Construction Season, New Parking Rules & More

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It was great having a little piece of home downtown at City Hall on June 1st at the Mayor's Annual Rural Expo. Thanks to all those who participated!  

It was great having a little piece of home downtown at City Hall on June 1st at the Mayor's Annual Rural Expo. Thanks to all those who participated!  

Over the next few weeks and months, several construction projects may affect your daily commute. Road resurfacing projects will be undertaken on Rideau Valley Drive South, Potter Drive, and Barnsdale Road, between Twin Elm Road and Moodie Drive. Microsurfacing projects will also be undertaken along certain parts of Fourth Line Road, Eagleson Road, Dwyer Hill Road and Old Richmond Road. These were approved in early 2018 with the allocation of an additional $10M for road projects. Rideau-Goulbourn is the recipient of $2M of those funds. Finally, Gallagher Road, between Mackey and Malakoff, will receive its final treatment as part of the rural road upgrade that commenced last summer.

The replacement of the McBean Street bridge will commence shortly. The project has been awarded to Aecon. This massive project is expected to be carried out over the next 18 months. There will be impacts to traffic, specifically for heavy vehicles and buses. I will be providing a more detailed update on this project in the Richmond Hub shortly.

The sewer works along Martin Street are ongoing. As a part of this project, a Road Close Authorization has been granted for Fortune Street from Martin Street to Royal York Street. The road is scheduled to be closed from Friday, June 22nd to Wednesday, August 15th. On behalf of Richmond Village Ltd. (Caivan), Ottawa Greenbelt Construction Co. Ltd. will be undertaking the replacement of a sanitary trunk sewer. Notification signs will be posted. There will be a signed detour. Local and emergency vehicle access will be maintained.

Additional construction projects scheduled for this summer include the following replacements/rehabilitations:

  • Ashton Station Road Bridge
  • Munster Road Bridge (south of Jock Trail)
  • Old Richmond Road Bridge (south of Fallowfield Road)
  • Various culverts along Dwyer Hill Road, Longfields Drive, Roger Stevens Drive, Joy’s Road, Donnelly Drive, Eagleson Road, Rideau Valley Drive North

If you have any questions about these projects, please let me know.

Need new garbage, recycling bins? It just got easier!

As of June 4th, 2018, residents of Ottawa who require a new blue, black, or green bin will no longer need to request a Canadian Tire coupon to receive new bins. A new delivery service is being implemented that will simplify the process for residents to obtain recycling containers. Recycling containers will be delivered directly to the resident’s home.

Residents can now request a new recycling container by:

  • Making an online request for new bins. Once a request has been received, the bins will be delivered to the resident’s home within five (5) business days.
  • Contacting 311 to make a request for new bins. Once a request has been received, the bins will be delivered to the resident’s home within five (5) business days.
  • Visiting a City Client Service Centre (CSC) and requesting the bins. The CSC will create a service request to have the bin delivered to the resident’s home within five (5) business days.

The new delivery system will address the issue where residents had concerns about transporting the bins due to size. The service will also address and meet the requirements for the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.

Residents who previously received coupons for the replacement of their bins must redeem their coupons on or before June 30th. After June 30th, the coupons will no longer be valid.

New, Relaxed Parking Rules in Effect

Following the approval of the Traffic and Parking By-law Update 2017 report by Council on September 13th, 2017, the Traffic and Parking By-law (No. 2017-301), and corresponding set fines approved by the Ontario Court of Justice are now in effect as of June 1st, 2018.

As part of the approved report, a significant change in the new by-law relates to the long-standing 3-Hour Parking Rule, as it applies to weekends and statutory holidays. Under the previous by-law, on weekends and statutory holidays, motorists would only be allowed to park for three consecutive hours (between 7:00am and 7:00pm), on streets where there are no parking limit signs. As of June 1st, 2018, on weekends and statutory holidays, motorists are now able to park for up to six consecutive hours (between 7:00am and 7:00pm) on streets where there are no parking limit signs.

KOTR Evening of Information

On June 20th, the Kars on the Rideau Public School Parent Council invites parents to an evening of information on supporting their children during the middle and tween years to maintain healthy lifestyles. This session is aimed at parents of children in grade 4 to 8.

This session is presented in collaboration with the City of Ottawa’s Public Health unit and Rideauwood Addiction and Family Services. Speakers will be present from both agencies discussing a number of issues, including the use of cannabis, vaping and opioids.

This session will take place at the school between 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm. Participants are encouraged to register as space is limited. You can do so at the following link: www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening-of-information-tickets-46664058455.

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If you have any comments, questions or concerns, please feel free to email me at [email protected] or contact me by phone at 613-580-2491. For information on Rideau-Goulbourn issues, please visit RideauGoulbourn.ca.

Name the Trains Contest & Community Dancing in Manotick

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name the train.jpg

Residents in Richmond have likely noticed some activity near Fortune Street and Martin Street. This is the beginning of work along Martin Street to install a new sanitary trunk sewer in order to connect the new housing projects in the Western Development Lands to the existing forcemain in the village. Greenbelt Construction is undertaking the work on behalf of the developer, Caivan Communities. While this is not a City-led construction project, the City does have a project manager that will oversee the work and respond to concerns.

We have been working on the use of Arbuckle Park, off Fortune Street. The contractor is in the process of getting a culvert installed in order to access the Martin Street road allowance from the opposite side of the municipal drain and to set up their site office on that side, away from the park. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact my office.

Name the Trains Contest

To help get ready for the launch of the O-Train Confederation Line in 2018, the City of Ottawa is looking for the best train name ideas from our city’s next generation of transit users.

The City is inviting children and youth, who are 16 years of age and under, to name the 34 O-Train Confederation Line train cars and the 6 O-Train Trillium Line train cars. The Name the Trains Contest will run from November 2nd to December 8th. To enter the contest, please visit octranspo.com/ready4rail.

Here are some details to keep in mind when choosing a name:

  • Names should be short (maximum of 16 characters)
  • Names should be related to trains (or train service) or have a Canadian or Ottawa-related significance
  • Names must fit into one or more of the following 5 categories: people, animals, natural world, culture or history
  • Names should be bilingual or easily translatable (English & French)
  • Names should be friendly (nothing negative, please!), have a pleasant sound and be easy to remember
  • Participants can submit as many separate entries as they wish, but each contest participant can only win once
  • Names cannot be current or future O-Train Confederation or Trillium Line station names

Winners will be notified by email or telephone in 2018 once all entries have been reviewed. For more information, including contest rules and regulations, plus guidelines on how to submit a great train name, please visit octranspo.com/ready4rail.

Community Dancing in Manotick

On Friday, November 24th from 7:00 to 9:30pm at the Manotick United Church, come out and enjoy a fun, interactive session of dance, laughter & music. Join the Ever Hopeful Stringband and caller Pippa Hall for a family-friendly, alcohol-free evening of community dancing, including circles, squares and contras. Each dance is taught and the whole family is invited. The evening begins with simple dances, followed by dances that build on skills as the evening progresses. Admission is $10, $5 for those aged 12-18, and anyone under 12 gets in for free. There is a family maximum admission of $20. For more Information, please call 613-692-4576 or visit http://dance.manotick.net.

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If you have any comments, questions or concerns, please feel free to email me at [email protected] or contact me by phone at 613-580-2491. For information on Rideau-Goulbourn issues, please visit RideauGoulbourn.ca.

The State of Our Roads: Good News for Infrastructure Renewal

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One of the most significant issues that any Councillor deals with on a daily basis, and certainly every rural Councillor, is the state of our roads. Since 2012, Council has continuously worked to close the funding gap when it comes to infrastructure renewal. This would include buildings, parks, sidewalks, roads, etc. In 2012, Council approved a one-time funding program called Ottawa on the Move that saw $340M invested directly into renewal between then and 2014. Additionally, over the last six years, Council has set aside annual increases to our renewal budget to help close that gap in our annual budget. It has helped but it hasn’t been nearly enough.

The commitment that has been made in recent years has seen vast improvements in our rural road network throughout Ottawa. Over 30% of all annual road renewal funding is spent in the rural area. This year, for instance, the City is resurfacing Shea Road, Bleeks Road and William McEwen Drive. In recent years, we’ve seen renewal of Moodie Drive, Century Road West, Donnelly Drive, Bridge Street, Church Street, Ottawa Street and so on. Every time the City resurfaces a road, though, there is really no time to rest on our laurels as we have an abundance of other roads that require attention.

The last time that the City did a Long Range Financial Plan and updated its Asset Management Plan was in 2012 and the result was that increased commitment to renewal and the Ottawa on the Move program. In recent weeks, Council approved our next Long Range Financial Plan with a major focus on infrastructure renewal. Even though we had been adding more money in every budget, our annual funding gap toward renewal is $70M. We are spending $125M on infrastructure renewal when we should be spending $195M.

In June, Council approved our most recent update to the Long Range Financial Plan with the following key recommendations:

  • That the contribution from taxation for the renewal of existing assets be increased by inflation (Construction Price Index) and an additional $10.5 million in the 2018 budget, as a priority within Council’s approved tax targets.
  • That the annual contribution from taxation for the renewal of existing assets be increased annually by inflation and an additional $7.8 million per year starting in the 2019 budget for 9 years as outlined in this report.
  • That staff continue to pursue permanent stable funding from the federal and provincial governments for the renewal of existing assets.

This significant increase in funding will help advance more roads, parks and building renewal projects in the coming years. Further to that, we have also improved some additional funding for this year and I have been working with staff to try and secure some improvements in Richmond on Strachan, Martin and Colonel Murray. It likely won’t be full resurfacing but something better than the patch work that was done previously.

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If you have any comments, questions or concerns, please feel free to email me at [email protected] or contact me by phone at 613-580-2491. For information on Rideau-Goulbourn issues, please visit RideauGoulbourn.ca.