Dalhousie Community Association

DCA Agenda, March 2nd, 2011 The next meeting of the DCA will be on Wed 3 March, 2011. It will be held at the Dalhousie Community Centre, corner of Empress and Somerset. Our room is on the ground floor, beside the pop machine. Meeting begins at 7.30 and is usually over shortly after 9. Everyone is welcome. Agenda: 1. Soho Italia (high rise intensification). Presentation by and discussion with the architect, Roderick Lahey, and developer representative Jeff Polowin. Our website has some pictures of the proposed development. Please familiarize yourselves with these before coming to the meeting. 20min for presentation, 30 minutes for discussion. 2. Norman street infill (low rise intensification). A local property owner wants to sever the parking lot (access off Norman) behind his existing duplex (which faces Preston), and build 3 apts on the “new” 33’x33’ lot. This removes some off-street private parking and the new units will not have parking. Discuss the merits of the infill, ...

Starwood-Mastercraft proposes a 35 storey condo tower at 500 Preston (corner of Sidney) near Carling Avenue. Here is a view from Carling (the 5-7 storey black podium is a parking garage): Shown below is the building proposed for this site several years ago. The developer of that tower got the site rezoned from six to 24 stories. Shown below is an artists impression of what the area could look like if other properties also were redeveloped to similar size high rises: Here is a neighborhood model prepared by the developer, which can be seen in their Soho Champagne sales office currently on the 500 Preston site:

There is a duplex (four apts) facing Preston at 409-411: Note the garages facing Norman, on the side: The owner proposes to demolish the sheds/back porches on the house, and construct a three storey three-apt building with roof terrace. The new lot would be 33'x33'; and the house will essentially fill it all up. The city turned down the first version of the project, which had a 3 car garage on the ground floor. The site is zoned six stories. Here is the lot plan: And here is what it would look like from Norman Street: you can see more drawings at ottawa.ca/devapps, enter the address 409-411 Preston, or development number D07-12-11-0006.

To see more info on this application, go to http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/appDetails.jsf?lang=en&appId=__7FKLE5 Here it is in a nutshell. A developer proposes a sixteen storey condo mostly on Gloucester, with a face also onto Lyon. The rest of the block includes a city living (OCH) project at 11 stories, and a new Richcraft building not yet built, at 15 stories. Surrounding high rises vary in height, including 23 and 28 story buildings. Here are some pics:

Feb 25, 2011, Letter from Councilor Holmes to Nancy Schepers: As you are aware $610K has been allocated for the design of the Albert St. rehabilitation project (Project # 906056). This integrated project will have an Eastern terminus point of Bronson Ave. It is necessary to see the scope of this project expanded to include the realignment of the Bronson/Albert/Slater intersections, including the necessary funding required for all appropriate studies and Environmental Assessments. As has been discussed previously there is a need to make improvements to the alignment of the Albert/Slater/Bronson intersections. These intersections, in their current alignment are antiquated, inefficient and unsafe for both pedestrians and cyclists. This is problematic, as it has been identified as the primary linkage between the (upper) Escarpment District and the (lower) Lebreton Flats in the Council Approved Escarpment Area District Plan. The (lower) Flats area has seen significant residential red...

Letter to Councilor Holmes re proposed Albert Street reconstruction: DALHOUSIE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION 755 Somerset Street West, Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 6R1 Eric Darwin, President 18 Feb 2011 Albert Street reconstruction planning: At its last meeting, the DCA agreed to approach you with respect to ensuring that the reconstruction of Albert meets a variety of community and stakeholder needs rather than just the movement of traffic. We ask that you consult with staff at the earlier possible opportunity to ensure that our concerns, outlined below, are included. From the Ottawa budget documents: This project involves the renewal of Albert Street between City Centre Ave & Bronson Ave. The scope of work includes full roadway, curb & sidewalk reconstruction. The existing water mains, valves, hydrants, and lead services will be replaced to the property line. The project will see the existing combined sewer replaced with new separate sanitary & storm sewers. The sewer ho...

Thank you for your e-mail about the U-Pass. As you may know, I have been a strong supporter of the U-Pass from the outset. In the coming weeks, we will continue our discussions with CUSA at Carleton University and SFUO at the University of Ottawa in the hope of continuing this important program. The City of Ottawa is firmly committed to providing our student population with a low-cost fare option. We also believe that this program is beneficial in encouraging increased transit use, and I as Mayor sincerely hope it will continue into the future. OC Transpo is currently in discussions with your student association to see if the pilot program can continue after the current agreement expires on June 30, 2011. OC Transpo will be moving to increase fares for adults, students and seniors by an average 2.5% in keeping with City Council's direction for the coming year. As a result, the U-Pass will also increase modestly from $145 to $148.63 for the academic year 2011-2012. I en...