Dalhousie Community Association

On Saturday morning at 10am a group of Dalhousie residents will gather at the Dalhousie community centre (corner of Empress and Somerset) for an hour (or two) of neighborhood grooming. We provide the gloves, bags, and friends. In small groups, we tidy up a few blocks or nuisence spots. This year the focus will be on the two pedestrian staircases that go up/down Nanny Goat Hill. The Primrose staircase runs east-west; the Empress Ave staircase runs north/south; the bottom of the Empress stair comes out near the Good Companions centre. One of the nicest aspects of gathering up the miscellaneous debris is soaking up the praise ... there isn't a pedestrian going by who doesn't stop to thank us for tidying up. We hope this evangelizes into people more concerned about keeping our neighborhood tidy. You are welcome to come out and join us.

801 Albert Street is the triangle of land bounded by the City Centre Complex, Albert Street, and the Otrain corridor. It is presently a "hole", that is, it appears to be significantly lower than the surrounding properties. Phoenix owns it, and has come foreward with numerous redevelopment proposals, all of which have been lacking in merit. Granted, it is a very difficult site to develop, with many easements and utility lines crossing it. The City is now examining the utilties in the area as part of the Bayview-Carling CDP; it may be possible to realign some of them (but at great cost). In their prior proposal, Phoenix wanted two condo towers and a four floor office building, all on one podium structure level with Albert Street. Building the garage would prevent the city from replacing the sewers some day, so they turned down the idea of a single podium structure. Now Phoenix is proposal three separate podiums, leaving the sewer rights of way open to the air. The City is rec

The developer on LeBreton Flats, Claridge, is asking the city for permission to increase the height of one of his next buildings from six floors to eight. The building will be directly along side the aqueduct, opposite the pumping station. In our memory, this was supposed to be four stories along there, not six, not eight. We have been unable to find out how the four floors became six (and soon ... eight?). The Assocation opposes the additional height since there is supposed to be a variety of building heights and the original public proposals for the development clearly show four floors in this area. Indeed, those four storey buildings are still displayed on the photomontage at the sales centre on the Flats. Here is our letter: Planning Committee Re: April 27, 2010: Zoning: 34 Fleet Street The Dalhousie Community Association opposes the increase in height for this parcel. The Association notes with interest that the staff’s rationale for the increase in height to “ ad

President’s remarks DCA AGM 13 April 2010 by Eric Darwin. Hi, one short year ago a new board was elected to the DCA and I was elected president. What a year! The DCA went electronic, creating a web presence to which we post our agendas, minutes, and copies of some of our correspondence, so that members can get information faster and the larger community can also participate through the internet. We had some learning curves and adjustments, but the web presence seems totally natural now. Unexpectedly, the media monitor the site and it became the springboard for increased attention to our neighborhood and its issues, particularly with CBC, Carleton Journalism, and Centretown News. We are no longer called Centretown West, nor is “Dalhousie” heard with “wherz-dat?” Dalhousie is on the map again. The past and next few years are most decidedly the years of infrastructure and transportation projects. In 2009 we had many meetings with the Downtown Ottawa Transit Tunnel planning team

Dalhousie Community Association Annual General Meeting – 2010 Draft Minutes of Annual General Meeting of 13 April 2010 held at the Dalhousie Community Centre 1. Meeting was called to order at 7:20pm by Eric Darwin, President . 2. Emilie Hayes, a community developer from the Somerset West Community Health Centre presented the findings of the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study for Dalhousie. 3. The minutes of 2009 AGM were adopted on a motion by Martha Musgrove and Ida Henderson. 4. President’s Report: Eric Darwin presented his report. The President’s Report (posted separately) was accepted on a motion by David Seaborn and Archie Campbell. 5. Treasurer’s Report: David Seaborn presented his report. The report was adopted on a motion of by David Seaborn and Eric Darwin. 6. Election of the Board of Directors for 2010-2011: Carol Sissons chaired the elections. There being no contested positions, the following people were elected by acclamation: Archie Campbell, Ann Cavlovic, Sean

DCA minutes (draft)  7 April 2010 Present: Craig Haines, Eric Darwin, Ida Henderson, Michael Hatfield, Zsofia Orosz, Jessica Scallen, David Seaborn, Eric Bates, Charles Abken-Marchand Guests: Lisa Iman, Diane Holmes Minutes of March 3 Adopted as distributed; motion by Micheal, seconded by Jessica Chinatown arch Services redirection is already started, for example Hydro is working on overhead wiring and gas lines are being relocated. April 22 is official opening ceremony. The DCA decided it cannot afford to be a listed donor for the structure. Somerset reconstruction The public open house had a big turnout, many comments were submitted, mostly positive. The next meeting to assess the changes based on comments made at the open house will be held April 8th. Bronson reconstruction The engineers were very car and suburb oriented, didn't seem to be aware that most of it is traditional main street as per official plan and a scenic route. They want to widen the roadway s