OSCA BOARD MEETING
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
MINUTES
PRESENT: Dianne Borg, Mike Lascelles, Michael Jenkin, Leo Doyle, Brendan McCoy, Deirdre McQuillan, Clive Doucet, Rob Campbell, Dianne Caldbick, Stephen Haines, Jenny Haysom, Michael Loewen, Ed Keyes, Carolyn Pullen, Gauri Sreenivasan,
REGRETS: Tom Lingard (CUSA), David Law, Ken Slemko, Rachel Vincent, Steve Mennill, Lisa Drouillard, Ailsa Francis, Sian FitzGerald,
GUESTS: Mr. & Mrs. Purves - speed hump on Riverdale
AGENDA 1. Approval of Agenda, Minutes of January 18 board meeting
2. President's Report
3. OSCA Membership - new ways to gain memberships
4. Councillor Doucet's Report
5. Nominate Volunteer of the Month
6. Committee Reports
7. Other business
Action Minutes
1. Approval of Agenda and Minutes
MOTION: Proposed by Jenny Haysom and seconded Stephen Haines that the agenda be accepted with the addition of an item on OSCA committees under Other business
MOTION CARRIED
MOTION: proposed by Mike Lascelles and seconded by Dianne Borg that the Minutes of the January 18 board meeting be accepted.
MOTION CARRIED
2. President's Report
- Rezoning 88 Bellwood -There were approximately 30 presentations at Planning committee on February 8. Michael Jenkin and Leo Doyle made a presentation against the rezoning on behalf of OSCA. The final vote was 6 to 2 in favour of rezoning. The committee made a resolution to ask the province to sell surplus school properties to municipalities for $1.
The 88 Bellwood rezoning issue goes before City Council in the next week or two. OSCA was approached to write a letter to the Mayor and councillors opposing Planning Committee's decision to all the rezoning.
MOTION: proposed by Mike Lascelles and seconded by Ed Keyes that OSCA write a letter to the mayor and City councillors asking council not to ratify the decision Planning Committee made to rezone 88 Bellwood and reiterating the points made in it's presentation at Planning Committee.
MOTION CARRIED
After City council makes its decision, there are 30 days to make an appeal to the OMB.
- Rotary Playground - a second public meeting is planned for March 21 from 7 to 9 pm at Brewer Pool. Then Paul Landry will bring the final plan to the April 19 Board meeting for OSCA's approval. Phase 1 (preschool area) should be ready for spring 2006.
- Report on Firehall Renovation Committee - Ken Slemko and David Law are going to interview various people at City Hall on the subject. Michael is working on a document which he will circulate to the board by the end of the week. Another meeting is planned for the week of February 21.
- OSCA Policy on Traffic Issues (attached) - Michael presented this policy which is to be used when ad hoc groups approach OSCA for help with a local traffic problem.
MOTION: proposed by Mike Lascelles and seconded by Dianne Borg that the OSCA board adopt the following OSCA Policy on the Handling of Traffic Issues
Purpose:
To clarify the manner in which the OSCA Board will deal with requests from community residents for action on traffic issues on neighbourhood streets (traffic calming, street and intersection design etc.).
Background:
In general the Board approach to traffic management issues has been to deal with broad strategic issues such as overall City policy on managing commuter traffic, promotion of urban transit solutions, etc. to relieve pressure on the three major north-south commuter arteries that run through or border our community (Bronson Avenue, Bank and Main Streets) and to support/advocate for policies and initiatives designed to calm traffic on those main arteries.
Second, the Board has agreed in past decisions to focus its efforts on traffic calming on the two residential streets designated as minor collectors by the City (Sunnyside and Riverdale Avenues) as these are the streets most directly under stress and are the principal conduits through which heavy traffic from outside the community will flow into other residential streets in the community.
Approach:
In situations where residents on a street are concerned about a traffic issue and approach the Board for support or assistance, we would proceed in the following way:
- Residents would be encouraged to form a working group, and if this occurs, a Board member will be assigned to work with the group and act as liaison.
- The group would be encouraged to develop options for corrective action and to discuss those options with City staff.
- The group would then be encouraged to hold a public consultation process (e.g. public meeting, public event, canvassing of individual households) where the views of the residents affected by the issue and proposed solution(s) are sought and where the views of all residents have been fairly expressed. If a public meeting is held it would be attended by the Board liaison person.
- 4. On the basis of the outcome of the public consultation process the group would be encouraged to refine their proposals and bring their final recommendations to OSWATCH.
- OSWATCH would, in turn, provide advice to the group and the Board on what the next appropriate steps might be. These could include a direct approach by the group to the City, or a discussion and possible resolution from the Board to the City supporting the proposed recommendations from the residents' group.
MOTION CARRIED
- Doors Open Ottawa - the Firehall is among the heritage buildings that will be included in this year's event which will take place on June 5, 2005. This spring the City will have the brickwork repointed, the plaster redone and the front porch will be rebuilt.
3. OSCA Membership
Bea and Jerry Bol, who have been coordinating the OSCA membership drive for the past few years, contacted the board to see if there might be a better way to collect memberships as the present system is not working well, mainly due to lack of volunteers to go door-to-door. They suggested that a membership form, that could be mailed in or brought to the Firehall, be in OSCAR every month. The board further suggested that a membership booth be at every special event that OSCA holds and that perhaps an OSCA mascot be developed to sell memberships at every opportunity.
4. Councillor Doucet's Report
- Budget - Councillor Doucet told the meeting that he was disappointed that in the end some councillors asked for the tax increase be reduced from 4.4 to 3.9%.
5. Nominate Volunteer of the Month
Brenda Lee and Anne-Marie Corbett were chosen. Deirdre will do the write-up for OSCAR.
7. Committee Reports
OSWATCH
- Speed Hump on Riverdale Avenue - Mark Purves, who lives close to the speed bump on Riverdale made a presentation to the board (attached).
This presentation includes a petition in which the vast majority of residents want the hump removed as it causes excess noise and also the vibrations are causing cracks in foundations.
MOTION: proposed by Leo Doyle and seconded by Ed Keyes that notwithstanding its support for effective traffic-calming measures that contribute to pedestrian comfort and safety in Old Ottawa South, OSCA recommends that the City remove the speed hump on Riverdale Avenue between Avenue Road and Glenview Avenue as requested by local residents.
The Riverdale speed hump has proven ineffective in calming traffic and has contributed to excessive noise and vibration for adjacent residences. OSCA believes that much needed traffic-calming measures in Old Ottawa South need to be adequately studied and fully implemented to achieve their objectives. As we have requested in the past, comprehensive traffic calming measures need to be taken with respect to the whole of Riverdale Avenue on a priority basis.
MOTION CARRIED
- Design Guidelines for infill housing - now available
- Federation of Community Associations (FCA)- Leo reminded the board that an OSCA representative is needed for this group. It was agreed that Deirdre would ask for agendas and minutes to be sent to OSCA and she would circulated to board and if something of interest came up, an OSCA representative would attend that meeting.
LIBRARY
Jenny Haysom thanked Brendan McCoy and David Law for their support at the presentation to the City budget meeting.
MOTION: proposed by Jenny Haysom and seconded by Ed Keyes that OSCA accept the proposed mandate for OSCA Library Committee:
Be it resolved that the OSCA Board establish an OSCA Library Committee.
1. The committee shall have a chair and a minimum of three members.
Either the chair or a member of the committee shall be a member of the OSCA Board.
2. The committee shall make regular reports on its activities to the OSCA Board and shall report annually to the membership at the OSCA AGM.
3. A committee budget shall be drawn up annually and approved by the Board at its annual budget meeting.
4. The mandate for the committee shall be as follows:
- to develop a relationship of mutual support between the OOS community and the Ottawa Public Library;
- to assist the OPL, and in particular its Sunnyside Branch, in developing community programming space;
- to organize fundraising activities for the renovation/improvement of the Sunnyside Branch;
- to monitor policy and administrative initiatives of the OPL and assess their impact on the OOS community and to advise the OSCA Board on appropriate advocacy and public positions with respect to library issues;
- to work with other community groups in developing advocacy positions and initiatives that support the development of library services in Ottawa and in the OOS community.
MOTION CARRIED
ECOS
- Brewer Pond - Open House on Tuesday, February 22 at the Firehall.
- Parks as classrooms - Hopewell School and Westboro Academy want to do some programming in the parks - ECOS will help. OSCA is very interested in doing an environmental Summer Camp in the parks. ECOS to speak with the OSCA program committee.
Program - Dianne Borg - we are in a renewal phase for programming and the program committee want to reach out to residents to find a way to make programs more attractive. The committee needs people to help design a community input strategy.
Special Events
Winter Carnival - February 6 - was a wonderful success. Revenues were $1240 ($387 from raffle, $403 from donations, $300 from Tracy Arnett for the sleigh ride and $150 from Maximum Home Care for hot dogs). Expenses were $1215, but these can be written off to the Windsor Rink Grant if there are monies in that account at the end of the season.
Finance - Steve Mennill was unable to attend the meeting.
OSCAR - Jenny Haysom made the report. A new distribution manager has been appointed. His name is Craig Pichet and he lives on Grove Avenue.
The editor, Norma Reveler gave a report (attached) to the board.
- a writing/drawing contest with prizes sponsored by Dairy Queen
- good advertising support at present, revenue is all from advertising and ad preparation.
- expenses are printing, staff honorariums (ad manager: percentage of ads sold, editor $800/issue, bookkeeper $25/hr, distribution manager $200/issue and capital expenses. Since September 2004 OSCAR has made $2,000.
- editorial is in DTP (Quark Express program)
- good base of contributors, but would like more.
Firehall Redevelopment - The Lobster Supper will be held on May 27 and the ticket price is $60 with a charitable receipt for $30. Tickets go on sale at the Firehall on Wednesday, March 30 at 9:00 am. Still looking for contributions to the silent auction.
Web Site - Stephen Haines said that we need to encourage more users and he will put a notice in OSCAR to help with this. There are still some bugs on the website such as old programs and previous board member names appearing on the site, even though they have been erased..
8. Other Business
The meeting ended at 10:15 pm