General Meeting – 16 May 2001

Greenspace Alliance of Canada’s Capital

Meeting of Wednesday, May 16, 2001

7:30 p.m., Colonel By Room, new City Hall

DRAFT MINUTES

Attending: Erwin Dreessen, Arthur Mathewson, Barbara Barr, Juan Pedro Unger, Amy Kempster, Bill Royds.

Guest: Gérard Desjardins – Club des Ornithologues de l’Ouataouais (COO).

Regrets: Bryan Hawley.

Documents available: revised Proposed Agenda.  Erwin’s e-mail of May 16 re City of Ottawa Development Approval Process.

Late start as the City again lost our reservation.

TIME ITEM ACTION
7:44 APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Drainage Act added to New Items (Bill).  Agenda approved (Arthur/Amy).
APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF MARCH 21 AND APRIL 18
Bill moved and Mary seconded to approve these Minutes.  Carried. Erwin to provide some format suggestions to Bill for posting
MEMBERSHIPS/TREASURER’S REPORT
– Albert Dugal: in addition to an award at the NCR Wildlife Festival, Albert also received the Member of the Year award from the Ottawa Field-Naturalists Club. Barb will write a tribute for the GACC mailing list
– Bill’s and Erwin’s answers to Peace and Environment News questions were shared with the Directors; information provided will be for PEN’s July issue under the theme of Greenspace and Parks.
– Barb moved and Arthur seconded not to pursue membership of the Peace and Environment Research Centre at this time.  Carried.
– Barb moved and Amy seconded to accept the membership of Action Chelsea for the Respect of the Environment (ACRE).  Carried Barb/Bill to confirm that Joseph Potvin is ACRE’s rep.
The Ottawa Field-Naturalists Club has changed its policy on joining other organizations and will therefore not renew its membership in GACC.  Bill will continue to be an individual member and provide liaison with the Club.
Erwin recommended active scouting for new Directors, to come on board any time but certainly by the next AGM in October
8:17 LEAMY LAKE
Gérard explained the situation regarding the Leamy Lake environment and the campaign to prevent or mitigate the construction of a golf course there. (The COO has been in the forefront of this fight; it has about 240 members.)  Developer is intent on building, but the project has at least been delayed. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has given assurance that there will be a public consultation. When public consultation and (hopefully) a public hearing take place, maximum participation will be required.

The COO took a census of Capital Region golf courses, showing there are 65 in the area. Realistic hope is to at least protect the most significant and sensitive parts of Leamy Lake.  Mary noted that the NCC is just starting up its Gatineau Park Plan process.  Amy reminded the group of outstanding Indian land claims.

Gérard will forward a letter which citizens could forward to Min. Dhaliwal, demanding a hearing.

GACC will react to the screening report when it comes out.

9:00 QUARRY FOREST
Juan Pedro provided an update; the item is going to P&DC on May 24. Bill, joined by Barb, will speak on May 24 (1 p.m.)
CITY OF OTTAWA DEVELOPMENT APPROVAL PROCESS
Draft comments were discussed.  Amy’s comment re notices of road closures will be added.  This item is going to P&DC on June 28. Erwin to finalize e-mail to Jessop; see also points made below.
COMMITTEE OF ADJUSTMENT RESTRUCTURING PROPOSALS
The item is scheduled for P&DC on June 12 (Tuesday).  Documents are available from John Moser (call Sandra Budge at 580-2424, ext. 25590) or from Erwin.  Call Barry Edgington at ext. 25541 for more information. GACC Board to assess whether we should intervene
OTTAWA LAND TRUST
Next meeting will be May 28, 7:30 p.m. Erwin to post location
SPEAKERS
It was agreed that there would be no speaker in June.  Future speakers could include: John Taylor, Seaton Findlay (new book), Rhoda Bellamy (History of greenspace preservation in Canada)
9:50 NEXT MEETINGS
It was agreed to continue meeting over the summer.  Next meeting dates were set at: July 18, August 15, September 26, and October 17 – the latter will be the AGM
JUNE 3 RUN/WALK FOR CLEAN AIR
Amy distributed pamphlets, also available at various sports stores.  Participation/pledging strongly encouraged
LEITRIM UPDATE
GACC’s intervention was not accurately reported in the P&DC Minutes.  It was agreed to add asking that, as a minimum by way of attachment, all written interventions be forwarded to Council Erwin to add to intervention on Devpt. Appr. Process
MAYOR’S SUMMIT
Information will be available through other channels.
OMB LOBLAWS DECISION
The Decision contained a complete denial that Greenway Corridor in the old CoO Official Plan means anything on the ground, since the Board deemed it adequate to replace it by a bicycle path elsewhere.
CoO WEBSITE IMPROVEMENTS
The web site now includes the archived records of previous municipalities.  Our suggestion to put all Official Plans up is still under advisement.
EARTH DAY KIOSK
Bill distributed about 100 GACC brochures, at a table shared by the Sierra Club
ENVIRONMENTAL AND FOREST ADVISORY COMMITTEES
Two of 3 points made by GACC led to changes in the Terms of Reference for the E.A.C.  Arthur reported that the F.A.C. is satisfied with its ToR.

1200 applications were received for the 16 advisory committees.

HAWTHORNE MARSH
As a result of an intervention by Bill, the conditions of sale included measures to preserve the marsh. Clr. Kreling moved the motions.
OTTAWA RIVER
The April 22 meeting was well attended.  The RiverKeeper idea is likely to receive funding.  Next workshop is on May 29. Amy to fax brochure for posting of details
WALKLEY/KITCHENER
The matter is currently facing an un-delegation decision. It was agreed that GACC propose in its submission that any Clr. should be able to un-delegate and that such request should not be denied since a Clr. has raised a concern Erwin to add to intervention on Devpt. Appr. Process
10:23 Adjournment.

ITEMS HELD OVER:

Ontario Drainage Act

NCC Sussex Circle report

Montford Woods/Moffat Farm

Poets’ Pathway

Central Park greenway

McConnell-Laramée Autoroute

POST-MEETING NOTE: A report was received from Bryan Hawley, from the web site redesign committee:

The committee met on 2 May; 9 members confirmed attendance but only 3 of us turned up – very disappointing, to say the least. There are currently 17 people on the web committee e-mail list.  The 3 of us at the meeting decided that a test site might be the way to generate more interest & activity amongst members. Bill has been asked to talk with Russell McOrmond (flora.org) about such a test site on flora.org. Committee members, hopefully, will then be able to test ideas, designs, processes.  We still need a decision on GACC info, email, etc., & what is public or private re: 1) BOD, & 2) membership, & 3) public. Easy solution is to make public only that which goes to the public email list, i.e., GACC@home.com. Rest would be accessible for on-line viewing or downloading via password control from the web site — at least that is the idea, if it can be implemented.

There was no MAIL FILE.

The next meeting of the GACC is on June 20, 2001, at 7:30 p.m. in the Billings Room.