FRIENDS OF THE GREENSPACE ALLIANCE
Greenspace Alliance of Canada’s Capital
Meeting of April 19, 2011
RA Centre Field House.
Members present : Amy Kempster (chair), Janice Seline, Sol Shuster, Erwin Dreessen (note taker)
Regrets : Alicia Reckzin, Jason Kania
The meeting commenced at 7:15 p.m.
Agenda
Erwin moved, seconded by Sol, to adopt the agenda as amended. Carried.
Minutes of March 24, 2011
Erwin moved, seconded by Amy, to approve the Minutes as amended. Carried.
Treasurer’s report
Janice confirmed that there have been no transactions since last month.
OMB Appeal of OPA#76
The hearings on the Urban Boundary appeal have been concluded. Amy delivered her presentation on March 7th. Paul Johanis made a strong case against expansion, supported by testimony from Doug Norris, a foremost authority on the Census formerly with Statistics Canada. Paul reported on his argument before the OMB at the April 6th meeting of the Federation of Citizens’ Associations.
There was no news regarding the next upcoming hearing about the Flewellyn Special Study Area (Goulbourn Wetlands – June 6th).
The hearings on Airport matters are to start on September 19th, and on Country Lots and Villages on October 24th.
SLAPP legislation
Comment on the Provincial Task Force’s discussion paper remains an outstanding item.
Cost awards
In a proceeding before a court assessor on April 11th, the Fernbank developers claimed $14,649 in costs but were awarded $4,475. This is in addition to two other awards related to the same case, of $3,500 and $5,000, for a total of $12,975. An offer to pay what is in FGA’s bank account ($1,627 – 12.5 cents on the dollar) has so far remained unanswered.
Resignation
Erwin moved, seconded by Sol, to accept Cheryl Doran’s resignation as a Director, offered on March 22nd, with regret and with thanks for Cheryl’s devotion to species at risk, wetland preservation and all her other work for the Greenspace Alliance. Carried.
George Wilson
Amy will attend the service for George on April 23rd.
Country Lot Estates
Amy reported that, in a paper currently out for consultation as part of a rural review in anticipation of the next round of an Official Plan review, City staff is using the word “clustering” to refer to clustering of several CLEs, not to be confused with clustering of housing units in one part of a CLE in order to preserve a larger part as natural area (so-called Conservation CLEs). The paper is at http://ottawa.ca/residents/public_consult/rural_review/country_lot_estates/discussion_paper/index_en.html [no longer online]. Meetings were held in various Villages between March 25th and April 19th. Comments should be sent to City planners Emily Davies or Robin van de Lande at plan@ottawa.ca .
Possible projects
Carleton University students are looking for environmental studies projects. Amy will follow up to suggest a review of the state of Urban Natural Areas compared to the March 2005 and 2006 reports.
Next meetings
It was agreed that future meetings will be held on the third Tuesday of the month. Amy will inquire further about use of the Champlain Park Field House or the Hintonburg Community Centre. Sol will inquire about use of the Ottawa Citizen’s public room. Erwin will go and visit the boardroom at the Hunt Club / Riverside Park Community Centre, which is available for $6.95 per hour.
The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.