Newsletter Date Councillor’s Newsletter June 9 , 2017 KEEPING YOU INFORMED Councillor’s View Dear Residents, On June 5th, I had the pleasure of attending the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Kanata Extension Environmental Assessment Open House. The event was well attended with over 100 participants from within the west-end communities and it was great to see residents so engaged and asking questions for such an important topic to the future of Stittsville. The meeting discussed potential options regarding the future of the LRT extension from Moodie to Palladium through Kanata and requested feedback from community members on their thoughts. A total of 13 potential corridors were identified, including locations north, south and central to Highway 417. All options are compatible with proposed extension of LRT to Moodie (Stage 2) and Page 2 Keeping You Informed each option presented Palladium as the ideal location for the western terminus. The high density development planned for this area makes Palladium an ideal location for the line to end despite the uncertainty of what will become of the Canadian Tire Centre. I would ideally like to see the rail continue one step further and see the line extended closer to Maple Grove to better serve the residents of Stittsville. The presentation outline and boards listing provide a complete overview of the considerations for all 13 options. I am pleased to report that Corridor 8 is the recommended option going forward as there are a number of benefits to this option: - It is centrally located along Highway 417 and provides a strong spine for bus transportation to compliment the system - Serves residents north and south of the highway and therefore provides good ridership potential - Minimal impact on residents leaving near the line - Utilizes existing park and rides (Eagleson, Terry Fox, and Palladium) - Has limited affect on the natural environment - Please see the Corridor 8 Board for more information on this plan. Keeping You Informed Page 3 In addition to selecting Corridor 8 as the preferred choice, the City will still further review Corridors 5 and 13. Corridor 5 provides service to Kanata North which does assist by providing access to the employment area in Kanata North but I feel this corridor provides little benefit to Stittsville residents. Additionally, I feel this creates a missed opportunity as the Terry Fox Park and Ride would not be utilized and the corridor has greater negative impacts as well including natural environment impact, complexity, and capital & operational costs. Corridor 13 provides greater service to Kanata South as well as Stittsville, however, this option runs along the Trans Canada Trail (TCT). I feel this will be create problems down the line and as such, the majority of residents would not support LRT near the TCT. Page 4 Keeping You Informed City staff and the consultants provided an excellent overview of all the corridors considered. The next step in the process is for a further analysis of corridors 5, 8 and 13. A second open house will be held in the Fall with more information. Right now it is important that residents provide their comments by June 23, 2017. It is important that Stittsville residents are heard. If you support Corridor 8 and think the terminus should be south of Pallidum to provide a greater connection to Stittsville or have other ideas, please send them to the City. Residents can provide comments by June 23, 2017 to: Angela Taylor Senior Project Engineer, Transportation Planning [email protected] 613-580-2424 Ext. 15210 www.Ottawa.ca/KanataLRT Keeping You Informed Page 5 I would like to thank all residents who took the time to come out to the event and I encourage all residents to provide their thoughts on what is certain to be a developmental decision which affects Stittsville for many generations to come. Thank you for your engagement. -Shad Canada’s 150th Celebration Canada’s sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary is well underway and as July 1st and Canada Day are quickly approaching, Ottawa is offering a 150th birthday party you won’t soon forget! Already, this year, we have seen some incredible events within our nation’s capital organized by the Ottawa 2017 crew including Red Bull Crashed Ice, the 2017 Juno Awards, Inspiration Village and more! We have also seen many other great local events organized within our communities such as the Kanata- Carleton Cultural Festival on May 27th in Ward 4 and India’s Influence on Modern Day Rock N’ Roll organized by Aroha Fine Arts in Stittsville. But I also want to hear about what YOU still have planned for this year’s festivities, residents. Will you be holding a neighbourhood barbeque, corn-roast, or a family reunion? Or perhaps you’ve planted some Canada 150 tulips in your red and white gardens or plan on participating in a parade over the Canada Day weekend? Even if it is something small and private, I want to hear from you! Send me an email with your Page 6 Keeping You Informed 150th celebration plans to [email protected] and let’s see just how Stittsville celebrates. In the meantime, I encourage all residents to stop by my ward office in the Goulbourn Recreation Complex to stock up on small paper Canadian flags and send me your most festive photos! You can see some of the great shots already provided to my office on my website here. Get yourself on the hall of fame and celebrate Canada all year long! City Chat: Coyotes information Session with Dr. Nick Stow Over the last months, I have heard from several residents in different areas of the Stittsville community voicing concerns towards the presence of coyotes around their neighbourhoods. As a result, in March, my office, with the assistance of Dr. Nick Stow from the City’s Planning, Infrastructure & Economic Development Department, hosted a meeting to address many of these concerns in the community of Wyldewood. For any residents who may have missed this information session or may still have questions/concerns, I am happy to invite you all to join us for a City Chat at the Stittsville Public Library on June 12th from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Dr. Stow will discuss; the character and importance of Coyotes in maintaining a healthy eco-system, what we can do to as residents to co-exist, along with a number of other important points to consider. After Dr. Stow’s presentation there will be an opportunity to voice any concerns or questions that you may have. If you have questions regarding any other wildlife, I do encourage you to let my office know in advance so that Dr. Stow will be prepared to answer any additional wildlife concerns. There is a limited capacity of 42 people in the Library’s Board room but there are still 30 spaces remaining for this event! I ask that you kindly RSVP in advance of the event should wish to attend the session. It will be on a first come first serve basis. Residents can RSVP by emailing me at [email protected] or calling my office at 613-580-2476. Fernbank Community Gateway Feature Keeping You Informed Page 7 You may have noted the new Fernbank entrance sign at the intersection of Robert Grant Avenue and Fernbank Road. I have received a few inquiries about this sign and thought I would share some details on this entrance sign to residents. The gateway at Robert Grant Avenue and Fernbank Road was envisioned as part of the Fernbank Community Design Plan (CDP) as approved by City Council in 2010. This Fernbank CDP was a lengthy process of master planning for the entire Fernbank Community located between Stittsville and Kanata and I know many residents in Stittsville were involved in this process and attended the workshops to assist in designing this community. The process of developing the CDP included extensive public consultation, and the title given to the community at the time was “Fernbank”. Subsequently, many developers have developed their own marketing names for their individual Plans of Subdivision, and you may notice there are more new names coming forward for developments in the Fernbank lands south of Hazeldean Road. I have been in contact with City Planning staff and we can appreciate in the present scenario this may lead to some confusion as some residents in the area assume this signage is for the Fernbank Crossing subdivision and have noted it is odd it says Fernbank Stittsville and not Fernbank Crossing. This is a similar situation to many newer communities which have a variety of subdivisions under one community banner, for example Kanata Lakes contains Heritage Hills, Richardson Ridge, Kanata Estates, Marchwood and Shaughnessy Village. The sign is referred to as a “Community Gateway” in the Fernbank CDP for which there are two planned in the Community, the other will be located at Hazeldean Road and Robert Grant Avenue in the future. These gateways are being funded as part of the Robert Grant Avenue road construction project, and as a result are city funded and are required to reflect the name of the entire community. The remainder of the planned gateways are identified as “neighbourhood gateways” and are funded by the individual developers for their own subdivisions. An example of this would be the Blackstone gateway located at Westphalian Drive and Terry Fox Drive. There are many of these located throughout the individual neighbourhoods that make up the Fernbank Community and it is up to the discretion of the developer to construct such signage following the design guidelines for new development application gateway features.