Ed McKenna
Gathering at the Vietnam Palace
In December, members of the board of the Dalhousie Community Association gathered for our annual holiday meeting, held this year at the Vietnam Palace on Somerset West.
There was no agenda, but a tasty menu to explore. The review of development applications was set aside in favour of conversations about holiday plans. Spouses and children joined in. And instead of Zoom, it was an in-person, spontaneous chat. (We should do this more often!)
We Are the DCA – It’s A Movie!
The DCA returned to its regular meeting schedule on January 4. Top of the agenda was a report from the Public Realm committee about the completion of their collaborative project with Community Associations for Environmental Sustainability (CAFES) and eight sociology and anthropology students from Carleton University.
The students have produced a terrific short film, We Are the DCA, featuring Catherine Boucher, Sally Rutherford, Diane Holmes, and Can Le. You have to see it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-7yJhL4cf0
357, 361, 363 Preston
Here’s a rendering for a proposed six-storey mixed-use residential and commercial development at the southeast corner of Preston and Aberdeen across from the Heart and Crown. It will include 37 apartments, with commercial space at ground level on Preston. The developer has submitted a Zoning By-law Amendment (fairly described as “minor”) and Site Plan Control application to the city.
DCA’s Planning our Neighbourhood committee supports the application.
Yes, it’s more usual, regrettably, for the DCA to find itself opposing key elements of large-scale development proposals in this neighbourhood. So what’s different about this one?
First, the application is not seeking to add multiple storeys to what is currently permitted on this section of Preston. The building scale is appropriate and it fits in with its neighbours. The architecture is interesting, combining modern materials (metal panels, stone veneer) with traditional (brick). Windows are oriented vertically. Vehicles will come and go from Aberdeen, and the parking provided favours bicycles.
The application provides much more detail, of course, and is published on the city’s website. Comments may be submitted to the city until January 23.
Street Reconstruction on Elm and City Centre
The Mobility committee reported that residents on Elm west of Preston were invited to a “virtual public information session” December 13 to hear about the city’s “City Centre Avenue and Elm Street West Water, Sewer and Road Renewal.”
In addition to replacing the water main, sewers, and road surface, the city will construct new concrete sidewalks, plant some trees, improve the vehicular barrier at the west end of Elm, and add a speed hump.
Similar improvements will be made on City Centre between Elm and Albert, including the addition of a 1.5 metre-wide cycle track between Albert and Somerset West.
Pending approval of the $7.8 million budget, construction will begin this spring.
Peaceable Neighbourhoods
The DCA’s Peaceable Neighbourhoods committee reported that it has written a letter to Crime Prevention Ottawa to support the proposal by the Somerset West Community Health Centre (SWCHC) to undertake a consultation on community safety and peer outreach programs.
The DCA is a member of SWCHC’s Community Liaison Committee, and has pledged to actively support the consultation process.
The Peaceable Neighbourhoods committee also reported on a successful community event it helped organize at the SWCHC Consumption and Treatment site, which took place November 24. Staff members gave a short presentation and answered questions from local residents, then provided a tour of the site itself.
Join us
The DCA will hold its next regular meeting on Wednesday, February 1, 2023. Join us!
As Sally Rutherford says in We Are the DCA: “You’ll be making friends, you’ll become a more central part of the community, and you’ll feel really good about it!”
Contact: president@ottawadalhousie.ca, and check out our website: ottawadalhousie.ca