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MANOR PARK CHRONICLE
JANVIER
2006
Beechwood Community Design Plan – Last
Meeting
I remind everyone that the Beechwood study is intended to guide
planning and transportation decisions over the next decade.
Residents of Manor Park are users of Beechwood as a transportation
corridor or as a community-shopping destination. A final public
meeting will be held at MacKay United Church on January 19th
from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The evening will consider the
transportation aspects of the corridor, both as they currently
exist and what they could be assuming the growth that can be
expected over the next ten years. The presentation will include a
computer-generated visualization of all traffic modes in the
corridor. I hope to see you that evening.
C.F.B. Rockcliffe – Things Are Finally Moving Along
Many of you will have seen the extensive series of articles in the
Ottawa Citizen concerning this site. Treasury Board has finally
given its approval for the site to be sold. The Canada Lands
Corporation (CLC) is the crown agency that will be charged with
proposing new uses for the 336 acres. The Minister through whom
CLC reports to parliament has made it known that he wishes that
this redevelopment be a model of sustainability in the urban
milieu. CLC will be working closely with City planners and the
community as it evolves the vision that will ultimately be
codified in zoning and design regulations.
Crime Prevention Ottawa – A Progress Report
Residents may remember that, during the 2005 budget, I managed to
persuade Council to fund the creation of a new agency focussed
entirely on preventing crime. A copy of the report, which Council
considered when it approved this approach, can be found at
www.rideau-rockcliffe.com . This agency would be expected to
focus existing community organizations, City departments and all
available resources on particular identified problems, develop a
concerted strategy with the stakeholders and ensure that progress
was monitored and results measured. Since that budget approval, a
Board of Directors has been named and 2 City staff members have
been seconded and are now working fulltime for the organization to
be named “Crime Prevention Ottawa”. A Board-level ’planning
retreat’ was held in mid-October as a result of which it was
decided that the organization would begin its work by actively
seeking the collaboration and advice of any and all community
partners that could possibly contribute ideas and resources to
making Ottawa a safer place by addressing the root causes of crime
in our society. The mechanism for this outreach will be a ‘forum’
sometime this coming April. Crime Prevention Ottawa has already
succeeded in obtaining financial assistance from the federal
government’s National Crime Prevention Centre towards this goal.
In December, Council approved Crime Prevention Ottawa’s budget for
the coming year.
Karen Way Redevelopment Proposal
I was recently informed that Richcraft intended to proceed with
the redevelopment of the former school site on Karen Way based on
the plans that it had last discussed with the community. These
plans envisaged a 12-story building facing St Laurent Boulevard
and some townhouses adjacent to the single-family homes on Apple
Tree road. Richcraft were aware that the community vigorously
opposed such a tall building on the site and, despairing of any
further accommodation, decided that it would file its application
with the City and seek the necessary rezoning at Planning
Committee, possibly in late January. At this point, I advised the
community association of Richcraft’s intention and asked them
whether they considered that any further discussion with the
proponent was desirable, failing which they would be challenging
Richcraft at the Planning Committee meeting. Both parties were
informed that, in those circumstances, my own position before
Planning Committee would be as described in the Chronicle last
January (summarized below). Representatives of the community
active on this file have advised me that they would consider
amending their position but would need a little more time to meet
Richcraft’s representatives in January. On this basis, I sought
and obtained Richcraft’s agreement that their proposal would not
be considered at Committee before late February. This should allow
sufficient time to explore whether the two sides can agree on a
mutually acceptable proposal.
Excerpts of Councillor’s Comments from
January 2005 MP Chronicle
The City’s Official Plan calls for intensification, but
intensification that is compatible with the surrounding community.
The difficulty of this site has a lot to do with defining the
relevant community and understanding its surroundings.
I believe that the only way to approach reasonable rezoning on
this site is to properly recognize its principal characteristics.
The site fronts on an arterial road, but at a location where that
arterial is close to losing its arterial nature and becoming a
collector. The other characteristic of the site is that it is
adjacent to an area characterized principally by single-family
homes. This site needs to be compatible along two separate axes.
...The portion of St. Laurent Boulevard
that includes the subject property should be treated as a
transition zone between the high-rise residential buildings (29,
25 and 12 stories) south of Brittany and the low-rise residential
community north of Hemlock. … I believe that mid-rise (5 stories)
development, fronting along this portion of St. Laurent Boulevard,
(and 2/3 stories, with appropriate backyards, for the portion of
the property adjacent to the residential community to the east)…
would best achieve the twin goals of the Official Plan of
intensification and community compatibility.
Unlike the two established communities, one low-rise to the north,
the other high-rise to the south, this intermediate portion of St.
Laurent Boulevard, east side, between Brittany and Hemlock, is on
the verge of redevelopment along its entire length. Whatever
happens at this site will likely be viewed as precedent setting,
with significant effects in the very near future.
Season's Greetings
I take this opportunity, on behalf of my family and myself, to
extend to all, Best Wishes for Health, Prosperity and Personal
Serenity in 2006.
Meilleurs vœux
Je profite de cette occasion pour vous souhaiter mes meilleurs
vœux pour une année de santé, prospérité et sérénité.
Jacques Legendre
Councillor, Rideau-Rockcliffe
You can communicate with me at (please include a telephone
number):
City of Ottawa
110 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa ON K1P 1J1
Tel: 580-2483, Fax: 580-2523
E-mail:
jacques.legendre@ottawa.ca
Web Site:
www.rideau-rockcliffe.com
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