GREENSPACE ALLIANCE OF CANADA’S CAPITAL
Greenspace Watch
General Meeting
July 24, 2014
Hintonburg Community Centre
1064 Wellington Street West
K1Y 2Y3
Members present:
Erwin Dreessen (chair and notetaker), Bruce Lindsay, David McNicholl, Sol Shuster, Amy Kempster
Guest: Bill Toms
Regrets:
Juan Pedro Unger, Bettina Henkelman, Nicole DesRoches, Ian Whyte, Jason Kania, Iola Price
The meeting commenced at 7:46 p.m.
1. Agenda
A revised agenda was presented and adopted.
2. Administrative items
a. Minutes of June 26, 2014
Amy moved, seconded by David, to approve the Minutes of June 26 as circulated and amended.
b. Action item from the May Minutes (re list serve): Deferred.
c. Appointments
It was agreed that Erwin would continue to be Treasurer. Appointment of a Secretary was deferred.
d. Treasurer’s report
Proceeds from this year’s plant sale were received with great thanks to Janice Seline, Mike Mack, Simon Seline, Barbara Dytnerska and for the donation of plants by Albert Dugal, Christel Woodward and Janice.
Bruce, seconded by Amy, moved to compensate Al Crosby for gasoline expense on June 29 in the amount of $35.60. Agreed.
e. Membership report
Amy moved, seconded by Sol, to accept the membership of the Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre. Agreed.
f. MEC application
We asked for and received some feedback on our grant application of last Spring and will revise our application for the Fall round. Sol and Bruce will assist.
3. Municipal election
It was agreed that, as a minimum, we should take part in the municipal election campaign by sending a letter to all candidates and publishing any responses received on the web site. We agreed to retain the following “asks”:
1. Support for a strong site alteration by-law, with emphasis on “strong,” i.e., one that includes provisions on the removal of vegetation. The explanation could make reference to the repeated tree massacres that this city has seen in recent years and to the ecological importance of woodlots.
2. Renewed commitment to an annual allocation towards an environmental land acquisition fund.
3. Standing firm in support of the prohibition against future country lot subdivisions, in spite of the appeal of the new policy to the OMB.
4. Advisory Committees should be genuine bridges between the public and Council. The Environmental Stewardship Advisory Committee in particular should invite public input, meet more often than quarterly and form subcommittees to filter and focus citizen input in city-wide issues.
Bruce moved, seconded by David, that a maximum of about $1,200 should be allocated towards paid advertising of the letter in strategically selected community newspapers. Agreed.
We left to be discussed whether we would combine this with a petition, recognizing that a large number of signatures would prove that there is a constituency for these asks but that a low number could suggest the opposite.
Also to be further discussed is attracting partners or co-signers for the letter.
4. Brief updates
Updates on the Kanata North tree cutting incident, the OPA 150 appeals, the road ecology symposium and the omnibus zoning amendments affecting EP zoning were deferred due to lack of time.
The meeting adjourned at 9:20 p.m.
The next meeting is on Thursday, August 28, 2014 at 7:15 p.m. in the Hintonburg CC.