Ed McKenna
The Dalhousie Community Association: Does It Make A Difference?
Perhaps it was the presence of community engagement students from Carleton University, and the participation of new community members with good questions, but the regular DCA meeting October 5 became a little reflective.
Using the language of marketing, someone asked: “What’s the value proposition for a community association?”
The response?
Well, we’re usually the first to hear about new municipal projects proposed for our community, whether it’s for development, recreation, traffic and transit or even public art. The city still seeks feedback and advice from community associations. And city planners want to know what we think about development proposed for our neighbourhood. Sometimes the changes we recommend result in significant improvements.
The Korean Community Church
Here’s an example.
The Korean Community Church, formerly Bell Street Methodist, then United, Church, has been a community anchor at the corner of Bell and Arlington since 1910. Windmill Developments proposes to redevelop the property, and build 274 residences on the site.
A principal selling point for this proposal is that the church façade will be retained along Bell and Arlington. A year ago this wasn’t in the plans – the church was to be demolished. Since January, DCA‘s planning committee has had the opportunity to respond to this plan, and our comments and suggestions have contributed to the developer’s change of approach, and a major improvement in the design.
There are still opportunities to improve the development, in particular to ensure measures are taken to increase green space at street level.
The DCA’s planning committee will be writing to the city this week with more comments and suggestions.
Bringing a community garden back to life
Remember the Sweet Willow Community Garden? It was established by the Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation at its district heating facility at 31 Rochester.
The heating facility was decommissioned in 2018, and the site is property of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The innovative garden, after about twenty years, is no more. Debris is scattered over what is now a small vacant lot.
The DCA’s Public Realm committee is exploring how the garden might be brought back to life.
The revival of the garden will be pursued by the committee’s Broadening Community Engagement Project, with its partners at the Community Associations for Environmental Sustainability Ottawa (CAFES), and Carleton University. Carleton students are now welcome participants in our monthly meetings.
The project will look at engaging groups in our neighbourhood who are not usually sitting at the DCA table. These are youth, Asian seniors, and people who are precariously housed and need supports.
They will be learning and teaching about climate change, its impact on Dalhousie, and how we can improve our public realm. The project aims to provide pollinator gardens and to use the crops to improve local food security.
Opportunities to participate
The DCA encourages its members to attend the monthly board meetings – a good way to keep up to date about what’s going on in the neighbourhood.
We have opportunities to participate in our committees. Three are seeking new volunteers: the Messaging Out committee (communications), Mobility committee (transportation) and Peaceable Neighbourhoods committee (community safety and well-being).
Consider getting involved!
Check out our website: ottawadalhousie.ca . Follow us on Twitter: @ DalhousieCA; Instagram: @dalhousiecommunity; and Facebook: Dalhousie Community Association (Ottawa).
Please get in touch! Contact: president@ottawadalhousie.ca