OSCA Board to Challenge Lansdowne Development
For the past year and a half OSCA has consistently challenged the joint OSEG/City proposal to redevelop Lansdowne Park at City Council Committees and at City Council itself. In our view it is a bad proposal for our community and for City taxpayers given the significant cost involved and the large subsidies provided to private developers. From all angles the new shopping mall and stadium complex pose traffic and business risks in the Glebe and Old Ottawa South for residents and merchants alike. For these reasons OSCA has decided to participate, in conjunction with the Glebe Business Improvement Association and the Glebe Community Association, in an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board of the City’s approval of this development. I will be updating you on the progress of this initiative in forthcoming issues of the paper.
At the same time and without prejudice to our legal position, OSCA will continue to work through City channels on ways to improve the project design. For example, in my last column I mentioned that as a result of a resolution of City Council, OSCA and the Glebe Community Association were asked to participate in a consultative committee on the implementation of the Lansdowne Development. We had our first meeting on September 16 and immediately the issue on the table is the consultation process for the Site Plan for Lansdowne, including the commercial, office and condominium area, and the park area. Public consideration and consultation on the site plan for a development is a regular part of the planning process for developments and Lansdowne will be no exception to that rule. We provided comments on what we felt were the best ways to organize the consultations and communicate the information to residents.
Because Lansdowne is such a large and complex development with difficult conflicts to manage between the developers’ commercial objectives of maximizing revenue generation from the site and the need to preserve the public goals of enhancing the park land and recreational amenity of the site, the Site Plan process will be broken down into two parts: the first stage, to take place in October, will deal with the general placement of buildings, building heights and the physical infrastructure to support them. The second stage, to take place in the New Year, will deal with more detailed issues related to the design of the buildings and the design of parkland elements (landscaping) and the activities that could take place on them.
The first public consultation on the Site Plan will take place at Lansdowne Park in Salons A & B on Thursday, October 14 between 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. There will be posted information, briefings and breakout sessions to discuss the various parts of the development and people will be able to provide comments on what is proposed.
All Candidates Meeting
OSCA, in partnership with the Glebe Community Association, the Heron Park Community Association and the Old Ottawa East Community Association will be sponsoring an all candidates meeting for those individuals running for Councillor in Capital Ward. The meeting will be held at the Glebe Collegiate Institute, 212 Glebe Avenue, starting at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 7. An ad in th[e October] issue of the OSCAR [and this website] provide additional details. There will be a significant block of time reserved for questions to candidates from the floor, so do turn out and find out what the candidates have to say on the issues of importance to you. With no incumbent candidate running in this election it appears to be a real contest and lots of interest is building in the race.
Future Planning and Programmes at the Firehall
The Board has decided to hold a planning exercise at its November meeting to determine what our key priorities should be for the next year for a host of our activities, including programming. One of the key programming issues will be whether to proceed with a fitness facility in the new multipurpose room in the basement of the building. The Board will review this issue in the Spring given that it will require significant planning and a major investment in equipment. In the interim the Basement multipurpose room will be used for other activities to gauge what demand exists for the space for other types of programming. The Board also agreed that it would manage its reserves in such a way that sufficient funds will be available to invest in exercise equipment if a decision is taken to establish a fitness centre.
Firehall Renovations
I am happy to report that the list of deficiencies from the renovation is shrinking as items are fixed or repaired or missing components installed. The flooring in the main hall and multipurpose rooms has been either replaced or restored and sealed and polished and looks much better. The floor for the Basement multipurpose room is being installed as I write and additional enhancements to that room are being completed. Hopefully within the next month most of the items on the deficiency list will be crossed off and we will be in a position to properly organize our equipment and fully exploit the programming opportunities in the community centre.Fall Fest
Our Annual Fall Fest at Windsor Park is scheduled for Sunday, October 24 between noon and 2:00 p.m. This is a great occasion to meet friends and neighbours and let the kids enjoy games and events. There will be food available and lots of fun for all, so please do try and get out and enjoy yourselves!