At the Public Works and Infrastructure committee meeting at which the final TMP was being considered, the Chair walked on a motion calling on all levels of government to support the planned transportation projects, including a ring road. This was the first mention of a ring road in the five years of development, consultation and finalization of the TMP. This of course took all the public stakeholders, and perhaps some of the elected officials, off guard. Nevertheless, it passed 9-2 at committee. The GA has been engaged on the TMP through its POP affiliation and also directly in collaboration with the FCA Transportation Committee. It has not taken any position on a ring road but just on principle would not support this kind of major new direction being introduced as a walk on motion with no opportunity for analysis and input. As it turns out, when the topic came to Council for final approval, Councillor Johnson introduced a counter motion, removing the reference to a ring road and emphasizing adherence to the transportation policies in the Official Plan and due process. This motion was passed 16 to 8 by Council. However, we have not heard the last on a ring road for Ottawa, which is on a list of potential transportation studies by the Ontario government.

The NCC has established an Environmental Public Advisory Group for the proposed Eastern Bridge across the Ottawa River. The GA was invited to sit on the advisory panel. The chair of the GA attended the first meeting of the group on July 10, where an informative and question and answer period filled the 90 minutes allocated. The next meeting is planned for September.

After a long hiatus, CFAC was reconvened on June 19, 2025. The GA chair attended and heard from the other participants about plans and activities to bolster the image of the Central Experimental Farm and the perception of its value in the general population. The GA considers the Farm as a very valuable major urban greenspace and is dedicated to its preservation. Of direct interest to the GA is the news that the working group that was supposed to be struck to study how to mitigate the shadowing of research fields by new high rise development projects on the perimeter of the Farm has finally been constituted, with the City having hired a consultant to represent its positions. We will follow up on the work of this working group through the office of Councillor Riley Brockington, whose staff direction gave rise to the formation of such a group.

We applied to the City’s Community Environmental Projects Grant Program to support our work in collaboration with the Poets Pathway team. The application was successful. The grant is $10,000. The commercial general liability insurance we carry with the City as co-insured for the Pinesi Trail was found by the City to meet the requirements of this program as well.

The funding is intended to cover step 3 of our project timeline:
Disseminating pathway information (contractor)
a. Updating the Poets’ Pathway website.
b. Uploading both the directional and situational information to the targeted walking trail website(s).
c. In the longer term, developing an application that provides this information and more for prospective hikers and cyclists.

As reported earlier, the Southern Corridor is under threat. Through further investigation, it was determined that the defense of the eastern part of the corridor would best be carried out through engagement on the new Zoning Bylaw, draft 2. It seems to be the trigger for this threat as it proposes a zoning change from Open Space to Development Reserve for this area. The western part of the corridor is included in the study area for a new Merivale-Baseline secondary plan. Our best means of defense is to participate in this secondary plan process and mobilize allies to do so as well. Erwin agreed to work on this file on behalf of the GA.