CCA meets Commisioner Ted Robinson

by Matthew Darwin

On November 10, 1998, Mark Lavinskas (president of the CCA), Karin Howard (Ward Councillor) and Matthew Darwin met with City of Ottawa Commissioner Ted Robinson. Here are some of the points brought up at the meeting:

• Commissioner Robinson emphasised that the communities must be consulted on the development.

• Given the anticipated reduction in traffic, neither the City or the Region see the need for the intersection at Clyde/Maitland into the Central Park development. (Need an updated Traffic Impact Study to be certain).

  Some reasons presented for not forcing Ashcroft to create the intersection at Clyde/Merivale:

  • It takes a long time for the Federal Goverment to sell land even when it is "for sale". [The Federal Government owns the land Ashcroft needs to build the intersection.]
  • Putting the intersection in may cause the community to become split in two. (i.e. be two communities instead of one).
  • Cut-through traffic.
  • The anticipated reduced traffic counts means that Merivale can handle the load.

• The City has 3 main areas that need to be satisfied before staff OK a Draft Concept Plan. These are:

  • Water Treatment: The City is satisfied with the current plans. The water treatment facility is now under construction. It will be the integrated model that residents indicated preference for at the October 8th meeting. Ashcroft must apply to the Ministry of the Environment for a certificate of approval (CofA).

  • Recreation: The City is satisified with the current plans. The recreational facilities will all be provided within the bounds of Central Park Drive. Recration facilities will include unlit Baseball Diamond and Soccer field, as well as a basketball court. The facilities are geared towards the residents. People coming from outside the community are expected to park in the parking lot for the stores.

  • Transportation: The City is not yet statisfied with the current plans. Technically things seem to be OK, except that there is a need for an updated Traffic Impact Study. Interested residents may want to provide additional terms of reference for the study within the next few weeks.

• Being inexperienced in terms of building housing developmenents, David Choo has hired David Kardish to help him get approvals going through City Hall.

• The City has rejected the idea of a "big box store". Stores are to be geared to local residents only, something in the area of 20,000 square feet (e.g. the "Food Basics" store at Hampton Park).

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