Glebe Annex Community Association (GACA)
Board Meeting – Tuesday, April 6th, 2021, 7:00 p.m.
Held Via Conference Call
Present: Annalisa Salonius, Avery Steinberg, Carrie Bolton, Cathy, David Perkins, Gabrielle Dallaporta, Joanne Benoit, Maja Rakocevic, Robert Logie, Sue Stefko, Jonathan McLeod (Assistant, Office of Shawn Menard, Councillor, Capital Ward)
1. Call to Order and Approval of the Agenda
The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. with approval of the agenda.
2. Approval of March 2, 2021 Minutes
The minutes were approved with two amendments.
- First amendment: Under Item 6.1 CLC, 299 Carling, the second sentence in the first bullet is to be replaced with: Walking to the site from the community via Carling would be dangerous in winter, since the sidewalk on the hill from Cambridge to LeBreton is often impassable, due to snow and ice thrown from the plow. Even when the sidewalk is clear, the hill means any ice patches create a significant risk of slipping and falling. To avoid these problems, pedestrians often walk in the street on this section of sidewalk — which is not safe either.
- Second amendment: Gabrielle was not in attendance at the March 2nd meeting but was included on the list of attendees; her name is to be removed from the minutes.
- It was suggested that the GACA minutes do not require so many details. They are posted on our website for the public and they are lengthy to read. Going forward, GACA board meeting minutes will provide a brief description of each item, and focus on decisions taken.
3. Business Arising from the Minutes of March 2nd
3.1 GACA membership drive
Dates will be discussed under Sue’s General Update
3.2 Spring Clean
Date will be May 15th, with May 16th as rain date.
4. General Update – Sue
4.1 Membership
It was confirmed that we will start our membership campaign just before our AGM and for approximately a month afterwards. We will do a GACA card mailbox drop off as well as posters in the neighbourhood. Annalisa, Avery, Carrie, and Joanne volunteered to help. Gabrielle will poster her building, and Annalisa will take care of 360 and 311 Bell Street, as well as reach out to other apartment buildings. Sue will send her a list of apartment buildings in the Glebe Annex. If you are interested in being the membership coordinator, please reach out to Sue. This role requires dropping off membership cards and tracking membership money and entering member details in a spreadsheet.
4.2 AGM
The draft AGM agenda circulated has been amended to increase the meeting length to about 70 minutes to allow more discussion of items.
4.3 7 Maclean
We expect construction to start soon.
4.3 275 Carling
Katasa is waiting for their building permit. The City thought they had already started demolition of the existing underground parking lot at 265 Carling, but they have not. There will be a 5-story underground parking which will require blasting. Unfortunately, they are removing more trees than initially thought – we believe all existing trees will be removed from the site.
4.4 289 Carling (JHS)
Completion was expected by the end of this year but it is now projected to be March 2022. On April 15th, the JHS will host a Zoom call with immediate neighbours. We are asking if the opportunity can be extended to the entire GACA email list.
4.5 CLC – 299 Carling
There is a public meeting on 299 Carling tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. Tomorrow will likely be the last chance to comment on proposed rezoning.
4.6 CLC – Booth Street Complex
The CLC has not found a developer for any parcels of the site yet.
4.7 Preston/Beech Street Project
Plans have not been updated. We are not sure why the site plan approval has been delayed.
4.8 Pollinator Garden
We still do not have permission from the city to move ahead on this project, hopefully this is received soon.
4.9 New Civic Hospital
There are some positive updates. The main building has moved to the centre of the site – from the initial plan of it closer to Carling/Preston. The parking will mostly be underground, but there will be some surface parking throughout the site. Earlier the hospital promised the tennis club could continue there, but its future is not clear in the draft plans. The hospital is working with the city to try to move the o-train entrance from the north side to the south side of Carling. We expect to see bike parking and walkways. The opening was initially hoped to be in 2026, but now projected to be 2028.
5. Councillor’s Office Update – Jon
5.1 299 Carling
Some of the concerns raised will be brought up on tomorrow’s call.
5.2 Traffic Calming Measures
Some measures will be rolling out soon. Regarding pedestrian safety at Bronson at the Bronson exit, the councillor’s office has a meeting scheduled with the MTO. They will be pushing forward on this safety concern. Jon is hoping to have an update for our May meeting.
5.3 Carling Avenue
A full redesign is expected to take place after 2025 (I thought it was much later – perhaps we can ask Jon to verify). The councillor is asking for temporary traffic measures to be brought in before that. Although traffic measures would not be major, they could provide some slight improvement.
6. Treasurer’s Report
Maja tabled a financial report for the period June 1, 2020 – April 5, 2021 (please refer to Appendix A for full details). The amount of $150 for expenses is still outstanding to Sue. A duplicate payment to the FCA for $35.00 will be verified with RBC.
7. Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.
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