Dalhousie Community Association

by Ida Henderson, Vice-President, Dalhousie Comunity Association November 13, 2009 The Dalhousie Community Association’s (DCA) Board of Directors met November 4 at the Dalhousie Community Centre (DCC). Councillor Diane Holmes also attended the meeting. Some of the main items discussed were: 314 Booth Street (former Desjardins IGA/Loeb site) update Cornerstone’s plans to build a four-storey apartment building with 42 studio apartments (20 for senior women and 22 for women needing affordable housing) at Eccles and Booth Streets were successful at the Committee of Adjustment. The vacant building is one step closer to being transformed to a new residential feature. (Cornerstone is a Community Ministry of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa which provides emergency shelter and safe, affordable housing for women in Ottawa.) Fall clean-up (October 17) Board members were joined by neighbours and MPP Yasir Naqvi in their efforts to control the litter on our streets, parkin

The DCA offered the following detailed comments on the most recent proposals for the Downtown Ottawa Transit Tunnel (DOTT), its stations, and impacts on the Dalhousie Community: Dennis Gratton City of Ottawa re DCA comments on DOTT  The Dalhousie Community Association represents the area from Bay Street to Bayview, from the Ottawa River to Carling. It is named for the former Dalhousie Ward that covered the same area. The Dalhousie Community Association reiterates its support for a comprehensive LRT system. LeBreton Station, Booth Street: This will be the main station for our community west of the escarpment. We like: • The station location under an elevated Booth Street is good. • that a permanent station building is shown as part of the station at construction time. We do not want temporary station facilities or bus shelters. • the platform waiting area roof structure forms part of the eventual ground level on the south side of the station. Improvement Wanted:

The following is a letter sent by the DCA to Marie Lemay, chief executive officer of the NCC: Marie Lemay Chief Executive Officer National Capital Commission                                        9 Nov 2009 Re: Interprovincial Transit Study & Rapibus, Bayview Station, Prince of Wales Bridge The Dalhousie Community Association represents the Ottawa neighborhoods located from Bay Street to Bayview; from the Ottawa River to Carling Avenue. We note with alarm that it is proposed that a Rapibus station and marshalling yard be constructed on the Bayview/LeBreton Flats development lands. We feel the Bayview Yard and LeBreton Flats lands, closely proximate to the downtown, are best used for dense urban development according to smart growth and transit-oriented-development principles. Low value uses, such as bus storage and marshalling facilities, are inappropriate. The City of Gatineau has opted for a BRT transit system which could later be converted to LRT, much li

The next meeting of the DCA will be on Nov 4 at the Dalhousie Community Centre at the corner of Somerset St and Empress at 7.30pm. Meeting room is on the ground floor, last room on the right. Everyone welcome. Communication 1. Minutes: Do previous minutes to be adopted or did our new procedure to adopt minutes via email within a week after meeting for timely posting to web site eliminate this step. Confirm our procedure. 2. Does anyone on the Board actually go to our web/blog site? Guest – none scheduled. Transportation 1. CCC (Ida) 2. DOTT /LRT – Eric will bring some pictures of proposed stations. He will circulate draft DCA response to City on current plan before the meeting. To limit amount of time spent on explanation in the meeting, you can find out more about the plans in our neighborhood at www.WestSideAction.blogspot.com 3. Booth St traffic detour concerns – no response on bike concerns 4. Dal South traffic study meeting followup report (Eric) Planning &am

The Committe of Adjustment (CofA) approved the use of a small rear deck as an outdoor patio at La Roma restuarant on Preston Street. The DCA had submitted concerns to the CofA that the patio, which faces residences, whould be bothersome and that there was plenty of room for a front patio with the new widened sidewalks along Preston. The sidewalks were widened, at the price of removing parking, specifically to permit front yard patios that animate the street environment. The 12 set patio approval was conditional on building a new, higher fence and restricting the stairs to emergency use only.