Present: Julie Stephens, Darlene Charron, Peggy Kampouris, Lisa Furrie, David Perkins, Sue Stefko, Brenda Quinlan, Chris McCann, Scott Blurton, Craig Kamcke, Iain Wood, Ron Poirier
The meeting was called to order at 6:37pm.
Approval of the minutes from the previous meeting
David asked that Sue’s name be added to the minutes and Craig corrected the spelling of his last name.
Iain put forward a motion to approve the amended minutes; it was seconded by Chris.
Business arising from last minutes
Safety audit
Peggy told the group that she had met with Councillor Chernushenko and his assistant on 18 December 2014 to review the safety audit report and learn about their discussions with city staff. Their focus was on the higher-priority items (e.g., sign and climbing structure in park, lighting on McLean Street, graffiti). Natalie will send Peggy an updated list of audit items with the suggested actions and Peggy will forward it to the board. Some of the items require clarification, Peggy said.
Peggy added that action on some of the items (particularly those related to lighting) is dependent on funding. She said that the requests for funding have gone to the appropriate city departments.
In terms of the play structure in the park, the recommendation is to remove the unsafe structure. It is scheduled for renewal in 2017; however, it will be added to the capital request list for consideration in the 2015 budget. That request will be prioritized along with all of the others.
Iain commented that it might be better to wait to renew the whole park instead of just one piece of equipment.
Action: Sue will follow up with the Councillor’s office about the issues around the park redevelopment.
Some issues related to speed limits were raised in the audit. To move forward, a neighbourhood petition is required along with ward/councillor consent.
Action: Lisa will send out the city’s policy regarding petitions to the group.
Iain questioned whether or not the board would support a resident’s petition (e.g., the spa has started a petition about parking restrictions in the neighbourhood). The group discussed this, and the consensus was that there would be support if the board agreed with the substance of the petition.
Membership report
The current membership total stands at 67, Brenda said. She added that she has had incredible support from the Lakelander in terms of canvassing. There are still some streets that need to be canvassed. Various board members agreed to canvass on some of the streets that require coverage.
Action: Peggy will go through last year’s membership list and approach people who have not renewed their memberships.
Brenda said that she has not had much success when she approached businesses about memberships.
Peggy mentioned that Abbas has started a petition about weekend parking restrictions in the area. She spoke to one of the owners and said that the association could potentially help with that issue.
The group briefly discussed how it would approach an issue if there was no consensus either on the board or in the neighbourhood. Iain said it is important to hear from residents and to move forward slowly ensuring that the association is representative of residents’ views.
Action: The board will bring forward a discussion about honorary memberships to the next board meeting.
Communication/marketing
Brenda said the email list could be used more effectively to solicit residents’ views on issues.
Action: Lisa will review the email lists and ensure that only paid members receive association emails.
Action: Lisa will develop an email template that will be used when new minutes are posted on the association website.
Preston Street BIA traffic initiative
Peggy presented the board with a traffic proposal that is being explored by the Preston Street BIA. It calls for the addition of an on-ramp at Booth Street, the addition of an extra lane of traffic on Orangeville and the removal of the off-ramp at Bronson.
Next steps would be for the BIA to initiate traffic studies. The BIA is meeting again in January and would like to know if GACA is prepared to give a letter of support for them to continue exploring this traffic option.
The group discussed the pros and cons of the proposal and the possible impact on our neighbourhood.
Action: Peggy will draft a letter saying that she presented the idea to the board and that the board would like to be involved in the process going forward. GACA will review any additional proposals with the impact on our neighbourhood in mind and will present a more formalized proposal to the broader community at a later date, as necessary.
Bronson Street rezoning and redevelopment
Chris said that a recent ward report by Councillor Chernushenko had contained a mention of limiting buildings on the east side of Bronson to four storeys, while allowing six storeys on the west side. This is an issue that Sylvia had already addressed with the Glebe Community Association, and Chris said he was disappointed to see it in the ward report. He said he would like both sides of the street treated the same way.
David said that he didn’t think that Sylvia was against the six storeys. He said the issue goes to Planning Committee in February.
Action: Iain suggested bringing this issue forward to the next meeting. He said he would follow up with Sylvia to get clarification about her conversations with the Glebe Community Association.
Graffiti
The graffiti at the government buildings was dealt with thanks to action by a resident.
Action: Iain will follow up with Glebe High School about the graffiti project that he had previously proposed.
Letter from resident
Iain will circulate a letter he received from a community member about issues around snow removal, bus service, and the intersection at Bronson and Carling. He asked if the board wanted to endorse her letter. The board did not reach consensus on this issue.
Other items
Government lot for sale
The board decided it would monitor progress on the sale of this lot and would investigate its zoning.
Spring clean up
Julie offered to organize the spring clean up. The board decided that the clean up would be held on Saturday 2 May at 10am, with a rain date of the following Saturday 9 May.
Action: Darlene will contact Tim Horton’s to arrange for the coffee and doughnuts.
Next meeting
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 18 February at 6:30pm in the Meeting Room at the Glebe Community Centre.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 8:30pm.
