Greenspace Alliance of Canada’s Capital
Minutes of General Monthly Meeting of August 16, 2007
Champlain Field House, 149 Cowley Avenue
Members present: George Wilson (Chair), Theresa Jobateh (Minutes Taker), Amy Kempster, Daphne McCree, Janice Seline, Erwin Dreessen, Bill Royds
Regrets: Carol Gudz, Ron Rancourt, Juan Pedro Unger
The meeting commenced at 7:10 p.m.
1. Welcome and Introductions
2. Adoption of Agenda
a) A few new items were added and some were re-ordered.
b) Statement from George. (moved from 9 a) new business)
George Wilson informed those in attendance that effective August 16th, he would be resigning as the Alliance Chair. He assured directors and attendees that he will continue as a Director especially as co-chair with the Poets’ Pathway Committee. He advised us that he would send to all Directors a formal, written announcement via email later in the evening.
Amy moved to accept, with regrets George Wilson’s resignation as Chair and that Carol Gudz takes on the role as Interim Chair. Seconded by Janice.
3. Approval of minutes from previous meetings:
a) Approval of minutes of July 19th.
There was one last minor change in 8 d).
Motion: Theresa moved to approve the minutes of July 19th. Seconded by Erwin.
b) Approval of minutes of May 14th.
Action: Amy will provide the text that was to be added to one section.
4. Business arising from minutes of July 19th meeting
7b) OPL Ottawa Room & cataloguing of presentations by the Alliance and other groups. Bill provided an update. The contact was on vacation. BF’d to next meeting.
7c) Activist recruitment – BF’d to next meeting (Carol)
8a) Will be discussed on tonight’s agenda
8b) Mailing list – Erwin reported that Ron is continuing to work on the integration of the email list items on the web site.
8d) Display board – It was clarified that Mik (not Janice) will be looking into costs.
5. Membership Report (Janice)
No new activities to report.
6. Treasurer’s Report (Amy)
Amy provided an update on accounts and auditor statements.
Motion: Amy moved that the Alliance transfer $1,000 into a monthly GIC account. Seconded by Janice.
Action: Amy will follow up with the auditor on the final 2006 statement of accounts and preparations for 2007’s.
7. Discussion items
7a) Celebrating the Alliance’s 10th anniversary in October 2007
Erwin led the discussions covering various options. We will explore an idea for a “Greening the Capital” symposium as well as a guest speaker for the AGM in October.
Action: Bill will prepare a draft proposal for the symposium program and once approved, will explore support from partners or sponsors.
7b) Planning for the Annual General Meeting
Date: Thursday, October 18th.
Action: Amy will book a room at City Hall and contact the prospective speakers suggested at the meeting.
7c) Chair’s report
Action: George will ask Carol to assist in writing the 2007 Chair’s report
7d) Pamphlet update and translation
Action: Janice will provide French translation. Erwin will provide her with the latest English copy.
8. Updates / Information items
8a) NCC Renewal
Amy and Erwin provided an update. The Coalition met on July 25th. Members plan to meet with Minister Cannon, John Baird and Russell Mills, new chair of the NCC. They are also preparing a briefing note.
8b) Carp River / Kanata West
Erwin provided an update on various issues involved:
i) Rona / Didsbury Road proposal: He attended update meetings on behalf of the Carp River Coalition . An update is on the Alliance web site.
ii) Trinity proposal/Hazeldean Creek relocation: Erwin received a reply from the person at the Ministry of the Environment, in response to the Environmental Assessment. The person concluded that the city is making the right decision. Friends of the Carp River met with Councillor Qadri on the issue.
iii) Ted Cooper intends to appeal the Trinity application
8c) Leitrim: The Friends of Leitrim legal counsel filed a request for review on June 28th. The OMB Chair asked other parties for submissions. The reply from the Coalition lawyer is due August 17.
8d) OFGAC walk on Sunday in Rockliffe park. Some attendees expressed an interest in participating.
8e) Poets’ Pathway update from George. The committee is still awaiting a response from Donna Silver (Councillor Clive Doucet’s admin assistant), on our next steps, after sharing GPS maps with her in July. In early September, she and other city staff will be back from holiday and we’ll meet again.
8f) In addition to comments from Business arising from the July 19th meeting, Erwin suggested to other attendees and Directors to set their Web site account profile notification to email them when there are content changes.
8g) Update on Working group on Rural Development
Amy will send the latest information to Directors.
9. New business
a) See statement from George, item 2 b) above.
b) City of Ottawa’s notification process
Erwin led the discussion on this item, noting past references from Barbara Barr and the apparent poor quality of communication on zoning by-law changes or new development proposals.
Action: George and Theresa will document a list of the Alliance’s concerns and expectations which will be approved by directors then submitted to the appropriate contacts at the City.
10. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 9:05 PM.
Next meeting : September 20, 2007