The Board returned from its summer break with a pile of new issues to address, including renewed discussions with the City of a Partnership agreement on the running of programs at the community centre, updates on the traffic study, the work on infill guidelines, the upcoming City Budget consultations, the forthcoming opening of the fitness room, and launching a search for a new OSCA executive director. Some details on these issues follow.
Partnership Agreement with the City
After a break over the summer we are likely to be into significant discussions with the City this autumn on the details of how we jointly manage the delivery of programs at the Firehall. While much of these discussions will revolve around the details of how programs are managed and delivered and who is responsible for what, there are a few issues that will require some negotiation in our view and these include the level of staff resources the City will continue to devote to programming at the Firehall, OSCA’s role in the due diligence required to run programs (health and safety issues, HR policies etc.); and the disposition and management of any financial surpluses that are generated from programming; and the levels of cross subsidization from programming surpluses can be devoted to other community functions, such as representing the community’s interests at City Hall. So far the discussions have been productive and positive and we are hopeful that the Partnership Agreement will be wrapped up by the spring.
City Budget Consultations
The City is asking for input on the 2012 Budget early this year and so the four community associations in Capital Ward have agreed to a joint submission. The Board approved the submission at its September 20th meeting which included the following elements: a) no cuts to community centre, transit and library staff or services, b) funding for a design plan for Main Street between Smythe Road and Echo Drive and c) funding for a feasibility study for the renovation and expansion of the Heron Park Community Centre.
Ward Council Discussions
At the Ward Council (which is the regular meeting between the Councillor and the four community association presidents in Capital Ward) OSCA was asked for our priorities in terms of issues to be addressed. We listed three major issues: a) finishing the reconstruction and renovation of the water play area at Brewer Park (this is going ahead), b) traffic management, particularly given the impact of the Lansdowne development and the fact that a retail development the size of Billings Bridge is anticipated on the site as well as multiple sports and other entertainment events; c) managing densification and in-fill housing.
Sunnyside Traffic Study [Old Ottawa South Area Management Study—ATM]
It’s expected that the final report and recommendations from the study will be available in a few weeks time. OSWatch members have been active on the issue and have participated directly in all the public consultations and we are hopeful that there will be some useful recommendations on improvements to Sunnyside that will improve its safety and liveability. When the study is available we will post it on the OSCA Web site. The report will go the Planning and Environment Committee for discussion and approval and at that time we will be able to make our views known to Councillors on the final recommendations. As with most of these studies, the recommendations dealing with actual changes to the physical layout of the street will likely have to wait until Sunnyside under goes rehabilitation involving, for example replacement of sewers and water mains.
Infill Housing
As you will know from articles in the OSCAR over the last few years, the issue of the inappropriate design of infill housing has been a controversial question in the community. City staff have suggested changes in zoning to deal with the some of these issues. Grade and garage fronted homes are being addressed, other issues such as height, setbacks and massing are unfortunately not. The zoning proposals were the result of a study, which OSWATCH has been involved in, and were outlined at a public meeting in mid-September at City Hall. Formal recommendations on the zoning changes will be going to Planning and Environment Committee in the near future. OSWatch will be commenting on these proposals and continuing to grapple with this issue. See the centre of the main page of the OSCA website at oldottawasouth.ca for details. [The original article has been moved to here.]
Progress on Programs
We have now been back in the Firehall for over a year with a much better facility from which to run community programs. It appears you agree that it is a better facility as our revenues from program activities and our enrolments are steadily growing. While a single year of improvement does not make a trend, the results are encouraging and seem to reinforce the wisdom of investing in the renovation in the first place. It also gives us some encouragement to continue to innovate in our programming options, such as the recent investment in the fitness room, to improve the variety of programming options made available to residents of this community and others in Capital ward.
Search for a New Executive Director
Our executive Director, Deirdre McQuillan, will be retiring mid next year, and we need to find a replacement. The Board has established a search committee to find a full time replacement for Deirdre and it will start work immediately. This will be a challenging new position as with the expansion of our programming base and OSCA’s diverse other activities, the role the Executive Director will play will be changing. The search committee consists of VP David Law, Treasurer Steve Mennill, Program Committee Chair Anna Sundin, and Board Member Michaela Tokarski. I will be chairing the search committee and we will be working on selection criteria for the position, a new job description and terms and conditions of employment over the next few weeks. We will be advertising for the position in the OSCAR and on the OSCA website, hopefully before the end of the year.
Fall Fest
Just a reminder that our annual Fall Fest will be held on Sunday, October 16 in Windsor Park, running from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. There will be games, contests, food and music, so come out, bring the kids and have fun meeting your neighbours, enjoy the autumn colours and the food before we all start to hibernate for the winter.
