Greenspace Alliance of Canada’s Capital
Meeting of 26 September 2001
7:30 p.m., Richmond Room, new City Hall
DRAFT MINUTES
Attending: Barbara Barr, Erwin Dreessen, Bryan Hawley, Amy Kempster, Bill Royds, Juan Pedro Unger
Guests: Brenda Casella, Adewunmi Adekunle, Qiong Pei
Regrets: Al Crosby, Albert Dugal
Documents available: revised Proposed Agenda; Minutes of the meeting of July 18, 2001.
Meeting held in the Richmond Room due to a mix-up in room occupancy.
A round of introductions was held.
| Time | ITEM | ACTION |
| 7h41 | APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA | |
| The e-mailed Proposed Agenda had been modified by the addition of Items on a Pesticide motion and the Alta Vista Transportation Corridor. Maplelawn was further added. It was agreed to aim for a 9:30 adjournment. Juan moved and Amy seconded approval of the agenda as amended. Carried. | ||
| APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JULY 18, 2001 | ||
| Amy moved and Barbara seconded approval of the Minutes of July 18 as circulated. Carried. | ||
| MEMBERSHIPS/TREASURER’S REPORT | ||
| Barbara moved and Amy seconded that the membership applications of Judith Greene and Leanne Levchuk be accepted. Carried. Barbara reported no membership renewals since the last meeting.There was discussion of the opportunity to promote the Greenspace Alliance at the Green Marketplace Expo, sponsored by Natural Life Events at the Nepean Sportsplex on Saturday and Sunday, October 13 and 14, from 10 to 5. The cost would be $50 or nothing if we give a 50-min seminar.
Loss of membership of ECOS was discussed, and with it the link into the Rideau River Round Table. |
Juan volunteered to attend on Sunday and bring a table; he could also do a presentation. Erwin will post a request for more volunteers and decide by the October 5 deadline.
Post-meeting note: Moffatt Farm Coalition members and others have come forward + it’s a go! Erwin will continue trying to restore the relationship by contacting Brian Tansey and others in Ottawa South. Post-meeting note: Mike Loewen has agreed to become the new representative from ECOS and link to the RRRT. |
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| 8h00 | FALL MEETING DATES | |
| It was agreed to set the meeting dates after October 17 at November 21, December 12 and mid-January. | Erwin to reserve rooms with the City. | |
| PREPARING FOR THE OCTOBER 17 A.G.M. | ||
| Guy Laflamme, the NCC’s Vice President of Communications, Marketing and External Relations, has agreed to be the guest speaker. He has been invited to speak about the NCC’s policies and practices regarding preservation of greenspace in the National Capital Region.It was agreed to start the AGM with a 15-min Year-end report.
Amy, Barbara, Bill and Erwin are willing to continue to serve on the Board of Directors. Bryan will be stepping down. Juan is willing to serve. More people are needed to serve on the Board. Lorne Peterson has produced a draft revised brochure. |
Erwin will post an announcement to the listserv. Juan will send updated info to The Citizen and OttawaXpress. Barbara will contact The News.
The Brochure Cee (Bryan, Amy, and Erwin) will comment. Erwin will arrange French translation. |
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| New Business / Action Items | ||
| 8h30 | THE NCC’s A.G.M. OF SEPT 25 | |
| A roundtable was held of comments by those who attended and others. It was agreed that the Greenspace Alliance would launch a campaign to have Treasury Board modify its land sales policy as it affects the NCC, as well as make the NCC act with greater transparency. First stop on this campaign will be M.P. Mauril Bélanger. Support from the Alta Vista community would be important to gain John Manley’s endorsement. | Erwin, Amy, Brenda, and Juan will work on a committee to prepare a visit to Bélanger. Erwin to request of Leamy Lake Coalition and Heritage interests to join in. | |
| 9h13 | PESTICIDE MOTION (Health & Soc. Serv. Cee., City of Ottawa – October 4) | |
| Further to Erwin’s posting of Sept. 23 (forwarded from HDUUP co-chair Mike Christie), Bryan moved and Bill seconded that the Greenspace Alliance write in support of the motion to initiate processes to create a by-law governing the cosmetic use of pesticides on private property and to develop an education campaign. | Bill will draft a letter.
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| 9h20 | ALTA VISTA TRANSPORTATION CORRIDOR | |
| The Public Advisory Cee. for this study is about to be formed. Greenspace Alliance had agreed to be an Observer. | Erwin will contact Quentin Bristow.Post-meeting note: Quentin has agreed to be the GACC’s Observer. | |
| MAINTENANCE POLICIES AND PRACTICES COMMITTEE | ||
| Bryan’s posting of July 31 proposed the creation of a Greenspace Alliance committee to develop a policy to take to/or in cooperation with the City on the “maintenance” of greenspaces. This would include identification of sensitive areas, rare plants and animals, areas of special interest to local communities, and the prior notification of maintenance activity. Moved by Bryan and seconded by Amy to strike such a committee. Carried. | Bryan will look for members and get the committee going. | |
| 9h30 | Participants declined to move for adjournment. | |
| QUARRY FOREST | ||
| An OMB pre-hearing conference is scheduled for October 17, on the community’s appeal of the zoning change and on Minto’s appeal because more than 90 days have passed without a decision by the City. The City will ask for a 1-year delay so that, in conjunction with the new Official Plan, the necessary studies can be done. It was agreed that the Greenspace Alliance will seek participant status. | Barbara will represent GACC, as Amy will likely represent FCA. | |
| Brief Reports / Updates / Deferrals | ||
| NEW OTTAWA OFFICIAL PLAN | ||
| The Smart Growth Summit report is now scheduled for release on October 10. The Citizen will likely not publish the article Erwin submitted on the choice of growth projections. | ||
| ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE – City of Ottawa | ||
| The EAC has met on August 9 and September 13. Mary Hegan is Vice-Chair and Barbara attended in September as an observer. The Cee. is developing its workplan. Agenda and Minutes should become available on the City’s website. | ||
| HOME DEPOT (“2016 & 2056 Bank Street”) | ||
| Bill and Bryan are working on the issue but have not yet contacted the consultant, Novatech. Brenda volunteered her expertise in environmental engineering to assist on this issue. | Post-meeting note: Barbara provided Brenda with the site plan, MEER, and traffic study. | |
| LEITRIM WETLANDS | ||
| On August 30, Transport Canada issued a Request for Proposal for an area-wide risk assessment of the Gloucester landfill, which is on land owned by Transport Canada and is leaching toward the proposed Tartan development site at the Leitrim Wetlands. This assessment study could affect the date by which DFO completes its environmental screening. | ||
| LEAMY LAKE PARK | ||
| The coalition opposing construction of a golf course is becoming ever broader. Erwin thanked Nicole DesRoches of CREDDO for providing first drafts of letters following up on our access to information request. On Sept. 24, the Casino issued a press release, committing to a public consultation after release of the DFO environmental assessment report. | ||
| POETS’ PATHWAY | ||
| A letter to the editor in The Citizen by a Kerry Kolodiazn of Orleans (Sept. 20, p. A13) made reference to the pathway project. | Bill to follow up. | |
| BOTANICAL GARDEN APPLICATION | ||
| It had been reported at the FCA meeting that the application had been turned down. | Erwin to seek confirmation from Eric Moore. | |
| CITY SURPLUS PROPERTY LIST | Bill to post the URL. | |
| MAPLELAWN | ||
| A local parents group is unwilling to consider a nearby school that is closing and wants to build on the Maplelawn site instead. There had been earlier plans to build a road there. All this despite this land being part of the National Interest Land Mass (to be verified.) | Amy will continue to follow this issue. | |
| 10h10 | The meeting adjourned by consensus. |
ITEMS HELD OVER include:
– Education Committee – discussion with Greenprint
– Heron/Walkley Lands (“1428 Heron Road”)
– Walkley/Kitchener Lands (“2930 Albion Road”)
– Ottawa Land Trust
– Ottawa River
MAIL FILE
– Documents received Sept. 13 from City Planner Denis Charron, after long delays, regarding 1428 Heron Road (the Heron/Walkley lands). The deadline for comments has passed, but Bryan Hawley did send in extensive commentary (posted to the GACC on July 26).
– Information about Airport Authority land at Hunt Club Road that is put up for sale.
– Notice of an Impact Management Workshop, Sept. 26, on the Trail Waste Facility Environmental Assessment.
– Reply from the Office of the Information Commissioner dated Sept. 10, in reply to our letter of complaint dated Aug. 26 due to non-response to our access to information request regarding Leamy Lake. The investigator assigned to the file is Sandy Mulloy; their file no. is 3100-16214/001. The Information Commissioner’s office no. is 995-2410.
– Brochures from the Ontario Archaeological Society – Ottawa Chapter and the Société d’histoire de l’Outaouais – related to Leamy Lake archaeological work.
– Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy, “Ontario’s Environment and the Common Sense Revolution: A Fifth Year Report,” 113 pp. From CIELaP’s web site, http://www.cielap.org .
– Ten Commandments for Changing the World – from the Catholic New Times, March 11, 2001, courtesy of Brian Carroll, Dow’s Lake Residents Association.
– Sustainability Project – Mike Nickerson – July 17, 2001.
– Bill McKibben, “Some Like It Hot,” New York Review of Books, July 5, 2001, pp. 35-38. Review of the Third Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and of President Bush’s National Energy Policy.
– Alanna Mitchell, “World reefs sinking fast, UN scientists say in study,” Globe & Mail, Sept. 11, 2001, p. A6.
– Alanna Mitchell, “Scientists attack endangered-species bill – Proposed law too weak to be effective, more than 1,300 tell Chrétien in a letter,” Globe & Mail, Sept. 11, p. A8.
– Sheila Brady, “House of glass,” New Homes section of The Citizen, Sept. 8, p. I1. Feature story on the new Rockcliffe house of Bill Malhotra, head of Claridge Homes.
– Letter to the editor of The Citizen, Sept. 4, 2001, p. B5, “This bird could cost you your land,” on how sightings of the loggerhead shrike could mete out severe economic penalties to landowners. Also a follow-up letter to a similar case of the blue racer snake on Pelee Island.
– Michael Valpy, “High Concept / The Precautionary Principle : Frankenfoods: What would Hippocrates do?” Globe & Mail, Aug. 25, 2001, p. F6.
– Wyna Toye, “Point of View / Experimental Farm must avoid taint of commercialism,” The Citizen, Aug. 16, 2001, p. B4.
– Hugh Winsor, “Playing footsie with Uncle George,” Globe & Mail, Aug. 10, 2001, p. A11. Quotes from a speech by Maurice Strong to the Canadian Association of Members of Public Ulitity Tribunals, cautioning against being carried away by expanding markets for energy, given our wasteful, indulgent and harmful ways.
– Bjorn Lomborg, “The truth about the environment,” The Economist, Aug. 4, 2001, pp.62-65. Former green activist, author of “The Skeptical Environmentalist.”
– Martin Mittelstaedt, “Prairies may become dust bowl, scientist says,” Globe & Mail, July 26, 2001, p. A6.
– PEN, Vol. 16 No. 7, September 2001.
The next meeting of the GACC is on October 17, 2001 at 7:30 p.m., in the Honeywell Room.