General Meeting – 13 February 2002

Greenspace Alliance of Canada’s Capital

Meeting of February 13, 2002

9:20 p.m., Honeywell Room, new City Hall

 

DRAFT MINUTES

Attending: Erwin Dreessen, Barbara Barr, Amy Kempster, Bill Royds, Al Crosby, Arthur Mathewson, David McNicoll

Guests: John Batson, Paula Batson

Regrets: Divya Raman

Documents available: revised Proposed Agenda; Minutes of January 16, 2002.

Meeting started following the end of the Urban Lecture on a Virtual Tour of Rural Ottawa.

TIME ITEM ACTION
 

9:23

 

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

 
  Barbara moved and Al seconded approval of the Agenda.  Carried.  
   

APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JANUARY 16

 
  Barbara moved and Bill seconded approval of the Minutes of January 16 as posted and circulated.  Carried.  
 

9:31

 

MEMBERSHIPS/TREASURER’S REPORT

 
  Two members have sent in their membership renewal.

Amy asked that the City Clerk be asked to notify all City departments of our postal address, as mail continues to arrive at Shelley Parlow’s and her address.

 

 

Erwin to contact the City Clerk

  Action Items  
 

9:33

 

MOFFATT FARM

 
  The staff report will be considered by Planning and Development Committee on February 28. John Batson noted that the report was “written under duress,” contained several factual errors and was not comprehensive.  He reported that the M.F. Citizens’ Coalition has received good support from Barry Edgington (a planner hired by Clr. Stewart) as well as planner Jane Ironside and lawyer Paul Webber, hired by the Coalition.  Coalition members have met with 18 of 21 Councillors and received positive reactions from 16.  The Coalition has 135 active members; 500 residents have signed a petition. Barbara will draft an intervention and represent us at Committee.
   

HOME DEPOT at Bank Street & Sawmill Creek

 
  A land swap proposal will come before Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee on February 19, and proposed modifications to the Kitchener/Bank intersection will be considered by Transportation and Transit Committee on February 20.  The site plan approval remains un-delegated but Clr. Stewart has promised us that there will be an opportunity to comment on the draft approval report. Erwin will draft interventions. Barbara will represent us at both Committee meetings.
   

REPRESENTATION AT FRIENDS OF THE JOCK RIVER A.G.M. (February 26)

 
  Amy will be able to attend this meeting.  
   

Brief Reports

 
  VOLUNTEER FAIR – OTTAWA U. – Feb. 6  
  Amy and Erwin attended this event and some contacts were made, but student attendance was low.  
   

POETS’ PATHWAY PRESENTATION

 
  A draft of the presentation will be reviewed at our March 13 meeting.  Hope remains that we can present this at the March 23 EAC workshop, prior to presentation before the NCC Board of Directors on April 24 (tent. date). Bill will work on the presentation, assisted by Erwin and Juan Pedro.
 

10:30

 

Adjournment.

 

ITEMS HELD OVER:

– City Budget – will be handled by e-mail.

– Leitrim – need to lobby on Capital Budget; workshop to be held Feb. 16.

– Charting a Course – various members have registered for the discussion groups.

– NCC proposal for Greenbelt land rezoning – see Mail File

– Quarry Forest (OMB hearing of Feb. 11).

– Leamy Lake

MAIL FILE

– Peter Zimonjic, “OMYA’s victory watered down,” The Citizen, Feb. 20, 2002, p. B1.  On a ruling by Ontario’s Environmental Review Tribunal re extraction of water from the Tay near Perth.

– Summary package on the 2002 City Budget.

– Documentation from Ottawa U’s Career and Employment Centre and the list of participants at the Feb. 6 Internship and Volunteer Fair.

– Canadian Museum of Nature – Volunteer Programme Information..

– City of Ottawa – Community Pride Newsletter, Fall/Winter 2001.

– Invitation from Clr. Clive Doucet for the Community Transit Summit of Feb. 21.

– PEN, Feb. 2002 issue.

– Proposal for NCC Lands between Uplands Drive and the Airport Parkway – from the NCC web site, “News and Info” (2 pp.)

– David Reevely, “NCC sets sights on patch of Greenbelt,”, The Citizen, Jan. 22, 2002, p. C1.

– David McGuinty, “Climate change: Treatment is affordable,”, The Globe and Mail, Jan. 29, 2002, p. A11.

– Editorial, “It’s the folks next door, complaining about Kyoto,” The Globe and Mail, Jan. 29, 2002, p. A12.

– Gina Gillespie, “Hull takes a gamble on Vegas-style complex,” The Globe and Mail, Feb. 5, 2002, p. B23.  (Opposition – Nicole DesRoches – noted & quoted.)

-“Gilles Grove Saved!” – from the Nature Conservancy of Canada web site, dateline Guelph, December 6, 2001.

– Nature Conservancy – “Here’s what we saved in 2001″ – 100 properties, 31,886 acres, land valued over $45 million.

– Joe Berridge, “One charming edifice, one urban wreck” – book reviews of A.M. Tung, “Preserving the World’s Great Cities: The Destruction and Renewal of the Historic Metropolis” and J.H. Kunstler, “The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition.”

– Invitation to a workshop “Towards a common vision for the sustainable development of the urban section of the Ottawa River,” Feb. 27, 2002.

 

The next meeting of the GACC is on March 13, at 7:30 p.m., in the Honeywell Room.