My colleague Catherine McKenney and I got an update from staff on the Hickory Street pedestrian bridge yesterday. Several residents have been asking - here's the scoop:
The Hickory Pedestrian Bridge construction is progressing well and is following original construction schedule.
The next milestone at the end of June 2015 is the delivery of all bridge and deck elements to the construction site.
Staff with our infrastructure team are set to get underway with a sewer overhaul on St. Francis and Edgar streets in Hintonburg, as well as some slight sidewalk widening. It's expected to get underway in early July.
Work affecting the school is expected to be complete by the time it starts in September, and my thanks go to staff for their close cooperation with school officials to minimize disruption for the programming this summer.
The boards we presented to the St. Francis school parents council are appended to this post below.
The Mechanicsville Community Association hosts its annual Mechanicsville Days tomorrow! There'll be hot dogs, games, bouncy castle and more for this fantastic community party, held 11-2 at Laroche Park. See you there!
On Wednesday, University of Ottawa Heart Institute staff and contractors presented an update on construction progress. The top line is that construction is on schedule. Major excavation should begin in late September or early October. Given our early experience with empty idling trucks and gravel on the roads associated with the Tamarack build on Rosemount, I asked Institute to ensure that 1. streets are kept swept and, 2. that they work with the truck dispatchers on timing the truck arrivals so they don't sit empty and idling nearby to the site.
There are several items of significant interest coming up on Tuesday’s Planning Committee agenda (if that kind of thing floats your boat).
1. City staff have developed a response to Bill 73 – Smart Growth for Our Communities now in front of the Ontario’s Legislature. The response to that bill by the City’s Planning and Growth Management department is on the agenda of our meeting, and appended to this post below. I’m in full agreement with some of staff’s positions:
Awesome, Kitchissippi! Well before deadline, you raised $1000 for Ottawa West Community Support - thanks in part to a top-up donation yesterday by the Wellington West Business Improvement Area.
Thanks to your generosity, I'll be taking a pie in the face at the OWCS' annual BBQ,June 26. It starts at 11:30 AM, at 1137 Wellington Street West. We're thinking pie (or pies) get thrown at noon. Throwing honours will be raffled away.
Attached is a summary of decisions from the June 3rd Committee of Adjustment hearing.
Community mailboxes (CMBs) have become a hot point of contention in Kitchissippi as the first phase of rollout is underway. Several postal walks have seen pads installed this week and last.
I've been clear in my opposition to CMBs in the urban core since last spring. This May, I and colleague Catherine McKenney participated in a public forum to express our concerns. The loss of greenspace in neighbourhoods not designed to accomodate CMBs and the increased workload and cost to municipalities are particularly concerning.
I would like to provide an update on the MacFarlane Avenue, Orrin Avenue, and Reid Avenue reconstruction project. At the Public Information Session held on March 3, 2015, it was indicated that construction was planned to start and finish in 2015. City staff has reviewed the current status of the project with the Consulting Engineer and have decided that the best course of action is to postpone the start of construction to 2016. Due to some unforeseen issues, the timing of the project was extended.
An exciting new initiative spearheaded by the Somerset West Community Health Centre is on its way to Mechanicsville: the MarketMobile!