By CCCA President Jordan Charbonneau
On May 6, the Trees and Greenspace Committee organized a “Jane’s Walk” to three parks in Centretown. (Photo: Michelle Kirkman)
Following is some information on just a few of the many ongoing events and initiatives in Centretown in which the Centretown Citizens Community Association is involved. For more information, contact us via the information provided at the end of this article.
Centretown Community Design Plan (CDP)
The April issue of The Buzz had several articles by CCCA members regarding the draft Centretown CDP and advertised a public meeting on this topic that the CCCA will hold on May 30 (see further information elsewhere in this issue.) Since then, the CCCA has learned that the CDP may not proceed to the City’s Planning Committee in June as was thought, due to objections from some developers.
The CCCA believes that it is essential to have open public discussion about the CDP and any objections. Centretown residents are urged to attend the CCCA’s CDP meeting to learn more about how this plan will affect your neighbourhood and voice your opinions about how you would like to see development occur in Centretown.
The CCCA requested a meeting with the chair of the Planning Committee, Councillor Peter Hume, in early May to discuss the status of the CDP. More about this meeting will be shared at the May 30 public meeting.
CCCA Activities at the Minto Park Sale
Remember to mark your calendar on June 16 for Councillor Diane Holmes’ Minto Park Sale! At the event, the CCCA will be having its annual barbeque (10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.), a baked goods and plant sale and, new this year, an electronic waste collection service. Residents are encouraged to bring in their unwanted electronic devices so that they can be recycled responsibly. See the Recycle Your Electronics website for details on what we will be accepting. (www.recycleyourelectronics.ca/Electronics/WhatWeRecycle.aspx)
Possible Development by McGarry Funeral Home
The CCCA was surprised to hear that Brian McGarry, owner of Hulse, Playfair and McGarry Funeral Home, is proposing to develop a 25-storey building in the parking lot beside the funeral home on McLeod Street.
This area is zoned for seven stories, meaning that a 25-storey building would be completely out of scale with the surrounding neighbourhood. Apparently, the building would be similar to the Public Service Alliance of Canada’s building on Gilmour Street in terms of its footprint but would be twice as high. The CCCA has written to Mr. McGarry to request a meeting to discuss plans for his property.
Minto Park Games Tables
The CCCA project to acquire games tables for Minto Park continues to attract donations. Watch for the CCCA bake sale table at the Minto Park Sale on June 16. Proceeds from the sale of baked goods will be earmarked for the games tables.
Trees and Greenspace Committee
On June 16, the Trees and Greenspace Committee will hold its annual plant sale as part of the Minto Park Sale. Proceeds from the plant sale will be used for the CCCA’s Tree Fund. The Trees and Greenspace Committee would appreciate donations of perennials and seedlings for the plant sale. For more information, or to arrange to have donations picked up, call Mavaia at 613-567-7955 or email Bonnie at dbmabee@sympatico.ca.
A Heritage Trees workshop, led by the Ontario Urban Forest Council, will be held on June 8, 2012 at the Central Experimental Farm. The cost is $50 per participant. Centretown has many mature trees that might be considered heritage due to their history, beauty, size or significance to the community, but they lack documentation. The Trees and Greenspace Committee would like to help identify them. For more details and registration, visit the OUFC website. (www.oufc.org)
On May 6, the Trees and Greenspace Committee organized a “Jane’s Walk in Three Parks.” Jane Jacobs would have approved of this walk and the way members of the neighbourhood take an interest in their parks.
There were 28 walkers who enjoyed the lovely gardens and talks by Drina Wethey at McNabb Park, Natasha Beaudin at Arlington Park and Susan Kerr at Dundonald Park. The interaction of the neighbourhoods and these parks was explored and discussed.
Seniors Committee
The CCCA’s Seniors Committee met on April 23 to discuss its next contribution to keeping seniors in Centretown informed about affordable housing and services. Member Georgia Lay brought in some very interesting information on the delayed retirements of today’s seniors, which had been published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The committee follows many topics of interest, but it was decided that this topic would be a great sequel to the article on Centretown’s housing costs and seniors’ incomes that appeared in the April edition of The Buzz. See elsewhere in this paper for the resulting article, written by Georgia.
Museum of Nature West Lawn
The CCCA is continuing to monitor the museum’s west lawn parking situation. We have received some traffic volume information from the City for the intersections surrounding the museum and have had meetings with museum representatives. It appears that the museum will be having a public meeting about its plans for the property in May, so watch for notices about that event.
Next CCCA Board Meeting
The next meeting of the CCCA Board will take place at City Hall (Honeywell Room) on Tuesday, June 19 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The meeting, as with all Board meetings, is open to the public. We hope to see you there as we discuss these and other important Centretown issues.
Contact Us
You can keep up to date on events in Centretown by subscribing to our email newsletter (contact us at ccca@centretowncitizens.ca,) following us on Twitter (twitter.com/CentretownCCA) or visiting our website (www.centretowncitizens.ca.) We would be happy to hear from you!
Now get out and enjoy the beautiful spring weather!