update re: 119 Richmond Road (the old CanTire)

This information just came in from the Councillor’s office.

On November 5 2008, Ashcroft will be requesting a deferral of the Committee of Adjustments hearing regarding 119 Richmond Road.

As a result of the 1st public meeting held on October 20, Ashcroft has reduced the building height from the initially requested 26m to 24.1m. Roderick Lahey Architects are in the process of preparing new building elevations which will be presented to the community at the 2nd public consultation scheduled for November 13 (click here for PDF).

In addition, please view the [PDF] statement from Ashcroft in regards to the request for a parkette.

-

Your thoughts, as always, are welcome.

What to do about Lansdowne? Have your say.

This is from our friends at the Glebe Community Association:

A group of developers has presented a proposal called Lansdowne Live to the City of Ottawa. The developers are requesting a 30-year lease to Lansdowne Park and propose to build a large commercial-residential-retail-entertainment complex with a hotel and an aquarium. They want the City’s taxpayers to bear the full cost of renovating/rebuilding Frank Clair Stadium and the Civic Centre. They are pushing City Council to rush into a decision before the end of March 2009 — a decision that affects taxpayers’ pocketbooks.

Lansdowne is public land, worth a conservative estimate of $160 million. The GCA believes the people of Ottawa should have a say in what happens there. After all, it’s prime land that belongs to the citizens of this city. Want the City to hear your voices loud and clear? Here’s your chance. Landsowne — it’s your park — have your say. To fill out the survey, enter here…

Have you received your new property assessment?

According to this article, the “biggest upward shift in value will be to homes in the downtown Somerset and Kitchissippi wards.”

Design, developers, and the community

There was an article in the October 27 Ottawa Citizen about residents of Old Ottawa South winning some concessions from a developer in the form of cosmetic changes to the design of two massive townhouses set to replace a 1,200-square-foot home.

Read the article online here.

This part should be of interest to Westboro residents:

Community design plans “will become an important tool for controlling esthetics, size and height,” Mr. Doucet says. “They are a detailed response to the Official Plan’s requirements for intensification.”

About a dozen community design plans have been completed so far, and Mr. Doucet estimates there could eventually be at least 100. Old Ottawa South begins working on its plan next year.

“The community is going to be exercising much more control over the landscape. We’re hoping it will become the vehicle that will bring quality control to intensification.”

But, says Mr. Doucet, the vision of communities is not always aligned with that of city hall.

“The city doesn’t want this to happen,” he says, noting that city officials have not yet approved Westboro’s community design plan because it “puts teeth in the height limits.”

Rage against the beige

Would it kill Ottawa developers to build something in Westboro that had a little colour? Kelly Egan asks.

[read the article on the Ottawa Citizen website]

Why do you love Westboro?

Ken Gray, the city editorial page editor and a member of the Citizen’s editorial board, was the guest speaker at our AGM. (You can listen his talk in a podcast posted here … scroll down to “Whither Westboro”.) At one point he asked people in the audience to share what they loved most about living in Westboro. It was interesting to hear the answers: trees, friendly faces, walkability, green space… 

Tell us, why do you love Westboro? What drew you here? What keeps you here? Post your answers in the comments of this post. We’d love to hear what you think.

Notice re: the old Canadian Tire

A number of residents have approached the WCA with concerns about the development of the old Canadian Tire. Well, now’s your chance to speak up.

The following is from a Committee of Adjustment notice concerning this property (119 Richmond Road):

“The Owner wants to demolish the existing 1-storey commercial building in order to construct an 8-storey retail/residential building, as shown on plans filed with the Committee. The ground floor facing Richmond Road will contain retail units with 174 residential retirement units above, and 3 levels of underground parking to be accessed from Patricia Avenue. “

Read the rest of the document in PDF format.

The Committee is meeting Wednesday November 5, 2008.

public meeting for 119 Richmond Road

a.k.a. the site of the old Canadian Tire.

Surplus parkland

… two words you rarely see used together in Ottawa. (!)

The City of Ottawa is holding a public open house to discuss the possibility of having the thin strip of parkland located on the north side of Byron Avenue, between Golden and Roosevelt, declared as surplus and redesignated as public road allowance to form part of Byron Avenue.

Monday, October 27 2008
7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Churchilll Senior Centre at 345 Richmond Road

AGM

Thanks to everyone who came to last night’s AGM! We’ll post the minutes as soon as they are transcribed.