Dalhousie Community Association

On March 14 the DCA sent this letter to Douglas Bridgewater, in the City planning department, regarding the proposed Starwood-Mastercraft 22 and 24 storey development for 125 Hickory Street (former Aquerello site, near the Humane Society): The board of the DCA discussed this proposal at length at its March 3rd meeting. We are all familiar with the site, and had elevations and site plans on hand during the discussion. We feel the proposed height is excessive. This is a mid-block, land-locked location, not a gateway. Its location on a transit corridor, and with nearby access to a major arterial (Carling Avenue) means the site is suitable for intensification. In our opinion, a height the same as the adjacent Emerald Tower would be suitable. The DCA supports the notion of Transit Oriented Development (ToD) requiring different conditions than might be applicable in other areas for similar developments. Reducing the parking requirements is appropriate for ToD and increases the afforda

 DCA Minutes 3 March 2010 (draft) Present: Eric Darwin, Charles Akben-Marchand, David Seaborn, Ida Henderson, Doug Gabelmann, Jessica Sellars, Archie Campbell, Michael Hatfield, Zsofia Orosz, Laura Bergen, Grace Xin, David Hearden of Delcan Minutes: the Minutes of the previous meeting were adopted, with a few minor typos noted. Chinatown Royal Arch: David organized a meeting of Cambridge Street neighbors to discuss the proposal to use vacant lot immediately south of the Yangtze Restaurant to pre-cast concrete pieces for the arch. A satisfactory arrangement is being put in place for residents, restaurant visitors, and artisans. The concrete casting would occur mostly in the northern part of the lot. The street-closing chain will only be opened to move the biggest pieces. The forms, or wooden moulds, are already made in China and have been shipped; they are arriving next week. Grace had a large wooden model of part of the arch, which came apart into individual pieces, which it

The DCA sent the following letter to Vivi Chi and Mona Abouhenidy of the City cycling program, and Councillors Leadman and Holmes: At its meeting on March 3, 2010, the Dalhousie Community Association passed a motion respecting the need for a cycling underpass at Somerset along the Otrain corridor. The Association feels it is a high priority for the community to have the technical feasibility study for the underpass and for its construction as part of the Somerset reconstruction process in 2010-11 . We have been waiting almost half a century for our bike path to be completed; we do want it to take a full century to complete this cycling arterial. In approx.1962 the first segments of the Carling-Bayview cycling and pedestrian path were built by the NCC as part of the railway relocation projects in Ottawa. The segments ran from Prince of Wales to Carling to Young Street (the Queensway) along the east side of what is now the Otrain corridor. It is a stonedust path through a treed co