CHNA executive committee meeting minutes - September 2011

CHNA Executive Committee Meeting

September 22, 2011 - 7:30 p.m.

In attendance: Marshall Perrin, Amanda Farris, Katherine Steinhoff

Absent: Alayne MacGregor, Scott Bradley

1. Traffic committee strategic plan

MOVED: That CHNA approve the Traffic Committee's Strategic Plan. CARRIED

RECOMMENDED: That the priorities of the Traffic Committee be outlined at the

next Membership meeting . The executive will seek input and advice from

Chair of Traffic Committee on how best to proceed with membership

endorsement and feedback.

2. Governance document and amendments to CHNA constitution

MOVED: That CHNA approve the CHNA governance document. This document outlines a variety of issues and makes suggestions for clarifying the association’s structure, fine-tuning its decision-making processes and ensuring that the CHNA speaks clearly on issues of concern to the neighbourhood. CARRIED

DECISION: The executive will further discuss possible amendments to the association’s constitution. Amendments must be passed at a CHNA Annual General Meeting.

3. CHNA public meeting in November

The meeting’s primary goal will be to update the membership on issues of general interest, such as parks and recreation development, expansion plans at the Heart Institute and traffic and safety concerns. It was further decided that the Annual General Meeting — including the election of officers — will be held in January 2012.

The executive also developed a draft agenda for the November meeting:

7:30 Reports from the Planning and Development Committee; Civic Hospital Area Parks and Recreation Committee (CHAPaRC); Community Advisory Committee (CAC) of the Ottawa Hospital; and Traffic Committee.

8:00 Speaker from Hydro

8:30 Speaker on safety in the neighbourhood, including traffic.

8:50 Distribution of survey and announcement about upcoming elections

ACTIONS - Amanda will talk to CHNA’s police representative.

-Katherine will talk to the Traffic Committee Chair about outlining the primary priorities of the Committee’s strategic plan and how best to invite the endorsement/feedback of the membership.

4.Infill issues

a) TABLED Report on City Infill Meeting on September 14th

b) 211 Melrose – The executive discussed the CHNA survey on 211 Melrose and the process used for arriving at a decision on this matter.

5. Pumpkins in the Park on October 29th

ACTIONS: Amanda will meet with key sponsor, Susan Chell, to discuss logistics and additional sponsorship for the event. She will also meet with Kate Harrigan to discuss the newsletter content and layout. Newsletter expected to be sent by Oct 14^th to residents.

Minutes from meeting on July 13, 2011 to come.

Ottawa curb-side giveaway weekend - October 22 & 23

Rules for setting out items:

• Place items at the curb.
• Place stickers or signs on items with the word "FREE".
• Ensure any items that you want to keep are away from your set out treasures or tucked away safely in your garage.
• At the end of the day, bring any uncollected gems back to your home.

Giveaway items could include:

• Books, CDs and DVDs
• Old furniture and small appliances
• Construction materials - including drywall and hardware such as nails, bolts and screws
• Kitchen gadgets, dishes, cutlery, pots and pans
• Unwanted gifts

For more information, go to:
http://ottawa.ca/garbage_recycle/garbage/giveaway_en.html

Survey results from last CHNA membership meeting

At the last Annual General Meeting, we handed out a survey which asked: What neighbourhood issues are affecting you? Traffic: Too fast? Too much? Safety issues? Transit, cycling, walking: Can you do these comfortably? New development: Construction problems? Shadowing? Density? Safety: Break-ins? Other safety issues? Anything else? What are the possible solutions? What do you think would make our neighbourhood better?

What you said:

Member #1 on issues or problems

-Overnight parking on Melrose between Ruskin and Carling. Double-parking both sides of street. U-turns. Blocks the traffic – my route out of my neighbourhood.

Possible solutions or ideas: More traffic enforcement on this block.

-Need an additional pedestrian crossing of Driveway/Prince of Wales, e.g. if you want to walk from ornamental gardens to arboretum.

Possible solutions or ideas: Maybe a roundabout?

Member #2 on issues or problems

-Integrated bike lanes

Possible solutions or ideas: More Laurier Street extensions into the neighbourhood.

-Density (intensification)

Possible solutions or ideas: Work more with the developers to find solutions. Urban intensification is a given and it will affect us so we need to keep city planners accountable and look for ways to encourage development so they work with us.

-Transit

Possible solutions or ideas: Encourage the LRT on Carling. Spending billions to put rail where we already have a transit system does not help diversity the use or destinations it serves. Encourage OC Transpo - through counsellors to reduce suburban transit for urban use.

Member #3 on issues or problems

-Speed on neighbourhood streets

Possible solutions or ideas: Reduce speed limit, more on street parking. NO speed bumps.

-Don’t find a real problem with volume of traffic

-Cycling lanes. More!

-Density not really a problem, the other alternative is urban sprawl – ugly, costly.

Possible solutions or ideas: Work with developers to come up with solutions.

Member #4 on issues or problems

None. Everything is great.

Member #5 on issues or problems

-Traffic volume & speed

Possible solutions or ideas: Traffic plan, calming, 40 km/hour

-Trucks on Fairmont

Possible solutions or ideas: Signs

-Development and density

Possible solutions or ideas: Where is the holistic approach rather than piecemeal tackling of the impacts.

Member #6 on issues or problems

-Increasing traffic on Bayswater Avenue – difficult to get out of driveway – more dangerous for community –traffic is from new Hickory development.

Possible solutions or ideas: Divert traffic from Hickory development onto Carling.

-No infrastructure, grocery stores, etc. -community that encourages people to use cars.

Possible solutions or ideas: Build infrastructure – grocery stores, drug stores, etc. into community development plan

Member #7 on issues or problems

-The Ruskin lot that the Ottawa Hospital now wants to build a garage on is not Hospital property. Belongs to City and has a 30 year no construction agreement signed by the hospital and neigbourhood.

Possible solutions or ideas: Transit is the solution. If structure to be built then use the hospital space available on Carling Avenue and thereby not have traffic through the community.

CHNA governance

The CHNA has been looking at the way it works and is considering making changes to its constitution and other aspects of the association. Take a look at the following proposals and let us know what you think. Also, please contact us if you are interested in running for any of the positions listed below (chna4u@gmail.com). We will post proposed changes to the constitution in the months to come. All proposals go to a vote at the Annual General Meeting. You can view the current constitution at: http://chna4u.blogspot.com/2010/08/about-us_3052.html

GOVERNANCE ISSUES: This document outlines a variety of issues and makes suggestions for clarifying the association’s structure, fine-tuning its decision-making processes and ensuring that the CHNA speaks clearly on issues of concern to the neighbourhood.

I. Composition of the Executive

According to the 1982 constitution, the Executive Committee consists of:

· The Officers of the Association (Includes President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Past President)

· The District Directors.

· The Chairs of all Association Committees.

· Ad Hoc Members selected by the Executive Committee or general membership.

The Executive currently has five members, all of whom were elected at the last AGM: a Vice President, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and two Ad Hoc or Executive Members at Large (no one ran for President at the last AGM). The Association also has Chairs for two Committees and two Liaisons (see below), but Chairs and Liaisons were not elected at the AGM, a requirement for Executive Committee membership under the CHNA constitution. (The position of District Director has long fallen into disuse.)

Proposal: Delete references to executive positions that no longer exist. Delete Past President’s position on the Executive as this position has no clearly defined role. Establish an executive that consists of four Officers and five Committee Chairpersons. Ensure that Committee Chairpersons are elected at the next Annual General Meeting along with the other Officers. To keep the Executive to a reasonable size, delete the position of Ad Hoc Member.

The Executive Committee would therefore consist of the following four officers:

· President

· Vice President

· Secretary

· Treasurer

and the Chairpersons of the following five Committees:

· Events and Fundraising

· Safety

· Traffic

· Planning and Development

· Communications

II. Liaisons

CHNA currently benefits from having two liaisons whose primary job is to report on the activities of other organizations of interest to the Association. These liaisons attend meetings of the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) of the Ottawa Hospital and the Federation of Citizens’ Associations (FCA) of Ottawa-Carleton,

Proposal: Give liaisons voice but no vote at CHNA Executive meetings. Encourage liaisons to be Committee Chairpersons.

III. Executive decisions

The constitution currently says that the CHNA operates using Roberts’ Rules of Order and that “The Executive Committee shall have the power to act on behalf of the Association following a majority vote of the [executive] members present.” However, the Executive has tended to conduct its business with less formality than the constitution suggests.

Proposal: The Executive should move motions and conduct formal votes more often than in past.

IV. Executive meetings:

Meetings of the current Executive have been held irregularly.

Proposal: Plan to meet the last Wednesday of every month, except for July, August and December. Meetings may be cancelled if there is no urgent business.

V. Agenda for executive meetings:

Proposal: To facilitate proper preparation and informed discussion, the agenda should be issued at least one week prior to an executive meeting. Executive members should send additions to the agenda four days in advance of a meeting, but last minute additions shall be considered in emergency situations.

VI. Membership meetings

Some community associations have regular monthly membership meetings. CHNA does not. This is due, in part, to the fact that the CHNA does not have a community centre where people are able to meet. It is not realistic to expect executive members to hold membership meetings in their homes or rely on the Civic Hospital to provide a space for the organization every month. It is also difficult for our small executive to organize additional meetings, carry out the work of the organization and participate in the paid labour force. The CHNA normally has one to three membership meetings a year.

Proposal: Have two to three membership meetings a year. Give residents advance notice of these meetings. (Monthly meetings might be possible in future if the neighbourhood gets a community centre and if additional volunteers step forward to help organize these meetings.)

VII. Minutes or notes from meetings

Proposal: Produce short minutes and post them on the CHNA blog.

VIII. Constitution

The 1982 constitution needs to be reviewed with a view to updating and clarifying how the CHNA actually operates.

Proposal: Review and revise the constitution. Bring to next Annual General Meeting for discussion and adoption of changes.

The Traffic Committee has a Plan!

The CHNA Executive Committee has approved the Traffic Committee's strategic plan. Traffic committee members finalized and passed this plan in June. If you are concerned about traffic, try to make this meeting. If you want to join the Traffic Committee, you can sign up at the meeting or contact us at CHNA4U@gmail.com.

Primary priorities

1. Traffic Calming and Diversion Measures to encourage use of Carling Avenue and to lessen impact of through traffic on residential streets

2. Establishing a 40Km enforced speed limit throughout the area

3. Getting a commitment from the City to fund an independent traffic study in light of recent development and intensification

Reminder about Public Meeting on Infill Development

City staff sent the following message:

The next public meeting on the City’s Study of Small-Scale Infill Housing in Mature Neighbourhoods is scheduled for Wednesday, September 14^th from 7:00 – 9:00pm, in the Champlain Room at City Hall...At the September 14^th meeting there will be a short presentation focussed on proposed changes outlined in the attached document; you will find the presentation more clear if you have read the attached document. The majority of the meeting will be devoted to a question and answer session; senior staff and managers will be present at the meeting to respond to questions.

Comments on the proposed changes will be received up until the end of September.

Staff also sent a document outlining proposed changes and responses to a number of issues raised through the public consultation session held earlier this year. You can request a copy of this document by emailing CHNA at CHNA4U@gmail.com.

Hearing on Proposed Infill Development at 211 Melrose on September 21st

CHNA Treasurer Amanda Farris recently circulated the following message to CHNA members:

CHNA was contacted by a developer who recently purchased the house located at 211 Melrose. The house is situated on a slightly larger lot and his intention is to subdivide the lot and build a 2nd house. The developer is called Surface Developments and is owned by Jakub Ulak whom I met with last Wednesday. Jakub is an architect by trade and has done a couple of projects downtown.

. The details as he explained them to me are as follows:

1. He will be owner occupying 211 Melrose and develop the attached side lot.

2. He will tear down the existing garage and build a new one to go with the new house

3. The new building will be approx.. 2/3 the size of what an addition would be

4. Current lot size is approx.. 75x88. He is requesting a variance for 2 lots- 40x88 and 35x88 (approx..)

5. Height of new building will be the same or lower than current bylaws.

6. Zero setback to existing

7. Only minor variance requested will be for a smaller lot width (according to him)

The hearing for this request for variance is scheduled for September 21st at 1pm. Hearings are held at 101 Centrepoint Drive (Ben Franklin Place) in Council Chambers. I would encourage those of you who are most directly impacted by this to attend in person to express your concerns. If you have concerns and are unable to attend you may send the committee of adjustments and email at cofa@ottawa.ca attention Matthew Garnett. You may also want to send an email to ward councilor Katherine Hobbs at katherine.hobbs@ottawa.ca

The developer would like to hear your concerns as well. He told me he intends to speak personally to his neighbours on Melrose to get their support for the project prior to the hearing. We often don’t get much notice of these hearings in time to attend so I wanted to give everyone as much notice as possible.

If you would like to email the developer with your concerns his email address is Jakub@surfacedevelopments.com