Wednesday morning, four bur oaks in the Champlain Park neighbourhood of Kitchissippi Ward were officially marked as heritage trees by Forestry Ontario as part of an initiative to grant 150 trees heritage designation in celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary. The ceremony noted the importance of honouring natural heritage, especially in a nation such as our own, which is known for its natural resources.
Hi Kitchissippi. First, thanks to all of you who participated in our poll to determine what our ward's contribution to the Ottawa 150 time capsule! Those were some amazing ideas.
As it turns out, the winner was to put as many street-level photos of the ward as possible to be preserved for posterity in that capsule. Now I'm in a bind: we only have a few days to submit that.
Better late than never.
Last winter, in the wake of the news that the Civic campus of The Ottawa Hospital would re-locate to the eastern end of the Central Experimental Farm and Queen Juliana Park, I hosted a town hall for the Civic Hospital neighbourhood to begin hearing concerns. I was grateful for the attendance, in addition, of our MPP Yasir Naqvi and the hospital’s Kate Eggins.
A Zoning By-Law Amendment and Official Plan Amendment applications have been submitted for the new Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus site at 930 Carling Ave and 520 Preston Ave.
The Zoning By-Law Amendment and OPA application for Rochester Field is now going through its formal circulation period. We are hosting an Open House for residents to take a look at the application proposed by the NCC for Rochester Field on Wednesday, October 4 from 6:30-8:30 at the Van Lang Field House (29 Van Lang Pvt). The application is also available on DevApps here and you can read more about the NCC's long-term vision for the Sir John A.
Residents likely recall the controvery this summer when speed humps went in on Bayswater that didn't meet the standard. They were too high, and drivers were complaining. The three southerly humps were investigated, and re-built to be a little smaller, which upset some residents since they weren't having as drastic an effect on speed. To help me get a handle on what effect the humps were having, my office asked staff to do some speed surveys, which was done in early August.
Today, a group called Waste Watch Ottawa published a report that urges the City to do better on waste diversion. I was pleased to devote some of our intern Julie's research capacity to its production. Click below to read the full report. I'm looking forward to hearing residents' and the City's reaction to it in the coming days. This is a good time to note that the conclusions aren't mine, but it's always worthwhile to have challenging discussions.
This summer, I provided some of our intern Julie's research time to a group called Waste Watch Ottawa. They've created a report looking at Ottawa waste diversion that will be unveiled tomorrow. Here's Waste Watch Ottawa's media release ahead of the event. I've offered to post the report for distribution, and it will go live tomorrow morning during the news conference.
WASTE WATCH OTTAWA
Media and City Council Advisory – News Conference
A few of you have been, rightfully, e-mailing our office looking for an update on the progress of the Reid Park Re-Development. Our last update to the community was in March, when we were able to provide a final concept plan and detailed information about the environmental risk management plan. You can check out that information here. That previous information indicated that construction would start in May 2017.