cut down hundreds of ash trees on your street, in your neighbourhood and in your parks, as is happening in other areas of the city?  

Residents and community associations need to ask some hard questions about the City of Ottawa’s Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) Management Program. Why are trees being cut down when there is an alternative and why hasn’t the public been consulted about impacts, costs and alternatives?

EAB will not be eliminated through widespread ash tree removal. It hasn’t worked anywhere else in Ontario or the United States and it is clearly not working in Ottawa either. So what is behind the City’s determination to cut down thousands of ash trees? Tender documents just released by the City, showing it is seeking bidders to buy the wood for commercial purposes, should raise an alarm in the community.

 Urge your Councillor to hold a meeting as soon as possible to review the City’s plan to remove trees in your Ward and to discuss alternatives for saving these trees.  

The Immeasurable Value of Trees: Trees, particularly those in an urban setting, are a critical asset vital to the whole community. Whether beautifying our streets, shading our parks or enhancing our property, trees improve air quality and health, save us energy costs, add to the enjoyment of our home and increase the resale value of our property as well as the desirability of our neighbourhood. Trees add to the beauty, liveability and image of a city.

Given trees importance to all of us, why hasn’t the City made it a priority to consult with the community in developing a plan to save as many of our Ash trees, affected by emerald ash borer, as possible?

First observed in Ottawa in the summer of 2008, this insect presents a serious threat to 25 per cent of the city’s forest cover located on both public and private properties. It has already spread across this city, with hundreds of trees cut down and many more slated to be taken down by the city. If removing trees was first thought to prevent the spread of the disease, it clearly isn’t working. We need a better plan.

The Alternative to Tree Removal:  Oakville Ontario launched an aggressive program in 2010 to save its Ash trees by treating them with Treeazin rather than cut them down.  The treatment which costs $160 to $190 per tree and is good for two years is far less than the City of Ottawa is paying to remove and dispose of a tree, estimated to be anywhere from $1,200 to $1,800. Oakville’s best practices approach is outlined at:http://www.bioforest.ca/index.cfm?fuseaction=content&menuid=33&pageid=1063 These short videos are a must see.

Oakville identified early on that the most important element of the success of its EAB management project was its Communication Program and the input and participation of residents, something that is sadly lacking in Ottawa.

Cost to Ottawa Taxpayers:  We have yet to learn what the overall cost of this program is to Ottawa taxpayers but it will be very substantial considering that the cost of removing trees is significantly more than treating them.  Furthermore, when you consider that it takes a tree almost 40 years to mature and you add the loss of the environmental and aesthetic services this tree would have provided to the community, it becomes painfully obvious that there must be a better way.

Disposal of Trees: Residents are expressing concern about the disposal of infected wood. Where is it going and how is it being treated to ensure that it does not increase the spread of EAB?

Negative Impact on Wildlife:  The removal of trees, particularly during the spring birthing season, is having a very harmful impact on birds and mammals. Why have wildlife organizations not been consulted? When will the City of Ottawa finally release the long overdue Wildlife Strategy draft to the Wildlife Strategy Working Group as promised by Mayor Jim Watson?

Lack of Community Consultation: EAB surfaced in Ottawa in 2008; a presentation by staff to the City’s Environment Committee on October 18, 2011 identified a detailed Communications Plan that included Workshops, Educational Materials, Community Outreach and Stakeholder Awareness. None of this has taken place.  Instead, the City has scheduled only two public information sessions and this is only occurring after hundreds of trees have already been cut down. These are not consultations in that they don’t provide a forum for open dialogue or for questions and answers to be heard by all.  It is not, therefore, surprising that few people attended the first session.

Now is the time to speak out before more of our valuable trees are destroyed.

Ottawa Councillor Contact Information:

http://www.ottawa.ca/en/city_hall/councilcommittees/mayor_council/councillors/index.html

Sponsored By:

Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre                               

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Greenspace Alliance of Canada’s Capital

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Elmdale Tennis Club

He reported that more than 1000 letters were sent and more than 10 community associations sent official letters to local MPs.  A “cut the crap” press conference on the frozen river got wide media exposure and as a result cabinet minister John Baird brought the topic up at a post-budget speech, putting responsibility on the City of Ottawa; mayor Jim Watson then publicly disagreed.

So Ecology Ottawa supporters have gotten politicians’ attention, but we haven’t yet gotten the money needed to stop the untreated sewage spills happening every year.

Ecology Ottawa is now launching the next stage of its campaign to stop this revolting and irresponsible problem.

1) It’s started a petition with a target of 10,000 signatures. You can sign that here:

http://ecologyottawa.nationbuilder.com/petition_to_stop_sewage_spills

2) It’s inviting high school students to earn their required volunteer hours with Ecology Ottawa, in teams gathering petition signatures in their own neighbourhoods. They can sign up here:

http://ecologyottawa.nationbuilder.com/student_volunteer_signup

3) It’s begun the Ecology Ottawa Community Network with local organizers in neighbourhoods across Ottawa to manage this campaign and others in the future. You can help out with that by going here:

http://ecologyottawa.nationbuilder.com/community_network_general_signup

During the meeting Wellington Village volunteers put up their hands to help out locally with the Community Network as well as agreeing to send a WVCA letter to local MPs and MPPs concerning the sewage spills. Many attendees also provided their email addresses so they could sign the electronic version of the petition.