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2009 Copeland Park Garage Sale!

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Copeland Park Community Alliance

WHEN: Monday March 23rd, 2009
PLACE: St. Michael's and All Angels Anglican Church 2112 Bel-Air Drive
TIME: 7:00 p.m.- 9:00 p.m.

AGENDA ITEMS:

• Election of Officers for Copeland Park Community Alliance
• President's Report
• Treasurer's Report
• Laurentian High School Site (Smart Centres):
• Update from the executive
• Update and Discussion with Councillor Rick Chiarelli

Note:If anyone is interested in being on the Board, please contact Kathy Yach at 613-224-6835

On Friday, November 14th, CPCA submitted formal letters to the City Planner indicating CPCA's official position on the application being put forth for the Laurentian High School Property. Click here to read the letters.

Don't forget to submit your own comments via the instructions below - everyone's input is invaluable and necessary, now, before the comment period ends for this application.

To make comments to the assigned Planner for Laurentian HS property (1357 Baseline Road), please use the following information: Name: Simon Deiaco Phone: 613-580-2424 x15641 To enter comments via on-line form: Go to www.ottawa.ca/devapps Enter "Baseline Road" in the box under Development Application Search and click on the Search button Scroll down to "1357 Baseline Road" and click on the "D02-02-08-0106" link Scroll down to the bottom of this application and click on "Send comments to the planner" This will pop up a comments form that contains the necessary information for the comment submission

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Open House for Laurentian Property
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Drop In At Your Convenience From 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Former Laurentian High School (1375 Baseline Road)

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To make comments to the assigned Planner for Laurentian HS property (1357 Baseline Road), please use the following information: Name: Simon Deiaco Phone: 613-580-2424 x15641 To enter comments via on-line form: Go to www.ottawa.ca/devapps Enter "Baseline Road" in the box under Development Application Search and click on the Search button Scroll down to "1357 Baseline Road" and click on the "D02-02-08-0106" link Scroll down to the bottom of this application and click on "Send comments to the planner" This will pop up a comments form that contains the necessary information for the comment submission

October 21st Update:

The applications for the rezoning of the Laurentian High School Redevelopment are now available on the City of Ottawa web site.

Check out these documents here if you are interested in learning more about the Rezoning Application.

http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/appDetails.jsf?lang=en&appId=__6FR6CR

CPCA

October 10th Update:

Last night CPCA's board of directors met with Councillor Rick Chiarelli to discuss what has been happening over the past 2 weeks and we wanted to pass on the update to you.

There have been considerable discussions between Councillor Chiarelli, Councillor McRae, the Deputy City Manager of Planning and SmartCentres. As you know, the vast majority of Copeland Park residents have indicated that the central concern is traffic. Councillor Chiarelli believes that "the gains we have made through these talks have put us in a better position to deal with that central concern while still preserving the level of rights we have in all other substantive aspects of the application".

As a go-forward approach to the pending SmartCentres application for re-zoning that was submitted on September 22, the above parties have agreed to the following:

Community Design Plan (CDP):
Councillor Chiarelli would suspend the CDP resolution. Councillor Chiarelli completed that part of the agreement this week. SmartCentres and Councillor McRae acknowledged that Councillor Chiarelli will reactivate the CDP on behalf of his communities for the Baseline/Clyde/Merivale area in the not-too-distant future, and that Councillor McRae agrees to facilitate, where possible, the introduction of that CDP application. While the SmartCentres Development will not be required to "join" a future CDP process, it will retain the option to do so. Furthermore, while the current SmartCentres site application will not be bound by any recommendations, SmartCentres is committed to good urban design principles found in the City's official plan's Main Street designation.

Community's Concerns:
Councillor Chiarelli, Councillor McRae and SmartCentres acknowledge that the community's (Copeland Park, City View and Central Park) primary concern as well as the City staff's primary concern is traffic. More specifically the failing intersection at Clyde and Baseline, the resulting congestion at the Queensway approaches, as well as cut-through traffic that the Baseline/Clyde/Merivale intersection generates and will generate. Furthermore all parties agree that the Laurentian site re-development will be used as a catalyst for resolving the traffic issues.

Councillor Chiarelli and Councillor McRae have agreed to work with City staff to pursue an analysis and solution to traffic challenges in a timely manner so that any resolution work can be included in upcoming budget discussions. Councillor Chiarelli and Councillor McRae will be issuing a joint press release regarding their work to pursue the analysis and solution to the traffic challenges once decisions have been made on the issue.

SmartCentres' Application:
Councillor Chiarelli, Councillor McRae and SmartCentres agree that the current SmartCentres application is a re-zoning application and agree that it should take the form of a "holding" zone. A "holding" zone confines any proposed project to the number of buildings and scale depicted in public concept drawings and should not be permitted, for example, a greater number of buildings or more extensive development despite what would otherwise be permitted under the specific zoning being applied for.

Community Announcements:
Councillor Chiarelli will host community meetings with each of Copeland Park and City View communities which, where possible, will take place before the end of October. Councillor McRae will host a community meeting for Central Park residents which, where possible, will be held before the end of October. There will be a Public Meeting/Open House to be jointly hosted by Councillor Chiarelli and Councillor McRae which is scheduled for November 6, 2008 in the Foyer of Laurentian High School with representatives of SmartCentres and City staff in attendance.

Councillor Chiarelli and Councillor McRae will issue a joint newsletter/notice to the three communities (Copeland Park, City View and Central Park) regarding the SmartCentres application and notice of the Public Meeting/Open House.

Next Steps:
Stay tuned for the details for upcoming community meetings and be prepared to voice your concerns at these meetings. Now is the time to start the official process to let City Staff and SmartCentres know about your concerns.

Please pass on this update to anyone who might be interested and have them go to www.copelandpark.ca to sign up to receive these email updates too.

Please reply to this email or email copelandpark@copelandpark.ca if you have any questions.

September 23rd Update:

On Monday morning, September 22, representatives of the Copeland Park Community Alliance Board of Directors met with a representative of SmartCentres, to see their presentation of anticipated site details. The SmartCentres representative gave us all the time we needed and was pleased to answer our questions.

The artist's renderings we saw suggest a very attractive development, with a variety of small to medium-sized shops and services along Baseline and Clyde Avenues, in addition to one major big-box store (identity still uncertain) in the north-east quadrant. Parking will be screened from the street, by the buildings around the perimeter. There was a lot of concern given to pedestrian traffic, greenery, fit of the development in our community, and reduction of light and noise effects.

Some other notable points:

• As of now, the plan did not show a residential component. SmartCentres explained that while it remains a possible future element, an economic case cannot be made for including condominiums in the plan, at this time.
• As well, there is plan for an inclusion of some underground parking in the south west quadrant. Construction of this will most certainly involve blasting, and so will be of concern to us with respect to preservation of our homes. We'll need to document the physical condition of our homes carefully, before any blasting occurs.
• As of now, SmartCentres is unsure of the tenants as that won't get settled until the rezoning has been successful.
• And finally, there is a right in/right out access onto Clyde Avenue from the development which will bring extra traffic onto Clyde going north.

Our main concerns remain with the volume and flow of traffic in the area. And we will definitely need professional traffic engineering expertise to help us negotiate and resolve these issues. But, we believe that we've already had some impact on the developer's planning process, and we're confident that we can affect further changes to improve transportation in our neighbourhood.

The developer's application for re-zoning was submitted to the city on September 22. So, we should have more information for you very soon. We'll keep you informed.

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September 18th Update:

Finally we are happy to be able to provide an update on the redevelopment of the Laurentian High School property at the corner of Baseline and Clyde, and the future of the Merivale triangle lands.

Councillor Rick Chiarelli is preparing the proposal for the Community Development Plan for our area. At the Tuesday, September 23rd Planning and Environment Committee Meeting a motion for this proposal will be tabled. This motion will then be debated at the Tuesday, October 14th Planning and Environment Committee Meeting. At this meeting, CPCA will represent our community's interests, but we'll need all the support we can get. If you are willing to attend this meeting, please contact Penny Mayo (penny.mayo@sympatico.ca) or 613-225-8829.

As well, we are sure you have all read yesterday's Ottawa Citizen story about this issue indicating that Maria McRae has met with SmartCentres. We have not been given an opportunity to meet with SmartCentres despite our repeated attempts, so we were as surprised by this story as you were. Last night, we met with Councillor Rick Chiarelli, who confirmed that no formal development application has yet been submitted to the City of Ottawa through official channels.

We, CPCA, continue to be concerned about the impact on traffic and other issues in our area and we will be meeting weekly with Councillor Chiarelli, as we move forward. We will keep you informed.

Please go to our web site at: http://www.copelandpark.ca/ for some questions and answers on this issue.

Please do not hesitate to contact any of our board members or Councillor Rick Chiarelli on this issue.

Thank you,

Penny Mayo
CPCA Board of Directors

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Questions and Answers about the Laurentian High School Issue:

Arial Photo of Laurentian High School Property:
Click Here for an Arial View Photo of the Area (PDF)

QUESTION: Won't the city protect our interests in this issue?

• In any development in Ottawa there are at least 3 interested parties; the developer, the City and the community. Many people see the City and the community as one but they are not. The developer has their own financial interests in mind and submits a development plan that is their favored out of many of the plans that they have created. The City has a big picture in mind with high level objectives which include increasing density in certain areas, ensuring proper zoning, etc and needs only to look at any development plan to ensure it meets these high level objectives. The community is interested in the specific details of the development such as how much longer crossing the intersection will take, will the development be attractive to future potential house buyers, how much more traffic will pass by the house. We, as a community, are the only ones who can look out for our own interests.

QUESTION: Why do we need to collect money from residents to hire planning and traffic experts?

• In order to look out for our own interests and assess proposals we need experts, such as traffic and planning consultants, to review the applications to help us negotiate with the city and the developers. As well, if we come up with a good alternative plan, only these experts:
  • would have the capacity to say whether it would likely be acceptable,
  • would be able to help us put together a submission to the City,
  • would be able to defend such a submission, and
  • would have a complete understanding of the Official Plan, the Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw and the policies for Arterial Mainstreets.
  We need these professional's help! The money is needed to pay these consultants.

QUESTION: What types of things will the Planning Consultant be looking for in SmartCentres' Application/Development Plan?

• Our Planning Consultant will review the complicated development application to determine what the implications are to our community. The Consultant will also confirm that the development application conforms to the City's Official Plan, in ways that benefit our community. The City's planners will not be so interested in our lifestyle issues. The consultant will look at population density, environmental issues, if the architecture suits our neighbourhood, how the development blocks natural light during the day, and creates unnatural light emission at night, noise, visual impact, community-friendly landscaping, as well as how the development will affect our ability to travel efficiently on the local streets just to name a few. If we don't have an expert to do these reviews we will likely miss some opportunities for negotiation and will not be aware of which arguments are weighted heavier in the eyes of the City.

QUESTION: Why do we need to hire someone to examine SmartCentres' Traffic Study?

• Traffic studies are quite complex and in our survey of Copeland Park residents in December, traffic was highlighted as the number one concern. Our own hired experts will be able to decipher SmartCentres' traffic study to tell us what impact the developer's proposal will have on the traffic in our community. We cannot rely on the developer to consider our best interests. Our traffic expert will know if the developer's study has considered all the relevant factors, if the study's conclusions are valid and identify any flaws in the developer's study

QUESTION: How will we use the information that the consultants find?

• This information will be used in presentations to the City's planning committee, and in making presentations to the Ottawa Municipal Board (OMB) if that becomes necessary.

QUESTION: SmartCentres is a big outfit with lots of money. Can we really have any influence over what they want to build?

• SmartCentres now owns the property and can decide what they want to build there, within the confines of the City's by-laws. By being vocal and present throughout the process, we will make SmartCentres realize how important our community is to us. Hopefully, this will make them less likely to give us a badly planned community site. We want them to work with us to have a good relationship with the people that will ultimately be their customers. Can we really have any influence? For sure we'll have no influence if we do nothing and Copeland Park Community Alliance has fought, successfully, against developers in the past. We must try.

QUESTION: I've heard that Central Park Community Association thinks this development is OK. What do they know that we don't? Why are we opposing it?

• The residents of Central Park will not be impacted in the same way as Copeland Park residents are. Our main issue is traffic, primarily on Maitland and at the Baseline and Clyde intersection which gives us our access to the south of the City. Maitland has about 40% more traffic than Merivale (opposite of Central Park) so the impact to us is greater. As well, we are not opposing this development. We just want to ensure that the needs and wants of this community are considered as the developer plans development of the site.

QUESTION: Who will really be affected by this in our community?

• We believe everyone will be affected in some way. The Copeland Park boundaries can be seen at http://www.copelandpark.ca/AboutUs/boundriesmap.php. Those to the west of Maitland will likely see an increase in cut-through traffic of people trying to avoid the bumper to bumper traffic already associated with the Baseline and Clyde intersection. Those in the condo buildings at Baseline and Clyde will likely be affected by the noise, retail hour traffic, increased lighting, and night deliveries. Those to the east of Maitland will likely see longer waits to turn either right or left onto Maitland to get out of the area to go anywhere. All will be affected as we attempt to walk anywhere near the crossings of Glenmount and Maitland, Maitland and Erindale or Baseline and Clyde. These intersections are already dangerous for pedestrians as they watch for those vehicles turning left and attempt to make it across the street before the walk sign stops.

QUESTION: Where can I get more information?

• Email us copelandpark@copelandpark.com or call 613-225-8829 and we'll be happy to get you in touch with the correct person to answer your questions.

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PROPERTY TAX REPORT:
The current property tax system is volatile, hard to understand and expensive to run. The FCA has a proposal that addresses these issues with a system, that is fair, consistent, easy to understand and inexpensive to operate. FCA Property Tax Working Group: Final Report
Click Here to Read the Full Report (PDF)

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SmartCentres Question and Answer Meeting:

PLEASE NOTE: Please note that the upcoming March 3rd meeting is only for Copeland Park Community members. SmartCentres has agreed to meet with us to hear our community's concerns and we have assured them that the audience will be strictly limited to the Copeland Park residents.

Find out what the future holds for the former Laurentian High School property at the corner of Baseline and Clyde. The Copeland Park Community Alliance is hosting a question and answer meeting with SmartCentres-the Toronto-based retail developer that purchased the Laurentian High School and is known for big-box developments anchored by a Wal-Mart. Bring your questions and concerns and ask about what's in store for your neighbourhood.

When: Monday, March 3, 7:00-9:00 p.m.

Where: St Michael's and All Angels Church, 2112 Bel Air Drive

Additional parking available across the street from the church at Charlotte-Lemieux Elementary School, 2093 Bel Air Drive

Greenlawn Park Enhancement is officially complete!

Thanks so much to all for the great community support in raising the necessary funds and for working together to end up with a great climbing structure in a great location of the park. It has ended up being a fantastic addition.

As well, we ended up raising $332.34 more than was needed for the project and have decided to donate the funds to children who are in need of some fun and enjoyment. The extra money has been donated to The National Capital Region Chapter of the Children’s Wish Foundation where it can be used to make some child or children’s wishes come true.

Once again, thanks so much to you all!

CPCA Annual General Meeting - Wednesday, November 7th @ 7:30pm - Posted Oct 23rd
Click title for flyer

St. Michael and All Angels Anglican Church
2112 Bel-Air Drive

This is a very important meeting. Please plan to attend and join in the discussions on key issues affecting our community. We will have a number of invited speakers, including Rick Chiarelli so come, listen and speak up!!

 

Gardening Without Pesticides in Ottawa - Posted May 13th 2007

Attend a free seminar hosted by Ottawa Public Health and Councillor Rick Chiarelli and learn how to maintain your lawn without using pesticides. You will gain practical knowledge from trained horticulturalists about lawn care and managing white grubs this season.

Click here for more information!!

We won! The Greenlawn Park tennis Courts will be resurfaced this summer!!!

Thank you to residents who made the effort to send in email messages supporting our work to get the communities tennis courts surface replaced. Your interest helped make a significant impression on city hall.

The Good News: The most cost effective solution is an asphalt overlay that will take place in mid to late July. The work will take no longer that two to three days to complete.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact my office:

Councillor Chairelli
Downtown office: 613-580-2478
Ward office: 613-580-2685


Greenlawn Tennis Court Resurfacing - how you can help speed up the process: - posted Jan 25 2007

Currently the Greenlawn tennis courts are slotted for resurfacing in 2011 - that being said, however, we are hoping that if we receive enough letters, emails, etc from the community it will create the demand necessary to push the date up. Rick asked Staff to resurface the tennis courts last year, however, due to the City's Lifecycle Renewal program, there are many courts that are scheduled for resurfacing before the one at Greenlawn Park. That being said, Rick is hoping that if we get enough emails/letters from the community, we could express to Staff that there is a higher demand at Greenlawn than there is at other parks in the City, which could potentially bump the process up a few years.

Click here to Email Rick Chiarelli about resurfacing the tennis courts sooner.

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Tarantula Climber

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