Happy New Year!

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We hope you have had the chance to take in the beautiful lights in Richmond's Memorial Park!

We hope you have had the chance to take in the beautiful lights in Richmond's Memorial Park!

Happy New Year Rideau-Goulbourn! As we embark on a new year, I do so with new responsibilities at City Hall. In December, Council approved the roles and responsibilities for the new term of council. After serving last term as Chair of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, I had the privilege of being named the Chair of the Environment Committee. Subsequently, I brought forward a Notice of Motion to change the name of that committee to the Standing Committee on Water, Waste and Environmental Protection. The intent is to ensure that the name of the committee reflects the broad mandate of the committee and its key priorities.

As for other responsibilities, I will continue to sit on Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee, Finance & Economic Development Committee and the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority. I will also be joining the Ottawa Community Housing Board and the Planning Committee.

2019 Town Hall Series

In the coming weeks, our office will be hosting a series of town hall meetings to help kick off the term of Council. We will host these meetings in Burritt’s Rapids, Pierce’s Corners, Kars, North Gower, Stittsville, Richmond, Munster, Ashton, Manotick, Country Club Village, Fallowfield Village and in the Quinn’s Pointe community in Barrhaven. These meetings will take place between January 9th and March 5th.

The intent of these meetings will be to look at what issues are present currently in our communities, what priorities we want to focus on and any other matters that residents feel requires our attention. It is also an opportunity to discuss how best we can improve communication. We have a number of new initiatives we are going to bring forward in order to better serve our residents. Included in that will be drop in meetings where residents can stop by and visit with our team. We will rotate these meetings around the ward every two weeks.

For the Town Hall meetings, we have the following meetings scheduled:

  • January 9th: Canadian Golf & Country Club, 7:00pm

  • January 12th: St. Patrick’s Church, 10:00am

  • January 15th: Manotick Arena, 7:00pm

  • January 19th: Burritt’s Rapids Community Hall, 10:00am

  • January 23rd: Munster Community Centre, 7:00pm

  • January 28th: North Gower Client Service Centre, 7:00pm

  • February 4th: St. Benedict Elementary School, 7:00pm

  • February 6th: Ashton Christ Church, 7:00pm

  • February 13th: Kars Recreation Centre, 7:00pm

  • February 19th: St. Philip’s Parish Hall, 7:00pm

  • February 26th: Marlborough Community Hall, 7:00pm

  • March 5th: Goulbourn Town Hall, 7:00pm

I very much look forward to these meetings, as does our team. I hope you will be able to attend.

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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.

October’s ARAC Agenda, 2018 Budget Consultation & More

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The next meeting of Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee is coming up on Thursday, October 5th. Agenda items at this upcoming meeting include the following:

  • Zoning By-Law Amendments for:
    • 3719 Dunrobin Road (West Carleton)
    • 1156 Jinkinson Road (Rideau-Goulbourn)
    • 5721, 5731, 5741 Manotick Main Street (Rideau-Goulbourn)
  • Boundary Road Agreement Report
  • Rural Coach Houses on Private Services
  • Carp Airport Development
  • Thomas Gamble Municipal Drain (Osgoode)
  • Kilroe Municipal Drain (Barrhaven)

The Zoning By-Law Amendment for 1156 Jinkinson Road is an expansion of Cavanagh’s Henderson Quarry. Already approved through the Province’s Aggregate Resources Act, the amendment changes the zoning from Mineral Reserve (MR) to Mineral Extraction (ME). A portion of the MR zone will also change to Environmental Protection (EP3) as a buffer between the quarry and the neighbouring wetland.

The Zoning By-Law Amendment for Manotick Main Street is the Regional Group/eqHomes development on the southern edge of Manotick, along the Rideau River. This property is in between Island View Road and Kelly Marie Drive. The Draft Plan of Subdivision was already approved by the City of Ottawa and this report deals specifically with the zoning of the property. That approval has been appealed and I am working with the appellant and the developer to resolve those issues. The appellant is well within their rights to have appealed, I agree with the basis of that appeal and I am confident we can resolve the matter.
 
The current zoning for 5721, 5731 and 5741 Manotick Main Street allows for detached dwellings. The proposed zoning, which aligns itself with the Manotick Secondary Plan, will allow the development of detached dwellings as well as townhome dwellings. Another element of the zoning amendment is to reduce required setbacks and increase the maximum lot coverage. The reason for this is because of the development being entirely bungalows. Bungalows require a larger footprint.
 
The report on coach houses deals specifically with coach houses being developed in the rural area on private services, i.e.: well and septic. The report attempts to soften some of the requirements imposed last year for those wishing to build a coach house on their property. For properties on municipal services, one just requires a building permit. The development on private services is a little more complex because well and septic capacity have to be considered.

The Boundary Road Agreement report deals with all of the roads that the City of Ottawa shares with our neighbouring municipalities, including North Grenville, Montague Township, Beckwith Township and Lanark County. It sets out maintenance responsibility agreements between the various partners. One such road that has caused concern is Ashton Station Road. This report is aimed at addressing maintenance issues between the City and Beckwith. As of right now, Beckwith has not agreed but the City of Ottawa continues to work with them on the agreement.

The agenda and all reports are available at Ottawa.ca.  

RCVA Tree Planing Program 

Money is available to landowners interested in planting trees. The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority offers private landowners tree planting programs that help them get technical advice, planting plans and funding for trees.
 
To be eligible, landowners need at least one acre of land and are willing to plant a minimum of 500 trees. If you have the space, RVCA can help get trees growing on your land for 15 cents a tree. Since 1983, RVCA has planted over 5.25 million trees on private property for landowners. For more information please visit the RVCA’s website.

Richmond Forcemain Project Update

As many of you are aware, the Richmond Forcemain Project has been ongoing for much of 2017. Over the next few weeks, City Staff will be preparing for the abandonment of the old 200mm forcemain that runs from the Richmond Sewage Pumping Station along Royal York Street, Chanonhouse Drive and goes through Chanonhouse Park and connects to the lagoons. This abandonment will be completed by excavating a series of approximately nine pits between the Pumping Station and the Lagoons and filling the old forcemain with grout.
 
The City of Ottawa inspector for the forcemain will go door-to-door to briefly discuss the work, timelines and reinstatement work with residents that are in direct proximity of a pit. Placement of topsoil and seeding is ongoing between King Street and Eagleson Road. Chain link fence installation along the rear of the properties on Dallaire Crescent and installation of the granular access road from Eagleson Road to the west limit of lagoon cell ‘C’ is ongoing. Deficient work inside valve chambers on the 300mm and 600mm forcemains along the Jock River from the Condominium building at 68 King Street to the lagoons is ongoing.
 
The Parking lot on Eagleson Road near Barnsdale Road is now open. Trails remain closed within the project limits and fencing and signage are being maintained in the construction zone.

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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.

RVCA Tree Planting Program & Other Updates

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The next Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee meeting is coming up on October 4th. The agenda for that meeting will not be available for another week but there are a few items that are tentatively set for that agenda. The items include a report on Coach Houses, a report on the City of Ottawa's Boundary Road Agreements with our neighbouring municipalities, and the zoning bylaw amendment for the Regional project at 5721, 5731, 5741 Manotick Main Street. Please visit our website to sign up for our e-Newsletter to receive more information on our upcoming ARAC meeting. The newsletter will include the full agenda and links to the reports.

RVCA Tree Planting Program

Money is available to landowners interested in planting trees. The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority offers private landowners tree planting programs that help them get technical advice, planting plans and funding for trees.

To be eligible, landowners need at least one acre of land and are willing to plant a minimum of 500 trees. If you have the space, RVCA can help get trees growing on your land for 15 cents a tree. Since 1983, RVCA has planted over 5.25 million trees on private property for landowners. For more information please visit the RVCA’s website.

Rideau River Floodplain Mapping Open House

The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) has completed two hazard mapping studies for the Rideau River: Hogs Back to Kars and Kars to Burritt’s Rapids. These studies update existing mapping in some areas and new mapping in others. Both Rideau River studies look at identifying two main types of hazards along these stretches of the watercourse: flooding and slope stability.

The goal of this mapping is to help ensure that sound planning decisions are made – keeping people and property safe. Accurate engineered hazard mapping is the foundation of effective floodplain and resource management.

Members of the public are encouraged to attend the open house and/or provide comments on the mapping. Conservation Authority staff welcome historical records of past flood events, news clippings, photographs and even anecdotal stories to help confirm the reasonableness of calculations and resulting hazard mapping. For those unable to attend the open house, mapping can also be seen online at www.rvca.ca and comments sent to Ferdous Ahmed, RVCA Senior Water Resources Engineer at [email protected].

Public Open House
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
4:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Rideau Valley Conservation Centre
3889 Rideau Valley Drive
Manotick, Ontario

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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.

ARAC Agenda & RVCA Conducting Hazard Mapping Studies

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Our next meeting of the Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee is on Thursday, July 6th. It will be the last meeting of the Committee until the first week of September. As usual, we meet at Ben Franklin Place in the old Nepean Council Chambers and the meeting begins at 10:00am. Agenda items include:

Zoning Amendment: 5514 Manotick Main Street
Zoning Amendment: 4711 Rockdale Road
Zoning Amendment: 1260 Loeper Street
Zoning Amendment: 9391 Parkway Road
Zoning Amendment: 1353 Scharfgate Drive
Road Allowance Closure between 1792 & 1818 Old Prescott Road
Appointment of Engineer: Tompkins Diversion Municipal Drain

There is an additional item on the agenda that is sensitive in nature and will be discussed In Camera. It involves a litigious matter dealing with a property in Osgoode Ward.

Only two of the agenda items emanate from Rideau-Goulbourn and they are both zoning applications within the village of Manotick. 5514 Manotick Main Street is a new three storey office/commercial building at the corner of Bridge Street and Manotick Main Street. 1353 Scharfgate is a development application from Cavanagh and John Gerard Homes in the pre-existing development off of First Line Road. The address is misleading as the current property does not, and will not, have access onto Scharfgate Drive.

The agenda and associated reports can be found online at Ottawa.ca.

RVCA Conducting Hazard Mapping Studies

During the last five years, the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) has been conducting several hazard mapping studies on watercourses within the City of Ottawa and the RVCA area of jurisdiction. For some watercourses, old mapping will be updated; and for others, hazards maps will be created for the first time. Studies look at identifying two main types of hazards along the watercourses: flood risk and slope stability risk.

These studies are being done through a collaboration involving the City of Ottawa and the Rideau Valley, Mississippi Valley and South Nation Conservation Authorities. The City recognized a need to update its zoning schedules based on up-to-date flood risk mapping, and has provided contributions enabling the Conservation Authorities to move ahead with these studies sooner than would otherwise be possible.

Slope stability studies make use of new, highly detailed topographic data to identify toe and top of slope. This information is used to create an allowance area that serve as a flag of potentially unstable slope areas.

Currently, the RVCA is focusing its efforts on the following streams:

  • Flowing Creek (Flewellyn Road to Jock River)
  • Hobbs Drain (Fallowfield Road to Jock River)
  • Kings Creek (Brunton Side Road to Jock River)
  • Nichols Creek (Montague Boundary Road to Jock River)
  • Rideau River (Hogs Back to Kars)
  • Rideau River (Kars to Burritts Rapids)

Historical records, news clippings, photographs and local anecdotal stories and memories of past flood events can be useful in confirming the reasonableness of the calculations and resulting floodplain mapping. Local residents with this kind of information are encouraged to share their information and knowledge with RVCA’s Ferdous Ahmed (613-692-3571 ext. 1170 or [email protected]).

Those interested in learning more about the project or being included on our contact list are also encouraged to contact the RVCA. Once the technical work for individual study areas is complete and hazard mapping has been prepared, a public information session will be held to collect public feedback.  Any new information or comments will be taken into consideration in further refinement of the mapped hazard limits. 

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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.

Floodplain Mapping Studies Underway Within the City of Ottawa - Local Input Welcome

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Identifying lands that are vulnerable to flooding is an important responsibility for Ontario’s Conservation Authorities.

Over the next five years, three conservation authorities will be undertaking a number of flood risk mapping studies on watercourses within the City of Ottawa and their respective areas of jurisdiction. For some watercourses old flood risk mapping will be updated and for some watercourses flood risk maps will be created for the first time.

When completed, the new flood risk mapping will be used by the City of Ottawa when updating its Official Plan schedules and Zoning overlays and in the review of development applications under the Planning Act. Conservation Authorities will use the same mapping in the administration and enforcement of regulations made under the Conservation Authorities Act.

In the first year of this initiative, each CA will focus its efforts on the following study areas:

Mississippi Valley Conservation

  • Feedmill Creek
  • Poole Creek
  • Kizell Drain

Rideau Valley Conservation Authority

  • Ottawa River (Britannia Yacht Club to Shirley’s Bay)
  • Rideau River (Rideau Falls to Hogs Back Falls)
  • Monahan Drain (Jock River to Hope Side Road)

South Nation Conservation

  • Findlay Creek,
  • John Boyce Municipal Drain
  • Osgoode Garden Cedar Acres Municipal Drain

For more information, or learn how to provide input in the process, please visit the RVCA's website.

Rideau River ice breaking set to begin February 11

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Ice breaking operations on the Rideau River will begin February 11 between Rideau Falls and Hog’s Back. Blasting will follow starting on March 2. All operations will take place weather and ice conditions permitting.

The City, in partnership with the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, undertakes ice breaking operations each year to alleviate possible spring flooding in flood-prone areas. Once started, these operations will be carried out daily.

Ice breaking operations will create open water. Residents are asked to remain a reasonable distance from the river until operations are completed, and to supervise children around water.

For more information, please call 3-1-1 (TTY: 613-580-2401).

City Stream Watch receives support from OSF

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With financial support from the Ottawa Sustainability Fund (OSF), this summer the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority will carry out restoration on vulnerable and degraded areas identified by the City Stream Watch Program. This program will engage community volunteers and showcase best management practices and projects for healthy watershed ecosystems.

The OSF enables individuals, families and companies to donate in support of programs and projects that make the City of Ottawa more sustainable.