Construction in Rideau-Goulbourn and Drop-In Sessions

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Congratulations to Rideau-Goulbourn residents Sanchit and Riya Gupta on receiving the Mayor’s City Builder Award at Council on Wednesday, May 22. The Guptas established a chapter of MealCare, a non-profit organization that aims to combat food waste, in Ottawa. Working with local restaurants, university cafeterias and grocery stores, the Guptas take in surplus food, and, with the help of fellow volunteers, redirect it to shelters and soup kitchens where it is needed most.

Congratulations to Rideau-Goulbourn residents Sanchit and Riya Gupta on receiving the Mayor’s City Builder Award at Council on Wednesday, May 22. The Guptas established a chapter of MealCare, a non-profit organization that aims to combat food waste, in Ottawa. Working with local restaurants, university cafeterias and grocery stores, the Guptas take in surplus food, and, with the help of fellow volunteers, redirect it to shelters and soup kitchens where it is needed most.

In my most recent column, at the beginning of May, I highlighted the many culvert replacement projects that were scheduled to take place this summer. Many of these culvert renewals will lead directly into our roads program for 2020, such as Roger Stevens Drive and the other part of Rideau Valley Drive North. For now, though, I would like to focus on 2019 and let you know what you can expect to see under construction throughout Rideau-Goulbourn. Spoiler Alert: It is a lot.

We will begin with three major capital projects, two of which are ongoing. The McBean Street Bridge is still on schedule to re-open in December 2019. Construction will continue throughout the summer. The west side of the bridge is nearing completion following which the east side of the bridge will be dismantled, requiring another full closure of the bridge. We will continue to provide updates on this project. The Kanata South Link project continues as well with the widening of Old Richmond Road, between Hope Side Road and West Hunt Club as well as the construction of the roundabout at Hope Side Road. Finally, the intersection of Prince of Wales Drive and Bankfield Road will be under construction this summer as the City adds turning lanes in all directions. Additionally, Bankfield Road will be widened back to First Line Road and a signalized intersection will be installed at that point.

Onto road renewal, we have a number of Fall 2018 projects that were delayed due to the early winter that will get underway as soon as possible. Those include the McBean Street intersection with Goodstown Road, the Owlshead Road intersection with Munster Road, as well as portions of Dobson Lane, McCordick Road, and Third Line Road. These projects have already been awarded and will begin when half load restrictions are lifted from our roads. The list of 2019 road renewal projects in Rideau-Goulbourn include: 

  • Joy’s Road (Ottawa to Franktown)

  • Rideau Valley Drive North (Roger Stevens to Rideau Narrows)

  • Fallowfield Road (Eagleson to Huntley)

  • Barnsdale Road (Moodie to 416)

  • Barnsdale Road (Greenbank to Prince of Wales)

  • Hazeldean Road (Jinkinson to Carp)

  • McBean Street (Rail Crossing)

  • Dwyer Hill Road (Rail Crossing)

  • Manotick Main Street (Bankfield to Bridge)

  • Strachan (West of McBean)

  • Longfields Drive (Prince of Wales to Golflinks)

  • Carp Road (Hazeldean to Westbrook)

  • Mackey Road (Malakoff to Viola)

On our gravel roads, Paden Road will see its final lift in the two step rural road upgrade process between Harnett Road and Malakoff Road. Black’s Side Road will be upgraded using the same process this year and next between Ridingview Crescent and Flewellyn Road. McCordick Road, between Mackey Road and Cowell Road, will see new guiderails installed.

Some construction will also take place in a few of Rideau-Goulbourn’s many parks and also on a new one. Sarah McCarthy Park will see construction begin this month with a slated completion date of July. It will be Richmond’s newest park located on Cedarstone Drive. Keeping in Richmond, some final touches will be done on the work that took place in King’s Grant Park last year and the play structures at Richmond Lions Park will be replaced shortly. In Manotick, a collaborative effort between residents and my office has resulted in some new features being added to Gordon & Ivy Scharf Park. That work will also begin shortly.

Finally, in some less exciting but important nonetheless news, nearly $20M will be spent at our Trail Road waste facility which includes the replacement of the scale house and the capping of Stage 2 of the landfill. The landfill has a total of five stages. This is form part of a larger discussion in June as the Environment Committee begins discussing waste diversion and the Solid Waste Master Plan.

Drop-In Sessions

Our drop in sessions will be going on hiatus during the month of June due to the pending addition to my family but we will be back on schedule in July. I can imagine the stress this might cause you so, as always, feel free to contact my office anytime and we will do our best to assist. July will come before you know it and you can come visit at one of our next drop in sessions, with the first likely being held in Richmond.

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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.

Get Ready for Construction Season!

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With the snow finally behind us (I think), it is now time to look ahead to our other season in Ottawa: Construction. Once again this summer, there are a number of road projects that will impact Rideau-Goulbourn. I would like to take this opportunity to list those projects here.

Since 2012, the City has made an increased commitment to resurfacing roads throughout the City of Ottawa. The total contribution to infrastructure renewal has increased year over year during that time. For 2017, our rehabilitation program has just been awarded to Cavanagh Construction and will include the following Rideau-Goulbourn roads:

  • Shea Road (Hemphill Street to Fernbank Road)
  • William McEwen Drive (South of Brophy Road)
  • Bleeks Road (Dwyer Hill Road to 80m East of Munster Road)

Road resurfacing projects are to be carried out between April 24th and October 24th of this year. I will have more specific details on timelines in the coming weeks as the contractor presents their schedule. Another project that could have significant impacts for Rideau-Goulbourn residents will be the resurfacing of Prince of Wales Drive from Hunt Club to Strandherd Road.

Gravel road resurfacing will be carried out on Bleeks Road, Bowrin Road, Conley Road, Goodstown Road, McLinton Road, O’Neil Road, Rushmore Road and Woods Road in Goulbourn. In Rideau, residents can expect to see gravel resurfacing on Callendor Road, Flood Road, Gilroy Road, Harbison Road, Mackey Road, Paden Road and Weedmark Road. This work involves the addition of new gravel, a reshaping of the crown of the road to ensure proper drainage and a calcium application to reduce dust. Gravel roads have a lifecycle of four years. The roads listed above were last done in 2013, except for McLinton Road, which was done in 2012.

As for gravel roads being upgraded from gravel to hard surface, 2017 will see the completion of work on Mackey Road that begun in 2016. Additionally, Gallagher Road, from Mackey Road to Malakoff Road, will be upgraded from gravel to a hard surface. Pavement preservation projects will be carried out on Third Line Road (South of Lockhead Road), McCordick Road (Donnelly Drive to Mackey Road), Harnett Road and Donnelly Drive (Merlyn Wilson Road to the City boundary). Pavement preservation is generally a microsurfacing of the road which sees a layer of asphalt added to add life to the road at a fraction of the cost of resurfacing. These works have been awarded to Miller Paving with works scheduled to be carried out between April 24th and August 11th.

5514 Manotick Main Street Update

Over the last year, I have spoken about the Falls House at 5514 Manotick Main Street in this column and also during the November 15th Town Hall meeting in Manotick. Since last fall, the property owner has been working with an architect on the proposed building. Since last winter, the owner has also been consulting, through my office, with several community leaders. Having said that, the owner has submitted a zoning by-law amendment to the City prior to sharing this with our ad-hoc consultation group. The application and the proposed design are now available for public comment.

The property is zoned VM9 which is a mixed use zone specifically for villages in which commercial and residential is permitted. The 9 refers to the prohibitions imposed through our recent Manotick Secondary Plan Review, such as gas bar, townhouse dwelling, funeral home, automobile service station and so on. In terms of height, it is the village standard 11 metres, or three storeys.

As mentioned, a zoning by-law amendment (ZBA) has recently been submitted for this application. The main part of the amendment only applies to a small portion of the property. Recently, the property owner was approved for a lot line adjustment between 5514 Manotick Main Street and 1157 Maple Street that was necessary for access purposes. 1157 Maple is zoned Village Residential so that portion needs to be rezoned to make it consistent with the balance of the property. However, the ZBA also seeks to change the building height from 11m to 12.5m as well as some other less significant proposals on setbacks.

Ultimately, we all know this intersection is changing with the plaza having approved an expansion, the former McNeil Motors property for sale and the demolition of the Falls House. The good news for the village is that the owners of 5514 Manotick Main Street are from the village and have shown a strong willingness to work with the community since the initial acquisition in 2015.

More details and information are available at www.rideaugoulbourn.ca/fallshouse. Your comments are welcome.

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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.