Greenspace Alliance of Canada’s Capital
Meeting of July 18, 2001
7:30 p.m., Festival Board Room, new City Hall
DRAFT MINUTES
Attending: Barbara Barr, Erwin Dreessen, Bryan Hawley, Mary Hegan, Amy Kempster, Sam Ludmer, Bill Royds, Carole Tattersall
Guests: Stan Rosenbaum, Aaron Ludmer
Regrets: Albert Dugal, David McNicoll
Documents available: revised Proposed Agenda; Minutes of the meeting of June 20, 2001; Current or recent committees of the GACC – a partial list.
A round of introductions was held. The mail file was circulated.
| TIME | ITEM | ACTION |
| 7h50 |
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA |
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| The revised Proposed Agenda was further revised to add under Item 7, “u.” Maplelawn, “v.” City surplus property, and “w.” Environmental Advisory Committee appointments. A decision was made to discuss selected items from the list of possible Reports in Item 7 and to aim for Adjournment at 9:30. The revised agenda was accepted by consensus. | ||
| APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JUNE 20, 2001 | ||
| Mary moved and Barbara seconded approval of the Minutes of June 20 as distributed. Carried. | ||
| MEMBERSHIPS/TREASURER’S REPORT | ||
| Barbara moved and Amy seconded that the membership application of Sam Ludmer be accepted. Carried. | ||
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7h57 |
Committees of the Alliance |
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| NEW MEMBERS & EDUCATION COMMITTEES | ||
| Amanda Murray is making style changes to the flora web site to make it easier to navigate; the web site was seen as an important recruitment vehicle. Lorne Peterson has volunteered to revise the Brochure by summer’s end; Erwin has a first-draft French translation; we should have an updated bilingual Brochure by early fall.
In general discussion about recruitment of new members, suggestions included: recruiting members in conjunction with a project, such as the Poets’ Pathway or the Run/Walk; targeting specific groups such as the Qualicum C.A.; forming an education committee to involve high school students who now have to do volunteer work as part of their requirements; establishing contacts with Carleton’s Dept. of Environmental Studies. Amy reported that Greenprint could be interested in becoming the GACC’s Education Committee; its incorporated status could help leverage $10,000 available through the Fairlea C.A. (donated by CN) for development of Turtlehead area trails. |
Carole will speak to Ian Price and Michael Runtz of Carleton U.
Amy will contact an acquaintance at Qualicum C.A. Amy will contact her fellow Greenprint members to discuss working together in the education area. |
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| 8h16 | COMMITTEE ON THE OFFICIAL PLAN REVIEW (Deferred item) | |
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Mary reported that she had participated in a 20/20 Summit postmortem. A discussion paper will be issued in the fall. She hopes the Official Plan process will include outreach in the form of community dialogue/neighbourhood discussions before staff prepares a report. The Summit web site continues. Amy moved and Bryan seconded that the Greenspace Alliance send a letter asking the Planning Committee to table a motion proposing that the 1995 Community Vision for the Region’s Official Plan again serve as the basis of the new Official Plan. Carried. Mary suggested the letter should be advertised. Formation of a committee on the O.P. was deferred until the City process is further advanced. |
Amy will draft the letter and circulate it by e-mail for comment. Erwin will request that the City put the Community Vision document on the City’s website. |
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| 8h37 | LOOKING FORWARD TO THE OCTOBER A.G.M. | |
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The AGM should be advertised. Erwin noted the need to recruit more Board members and new officers. He indicated he would prefer to step down as Chair and would be willing to become Secretary. In addition to possible speakers previously discussed, potential speakers or themes mentioned at this meeting included: NCC Comm. Vice-Pres. LaFlamme; Carolyn Quinn of Heritage Canada; Michael Runtz of Carleton Univ.; someone to speak about the Official Plan process; and someone to speak about membership development of organizations. |
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Reports and Action Items |
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8h44 |
MOFFAT FARM / MONTFORT WOODS | |
| Councillor Wendy Stewart has stated she has 10-12 Councillors on-side against development of MF and has met with NCC Chair Beaudry. She has requested that delegated authority for site plan approval be lifted. The people trying to save Moffatt Farm have been writing letters to planner Doug Bridgewater and others. Those residents maintain the attitude that neither Moffatt Farm nor Montfort Woods should be developed, and that one community should not be pitted against another. Alternative proposals for Moffatt Farm are being discussed. Possibilities are a veterans’ memorial park or a conservation park.
Material about DCR Phoenix transactions (collected by Bill) may not quite constitute a pattern but are nonetheless disturbing. Hand-over of the facts to an investigative journalist remains a possibility. |
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9h02 |
HOME DEPOT AT SAWMILL CREEK (“2016 & 2056 Bank Street”) | |
| The comments the Greenspace Alliance submitted to the planner have been circulated by e-mail. The area between Bank Street and the west side of the Airport Parkway will be a difficult part of a Greenway System / Poets’ Pathway to complete because of the presence of multiple railway tracks, Sawmill Creek, the Transitway, and the Airport Parkway. | Bill and Bryan will pursue working with Home Depot & Clr. Stewart, the railways, and others on getting a route for a path through the area between Bank St. and the Airport Pkwy. | |
| 9h14 | LEAMY LAKE | |
| The GACC is now part of the growing coalition to oppose the golf course. Public meetings on June 11 and July 10 were well attended. The second half of the July 10th meeting consisted of six workshops. A press conference on June 20 had good coverage. Follow-up needs to be done about acquiring materials through access-to-information. See Mail File for a brochure on one of the archeological sites there. |
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9h17 |
LEITRIM WETLAND | |
| The Friends of the Leitrim Wetland met on July 17. The annual monitoring and operations reports to Transport Canada on the Gloucester landfill have been filed by the consultant, Headwater Environmental Services Corporation, the firm contracted to cleanse the contaminated aquifers and monitor contaminants. Contamination of the aquifers continues. The Friends will write a letter to Transport Canada asking for more test wells.
Barbara, in person, and Bill, by e-mail, acting as individuals, intervened at Transportation and Transit Committee on June 6 with respect to proposed modifications of the Albion Rd./Leitrim Rd. intersection. The Class Environmental Assessment had overlooked the fact (first noted by Albert Dugal) that the ditch on the west side of Albion Road has fish in it and functions as a creek. As a consequence of the intervention, Clr. Elisabeth Arnold introduced a motion at Committee (later passed by Council) which included that approval of the intersection work be subject to DFO/South Nation River Conservation Authority approval, and subject to implementation of mitigation measures required to protect fish and wildlife habitat. |
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| 9h23 | WALKLEY/KITCHENER LANDS (“2930 Albion Road”) | |
| The 2-week deferral at Planning Committee has resulted in significant benefits to the community. CN also got what it wanted. | Barbara will post a report based on the Disposition of P&DC of July 12 | |
| 9h29 | POETS’ PATHWAY | |
| A letter received from Min. Manley’s office (see Mail File) indicates he remains interested in the Poets’ Pathway. The GACC continues to lack a core of volunteers for this important project. An earlier attempt to form a group attracted names but more is required, including more commitment from the poets’ community; a meeting with Prof. Gnarowski never happened. The web site could be used to recruit volunteers; as material (such as more detailed routing Bill is developing) becomes available it could be posted. |
Bill will try again to form a working group in September. |
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| 9u32 | OTTAWA RIVER | |
| Attendees declined to offer a motion for adjournment.
Mary reported that the RiverKeeper initiative has set up an interim steering board, developed terms of reference, and funding capacity. The board will meet again in the fall. The Adopt-a-Riverbank program continues. |
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| 9h39 | BOTANICAL GARDEN APPLICATION AT EXP. FARM | |
| Eric Moore posted some information about substance and process of this application on July 5. It is now being considered by the C.E.F. Advisory Committee. | ||
| 9h43 | MAPLELAWN | |
| The NCC intends to lease publicly owned greenspace for a private school near Maplelawn. Some in the community are opposed; others are not because they think a school is better than a road, which was considered during proposals to widen the Champlain Bridge. A possible alternative location for the school would be a public school building scheduled to close.
Loss of NCC-owned greenspace is a general issue. Amy moved and Barbara seconded that the Greenspace Alliance send a letter to the NCC Board of Directors describing some recent losses of NCC-owned greenspace and expressing our displeasure. Carried. |
Amy will draft letter to NCC Directors and circulate it for comment. |
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| CITY SURPLUS PROPERTY | ||
| An article in the Ottawa Business Journal of July 9 stated that Les Nalezinski, Ottawa’s manager of acquisitions and disposals, is preparing a list of potential surplus City properties. According to the article, 120 city-owned properties have been declared surplus, with 370 additional properties potentially available. The concern is whether some of these might be greenspaces. The list is available on the City’s website. |
Bill will post the URL. |
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| ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE | ||
| Mary has been invited to serve a one-year term on the newly formed EAC. Its first regular meeting will be Aug. 9. | ||
| 9h55 | Bryan moved adjournment. |
ITEMS HELD OVER:
– Rockcliffe Airbase – see Al Crosby’s e-mail of July 14.
– Quarry Forest – see Barbara’s e-mail of June 22.
– Development Approval Process-Outcome – see Erwin’s e-mail of July 8.
– Run/Walk for Clean Air – NOTE: ad to sell remaining t-shirts needed
– Ottawa Land Trust
– McConnell-Laramée Autoroute
– GACC: flora web site, CommunityZero, listserv
– City web site – see Erwin’s e-mail of July 17.
– Quick misc. business arising from Minutes of May 16 and June 20.
– How-to-save-your-Greenspace Manual
Item deleted: Ontario Drainage Act
MAIL FILE
– Reply to our letter of March 31, 2001 to Min. John Manley, from Jennifer Kealey of his office, dated July 10. On the Heron/Walkley/Kitchener lands, the letter states that the sale to Claridge is to close August 30, 2001. Regarding Recommendation #10 of the Sussex Circle report, it refers to what Sandra Pecek of the NCC has told us (see Erwin’s e-mail of June 6, 2001). Finally, the letter offers continued expression of interest in the Poets’ Pathway proposal and a suggestion to contact Bob Lewis, Director of Urban Lands and Transportation division at the NCC (tel. 239-5718); alternatively, the office offers to arrange a meeting with the NCC.
– July-August 2001 issue of The PEN, with a PEN Insider section on Parks and Greenspace + Two-and-a-half pages on Leitrim and Greenspace Alliance stuff, a page on OPIRG and the Naturalization Group, another on ECOS, a half-page each on Fletcher Garden and the O-C Wildlife Centre, and more.
– “Kabeshinan” (Algonquin for “Summer Camp”), pamphlet of the Kitigan Zibi Education Council, web site www.kza.qc.ca. , inviting visits to a main archeological site in Leamy Lake Ecological Park. (In French; available at the NCC InfoCentre). Guided ½-hour tours, in English and French, $8.00 ($2 for children under 12), Wednesdays to Sundays, 9 am to 5 pm.
– [Spraytech] & Chemlawn v. Hudson, Supreme Court decision of June 28, 2001, 28 pages.
– Promocard to visit and bookmark the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency web site at www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca.
– Letter from DFO’s Access to Information office, dated July 4, 2001, further to our request of 35 documents re Leamy Lake golf course, a document we did not ask for and which was not on the list when we made our request in November 2000. Title: “Etude hydraulique et geotechnique / Stabilisation de la berge et refection du sentier recreatif / Riviere Gatineau, Phases II a IV, Hull, Quebec.” Dated 29 Sept. 1999, 66 pages.
– “There’s a new kid on the block” by David Boyd (Globe & Mail, July 3, 2001, p. A13), about six consecutive pro-environment decisions of the Supreme Court (the 6th being Hudson), going back to 1988. David Boyd teaches environmental law at UVic and has acted as counsel for Greenpeace and the Council of Canadians.
The next meeting of the GACC is on August 15, 2001, at 7:30 p.m., in the Festival Board Room, Ground floor, new City Hall.