Present: Julie Stephens, Lisa Furrie, David Perkins, Sue Stefko, Brenda Quinlan, Chris McCann, Darlene Charron, Craig Kamcke, Iain Wood, Maeve McMahon, Ron Poirier
Observer: Ken Malcolm
The meeting was called to order at 6:35pm.
Approval of the minutes from the previous meeting
Brenda asked that there be an addition to the minutes to the effect that GACA currently has one corporate membership and that all other businesses approached about a corporate membership have declined.
David put forward a motion to approve the amended minutes; it was seconded by Chris.
Business arising from last minutes
Traffic and parks
Peggy was unable to attend the meeting, but sent a report via email. In that report, she indicated that she had attended the Glebe Community Association (GCA) Board meeting on 24 February. At that meeting, Brian Mitchell, the chair of the GCA Traffic Committee, made a presentation about the Preston Street BIA’s request for funding to further study the impact of the concept of an additional Queensway on-ramp at Booth Street. The GCA Board voted unanimously to support the BIA’s request.
Peggy emailed the GACA Board further information from the BIA regarding their proposed concept.
Peggy also indicated that she had spoken again with Roddy and Mike from Abbas Grocery about the parking petition that they had sent to the city.
Action: Peggy will discuss this with them further to determine their key concerns regarding parking.
Ken said that he had spoken with Brian Mitchell about development planned on Preston near Carling. There are concerns about density and an increase in traffic volume (particularly on Powell as a route to the Queensway). Ken mentioned the possibility of allowing left-hand turns from Lebreton onto Carling. This change would require the addition of traffic lights and a restructuring of the median. He also mentioned restricting turns left-hand turns during certain hours from Powell onto Bronson.
As mentioned previously, the city will be doing a traffic volume study on the Glebe side of Powell Avenue.
Iain suggested that GACA continue monitoring this issue.
Sue told the group that the GCA Parks Committee called for people to write to the city about the need for more funding for parks. Sue wrote a letter to the Councillor, but she has not received a response.
Action: Sue will follow up with the city about her letter.
Action: Ron will cut down some branches in the park so that the park sign is more visible.
Communications
Lisa said she has developed an email template that was used to distribute the January Board meeting minutes. She said she also updated the membership email list and indicated that there were some issues with some of the addresses that she will follow up with Brenda about.
Bronson Avenue rezoning and redevelopment
Iain told the group that, despite the objections raised with the Councillor, the rezoning of Bronson Avenue has been approved, with four storeys on the east side and six on our side. Part of the rationale given for the decision was the need to “ensure compatibility with the residential nature” of the east side of the street. Iain said he is most annoyed with the inconsistency of the decision and fears that developers will exploit this inconsistency and seek further exemptions in terms of height for future development.
At this point, the only option GACA has is to file a complaint with the OMB.
Action: Ron will draft a letter to the Councillor expressing GACA’s concerns about the wording used in the decision. The letter will also state that GACA expects the city to uphold its decision and not grant exemptions for future development.
Iain said there is a request from the city for three or four volunteers to sit on a public advisory committee on Bronson Avenue redevelopment.
Action: Ron volunteered to sit on the committee. Iain will send Ron the information about who to contact at the city for additional details.
Buses
Action: Iain will contact the GCA about their discussions on changes to bus routes 1, 6 and 7.
Graffiti
Iain told the group he had attended a Paint It Up session and that it was very useful. Unfortunately, with a deadline for applications of 1 April, it will be impossible for GACA to proceed for this year. He said he was encouraged by someone involved with Paint It Up to proceed with our project next year. That individual said that what we were proposing fit nicely with the program requirements.
Security committee
Action: Peggy will report to the Board at the next meeting.
Sue said she had called 311 about the gap underneath the sign in Dalhousie South Park.
Party in the Park
Sue said she spoke with Morris about the Party in the Park and he is happy to share the templates he developed for last year’s party.
Because we have no one who is willing to take the lead on this year’s party, and knowing how much work is involved in organizing it, Iain suggested that GACA scale back its plans and perhaps host a movie night instead.
Ron suggested that GACA could host a barbecue following the clean up. The challenge would be the weather, Sue said, because it can still be quite cold in early May.
Action: Julie offered to print some posters about the clean up and to add information about the barbecue. Iain and Craig volunteered to help Julie put up the posters around the neighbourhood.
Action: Darlene will follow up with Tim Horton’s about the doughnuts for the community clean up.
Other items
Honorary membership
Peggy informed the group via email that she spoke with Abbas and they would love to have an honorary GACA membership.
Action: Brenda will speak with Peggy and follow up on the membership for Abbas.
Sue said the city has a tree-planting program called “Trees in Trust” whereby trees are planted in public areas. The issue is that there must be seven metres around the tree on all sides. This might be problematic given the small size of most lots in our area.
Next meeting
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 15 April at 6:30pm in the Meeting Room at the Glebe Community Centre.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 7:30pm.
