General Meeting – 18 May 2006

Greenspace Alliance of Canada’s Capital
Meeting Minutes for May 18, 2006

Location: Champlain Park Field House

In attendance: Billy Royds (Chair), Amy Kempster, Janice Seline, Daphne McCree, Erwin Dreessen, Thomas Kapler, Chantal Vicha, Theresa Jobateh (Impromptu Meeting Secretary)
Regrets: Carol Gudz

1. Bill Royds called the meeting to order @ 7:40 PM

2. Agenda – adopted by consensus.

3. April 27th meeting minutes – discussions over word changes, etc. ED moved to approve the amended minutes. AK seconded.

4. Membership report by JS and ED:

– 1 new: Leo Paoletti for Qualicum Graham Park Community Association
– 3 renewals
– Donations received

5. Treasurer’s Report by AK

– Amy will email an update when ready
– Incidental expenses related to the OMB Environment Hearing for ED in the amount of $14.87. Moved by AK. Seconded by JS.

6. a) NCC Governance Update on review panel ED – A letter is in progress and ready to go out soon to Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities

b) Greenspace Master Plan and OPA official response: CV&TK’s draft response document was discussed for wording changes, etc.

Action: CV&TK to have the document updated and ready for submission to Board Members by May 19 noon.

6. b) Future Directions: Newsletter. Discussions on an idea that has been kicking around for two or more years for a monthly or quarterly newsletter with snippets of recent achievements and activities.

Action: CV to work with JP Unger (Communications Director) on ideas for publishing.

6. c) Municipal Election update – discussions on creating an election score card, tracking councillors’ voting history on environmental / greenspace issues.

Action: CV and ED to attend Bridgehead meeting with Sierra people on May 22 and provide list of 5-6 most-important issues as seen by the Alliance.

6. d) Fundraising activities: JS – Friends of the Exp. Farm Plant sale earnings were $806.

Action: ? Do it again! 🙂

6. e) Alliance Web site – Needs re-organization.

Action: have a new draft ready in June. BR & TK & Ron Rancourt.

6. f) Wetlands

Leitrim Wetland – BR commented that Albert’s tour proved that Tartan was in violation of the conditions for development. The Remer lands (of which the Western part is an Urban Natural Area) is up for sale as the Aperdev development has fallen through.

Carp – Joint meeting of Transportation and Planning & Environment Committees (May 3) approved the staff recommendations.

Action: The Carp River Coalition will put out a press release and provide all Councillors with a brief for the May 24 meeting of City Council.

6 h) LRT proposal – Joint meeting of Transportation and Corporate & Economic Development Committee (May 16) approved the staff recommendation to choose “Bowesville 4C” for the maintenance yard, not the Public Working Group’s recommendation to use the Walkley train yard.

7 a) Amy presented to the meeting her vote of thanks to ED for his work on the OMB appeal. All in attendance concurred and applauded.

7 b) Country Lot Estates appeal – ED tabled a suggested action plan for the up-coming hearing. City needs to hire a consultant to defend its position as staff cannot since Council rejected their recommendation.

Proposal: get a postponement til Sept/Oct due to absences of 3 key Alliance members and potential absence of key city staff witness.

Action:

– Amy will contact Alex Cullen to see if Planning Committee voted on choosing an outside consultant / planner for this file.
– Bill will gather any background info from Alliance files, etc. and contact the City lawyer.

7 c) Poets’ Pathway: The Citizen is proposing to publish articles on the Pathway over the summer.

Action: TK may be able to combine research on this with a Guelph U. course requirement

8) Adjournment @10:10 PM, Bill moved to adjourn. Seconded by Janice.