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Open House about City's draft plan for Preston-Carling Area on February 5th

A message from the office of Councillor Katherine Hobbs follows: 

 You're Invited: Open House on Carling-Preston District CDP

Urban design consultant George Dark’s recommended development plan for the Preston-Carling district, one of the fastest growing neighbourhoods in the city, will be presented at a public information session on Tuesday, February 5.

The Preston-Carling strategic directions will complement two community design plans in the Preston Street corridor: One for Bayview Station District at the north and Gladstone Station District farther south.

This information session will be a chance for residents to see and comment on the Mr. Dark’s recommended approach for redevelopment of the Preston-Carling district, including project timelines, and to view the results of a recent public design charette. The Preston-Carling district plan was commissioned to ensure orderly development after the City received a number of applications for major developments in the area.

The charette was conducted by Mr. Dark and resulted in a model showing possible buildings, greenspace and transportation links. After the public information session, City Planning staff will review the public comments and present their recommendations to the City’s Planning Committee and Council for consideration in March.

Date: Tuesday February 5, 2013
Time: 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Location: Tom Brown Arena, 141 Bayview Road, Ottawa

For more information on the Carling-Bayview Community Design Plan and to review and comment on the results from the design charette, please visit ottawa.ca/carlingbayview.




Note from CHNA: See January 25th posting called "Ottawa’s tallest buildings, highest density: coming to streets near you." Please consider completing the CHNA 'Survey Monkey' questionnaire on this issue by going to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/R772VTW










 

Ottawa’s tallest buildings, highest density: coming to streets near you?

-City releases draft development plan for Preston-Carling Area

-CHNA seeks community input

The City has just released a draft development plan for the Preston-Carling area, which includes the eastern section of the Civic Hospital neighbourhood. The central theme: major “intensification.”     

You will be affected by the plan if  . . . you live in the Civic Hospital neighbourhood . . . travel on our  streets . . . use our parks . . . send your kids to a neighbourhood school . . . swim at the Plant Recreation Centre . . . enjoy the ambiance of Little Italy . . . live near a patch of development land, etc., etc..  

Among the draft plan’s highlights:

 -  It calls for the area to have the tallest buildings and highest population density in the entire city.

·   

·         -  It would allow construction in the area of at least 23 condo and office towers of between 15 and 40 storeys (3x40, 3x30, 6x25, 2x20, 7x18, 2x15 — for a total of 556 floors of high-rise development).

·       -    It would allow construction in our own Civic Hospital neighbourhood of one 30-storey tower, five 25-storey towers, and one 15-storey building. That’s 170 floors of high-rise development (mainly condos), all to be clustered on the block of land between Champagne St. and the O-Train trench, north of Carling.  

·        -  It says there should be a height transition from the towers “towards the surrounding stable residential neighbourhoods", but there isn't one. The maximum height of the “transitional” buildings on our side of the trench will be over nine storeys, putting high-rises adjacent to one and two storey buildings.

·        -    It recommends new road/bridge connections over the O-Train trench at Young and Hickory Streets, encouraging more traffic to flow on residential streets between our neighbourhood, Little Italy and points further east.

·          -  The plan calls for traffic calming projects throughout the study area. No details are provided.

·        -  It calls for “the provision of a sufficient and generous high quality public realm.”  That means traffic calming projects, parks, public squares, sidewalk improvements, etc.  It says the details “should be prepared and implemented through collaboration between the City and all stakeholders.” However, public realm projects appear to be dependent on money from developers. 

·        -  It proposes expanding Ev Tremblay Park to include the lot to the west of the park on Champagne Avenue (where the Beechgrove Apartments are). It suggests making part of Champagne Avenue into a pedestrian-first area (cars must give way to people) to allow passage between the two halves of the park.

·        -  It  recommends the establishment of a new, large-scale federal government building complex in the green space south of Carling Avenue between the O-Train and Sherwood. This would eliminate a space that is currently used for recreation by the community.

·         You can find further details here: http://ourkitchissippi.ca/development/draft-plans-for-carlingpreston-have-your-say/and here: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Plan+rein+development+Little+Italy+still+threatens/7809335/story.html

So, what do you think? 

The Civic Hospital Neighbourhood Association (CHNA) is seeking input. Please complete our short 'Survey Monkey' questionnaire by going to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/R772VTW

We’ll share the results with our Councillor, Katherine Hobbs.

The association is also encouraging residents to send comments directly to Councillor Hobbs and City planners. You can email Hobbs at Katherine.Hobbs@ottawa.ca and City planners at Carling-BayviewCDP@ottawa.ca

Whatever you think of the plan, NOW is the time to speak up!

Threat of break-ins is back!

 On December 24th, a resident on Hickory Street noticed a man peering in her side door. The resident went to the door and asked the man what he wanted. He said he was looking for the O-Train but he had a small crowbar in his pocket, so she asked the man where he lived. He said "over there". The resident then asked him "what street?" and he repeated "over there". It looks like some people are taking advantage of the holiday season. Take care and take precautions:

Dos and don'ts
•       Lock your doors and windows.
•       Don't let newspapers or mail pile up if you are away.
•       Tell your neighbours if you are going to be away and ask them to keep an eye open for anything unusual.
•       Report suspicious persons.
•       Do not open your door to strangers. Call 311 to report incidents. Call the police to report theft. Call 911 if there is a crime in progress or a life threatening emergency.
•       You can get a free home security check from our community police officer. His name is Constable Milton and his email address is MiltonA@ottawapolice.ca.

break-ins continue

I received the following note from a resident:

"We were made aware of a suspicious behaviour on Ruskin at mid-day around in early August with a 20 year Caucasian man being caught peering in the window of a backdoor. There were two other suspicious older men observed that day possibly checking out the neighbourhood.

There was garage theft on Fairmont on July 26.

We spoke to Constable Milton, our neighbour policeman and he said that there was a break and entry on Gwynne  (reported in more detail on http://chna4u.blogspot.ca/ ) and Bayswater Place on July 3.

On July 9 there was a theft from a car on Ruskin (hospital property).

It is really important any theft (even cars left unlocked) be reported to the police and community.  Sharing this information enables all of us to protect our homes and our neighborhood.

There is a lot of good information on how to make homes and neighborhoods more secure below and at the blog noted above.  Sadly enough security is not about making your home perfectly secure, just harder to get into than others.

According to the police, you can minimize chances of your home being broken into:

• Strengthen your rear door.  Wooden frames are not very strong, especially as most are made of soft woods. 
• Set your alarm, if you have one.
• Leave a light on or get a motion detector light installed; not very applicable to this instance though.
• Tell your neighbors if you have work being done or might otherwise have a stranger going into your house when you are not at home; this will help them to know if they do see someone they don't recognize in or around your home."

Vote Today! New Playing Field Needed.

Last day to vote!  One of our local soccer team is competing for a new field at Plouffe Park.  Many of the boys live in the neighbourhood and go to school at Devonshire.  The team  - the St Anthony's Cachcafaz - needs online votes to win this contest (sponsored by BMO), and is competing against 14 other teams across Canada, including the Westboro-bassed Ottawa Royals, a club with a much larger membership and machinery in place to set up voting stations to collect votes. 

Plouffe really needs the help. Lots of kids in the Civic use Plant Bath and the adjacent park, so it would be great if the community could pull together to help see the park renewed.

More info at http://gocachafaz.wix.com/cachafaz

Ashcroft to not pursue cut across Byron Linear Park

Ashcroft to not pursue cut across Byron Linear Park

Ottawa, August 24, 2012 – Following a clear message from neighbours of the former Soeurs de la Visitation convent on Richmond Road, Councillor Hobbs has requested, and Ashcroft Homes has agreed not to pursue a southern access across the Byron Linear Park.

“I am pleased that Ashcroft has agreed to stick to the plan adopted by Council in November 2010 and not cut across the Byron Linear Park. The neighbours of the site made it clear that they did not want another cut across this park,” said Hobbs. “When Ashcroft first told me they were going to file this application, my answer was clear: I would not support it. Following my announcement on Twitter to this effect, the response from the community has been substantial, and overwhelmingly opposed to such an exit.”

“Ashcroft Homes believes in this project and wants to be a good neighbour. While we believed the Byron access was the best one, our neighbours have been clear, and we’ve listened,” said David Choo, President of Ashcroft Homes. “We look forward to moving forward to build a great addition to Westboro.”

The removal of the Byron option for the southern exit once and for all means there will be a southern access via Shannon Street, currently a quiet one lane street with just four homes.

“My focus is to ensure that we get a quality street and to minimize the impact – spatially and visually for Shannon Street residents,” said Hobbs. “This is a lovely corner of Kitchissippi and I want to ensure it won’t be lost.”

“Ashcroft is committed to work with their neighbours and Councillor Hobbs to achieve a sensitive and beautiful new Shannon Street,” said Choo.

community design plan- get involved!

As part of the CDP, the City has retained Urban Strategies Inc. to explore the transformation of the Preston-Carling area around the O-train Carling Station through a Design Charette process. Preston-Carling is one of the three areas within the CDP boundaries, and has seen a very high volume of development interest. This Charette will be used to establish planning and design directions to facilitate the preparation of the CDP and to guide the community improvements and review of development applications. It is generally the intent to have the final CDP presented before Planning Committee by Spring 2013.

Design Charette information:

Who:                      Anyone interested, no requirement for registration.

When:                   Tuesday September 25 and Wednesday September 26, 2012.

Where:                  St. Anthony’s Banquet Hall at 525 St. Anthony Street.

Daily format:         9:00 am to 4:00 pm daily: Continuous Design Sessions focused on various themes

6:30 pm to 8:30 pm: Community Drop-in for all to see the emerging directions for the area and share comments

A communication strategy has been developed to promote the Design Charette. The campaign will be launched in the first week of September to invite residents, business owners, and other stakeholders to attend and participate.