Greenspace Alliance of Canada’s Capital
Minutes of General Monthly Meeting of July 19, 2007
Champlain Field House 149, Cowley Avenue
Members present : Carol Gudz (Vice-Chair), Theresa Jobateh (Minutes taker), Amy Kempster, Daphne McCree, Janice Seline, Erwin Dreessen, Bill Royds, Barbara Barr (visiting member); Juan Pedro Unger
Regrets : George Wilson, Joseph Potvin, Ron Rancourt, Chris Szpak.
The meeting commenced at 7:05 p.m.
1. Welcome and Introductions
Erwin explained, for the benefit of the newer Board members, the enormous contributions Barbara made when she served on the Board since the early days of the Alliance, until she returned to the U.S.
2. Adoption of Agenda with a few new items
Moved: Janice. Seconded: Daphne.
3. Approval of minutes of June 21
Moved: Erwin. Seconded: Amy.
4. Business arising from minutes of Jun 21st meeting
8a) PEC Zoning (Amy) Carried forward
7b) Greenspace library Carried forward
8c) Bridge crossing discussions – Juan Pedro is monitoring
5. Membership Report
Janice moved to approve membership application of Alette Willis. Seconded by Amy.
She noted that she will keep with the method of notifying members of renewal as AGM date approaches. She will start formatting the text for the reminder prior to our 2007 AGM.
6. Treasurer’s Report
We received a donation. Amy will email the end of June update to the GA Executive.
7. Information / Discussion items
7a) Carp Flood Plain – Erwin provided an update on revived activity at City Hall:
i) Rona application – there will be a community meeting re 375 Didsbury on July 31st.
ii) Mattamy development at 1776 Maple Grove Road
iii) Hazeldean Road, Hazeldean Creek relocation. GA needs additional information.
Erwin moved that “Greenspace Alliance confirms its membership in the Carp River Coalition and authorize Carol or Erwin to represent the Alliance in future discussions with or presentations to third parties”
Seconded by Bill. No abstentions.
7b) Greenspace Library
Amy began the discussion stating a need for a volunteer to house reports, documents, manuals, etc. Bill suggested to use the Ottawa Room at the OPL.
Action: Bill Royds will pursue a conversation with the Ottawa Room and ask if they would be able to store, catalogue our presentations and submissions to City Council or other organizations – from this time forward.
7c) Activist Recruitment meetings
Deferred to on-line discussion and next meeting.
7d) GA Policy and Decision Making
JP led the discussion on GA by-laws, Chair duties and GA policy.
8. New Business
8a) Official Plan on Rural Issues
Amy provided an update on working group and sub-group activities. There will be an opportunity in the fall (est. October) for input into OP wording changes.
Action: Amy will provide the minutes from the June 26 sub-group meeting.
8b) GA List request – defer to next meeting
8c) CKCU interview – JP provided an update about the Breakfast Blend interview. Although there were some technical difficulties, he feels it went well with identifying greenspace issues.
8d) Display board meeting – Janice gave a status update including the idea of using a laptop with a ‘canned’ copy of the web site.
Action: Mik will get an estimate for display board structure then present to the board.
8e) Poets Pathway update – Erwin provided a brief update. The path has been mapped out using GIS coordinates. Jane Moore has posted photographs and related poems on the GA web site.
8f) NCC Renewal file – Erwin provided an update. Government-proposed amendments have considerably weakened the Spivak Bill on Gatineau Park. The Coalition for NCC Renewal will meet July 25 to discuss strategy. The NCC has issued an RFP for a land holdings study (news item posted on the GA web site).
8g) Web site update – Erwin commented on statistics and congratulated Ron on his achievements. Remainder of discussions will be deferred to next meeting.
8h) Letter from Sandcastle resident. Amy provided an update on this resident’s inquiry about zoning and the state of a wooded lot used and abused by dogs. The person received no response from her councillor. We are not sure of its exact location or how to follow up. The attending members suggested that the person could find the zoning information by visiting the OPL and requesting assistance with computer use viewing the City web site.
9. New business
none
10. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 9:26 PM.
Next meeting : August 16, 2007.