What will Overbrook and Castle Heights look like in 25 years?
Women who make a difference: meet Marjo!
The City’s draft Official Plan will affect you and where you live
OCA Appeal of the revised Ward Boundary between Overbrook and Vanier - Update #1
Women who make a difference in Overbrook and Castle Heights
Local COVID-19 pop-up vaccine clinic for over 80s
Parliament to vote on Environmental Racism bill (second reading)
City committee to consider motion to oppose Chalk River Nuclear Waste Facility
1. The City’s draft Official Plan will affect you and where you live
On March 24th, 2021 there is a city-wide Question and Answer session. You can ask questions before the meeting on the registration site or click here. Please register. Numbers count.
OCA input to the City was among thousands of submissions. It builds on the high level concerns outlined in the Community Collective letter we shared in our last news post.
It’s been suggested that the draft plan “hit home” after the City’s Planning General Manager, Stephen Willis told City Council that the public engagement on the official plan is “far surpassing anything we had projected”. More likely, it hit a nerve.
Our biggest concern for Overbrook and Castle Heights is the proposed residential 80 units/net hectare density requirement, combined with the steady reduction in the local tree canopy and the inadequacy of greenspace to support the planned, dramatic increases in population. Intensification requires good management to enhance the health and liveability of our neighbourhoods.
BOTTOM LINE: OCA is one of a chorus of voices demanding a second draft of the plan and a reasonable time to comment on it. If it is anything like the first draft, with 264 pages, plus 22 schedules and 10 annexes in the first volume alone – we all need more time than the city’s process allows. Please make your voice heard.
2. OCA Appeal of the revised Ward Boundary between Overbrook and Vanier - Update #1
Thank you for all the generous donations to support this initiative. With the excellent and welcome support of Tory's LLB, the OCA Notice of Appeal of City of Ottawa By-law No. 2021-3 was filed with the city on March 12. The appeal will become a matter of public record when filed with the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT). LPAT is an independent administrative tribunal responsible for hearing appeals on a variety of contentious municipal matters.
While the full appeal fee had to be paid up front, we have applied for a reduction available to not-for-profit organizations.
3. Women who make a difference in Overbrook and Castle Heights
OCA is proud to have women volunteers who #ChooseToChallenge the status quo and be a voice for our community. Watch our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter account for a series of posts in March honouring women who make a difference in Overbrook #weareoverbrook #IWD2021, starting with OCA Board members and community activists, Nora and Marjo.
4. Local COVID-19 pop-up vaccine clinic for over 80s
5. Parliament to vote on Environmental Racism bill (second reading)
Bill C-230, National Strategy to Redress Environmental Racism Act, is scheduled for its second reading debate and vote in Parliament on Tuesday, March 23. The bill calls on the government to examine the links between race, socio-economic status, and environmental risk and to investigate and compile information on the impacts of environmental pollution on Black, Indigenous and people of colour.. More information about the bill and environmental racism can be found in an Ecojustice blog and in a recent CBC article.
Ecojustice is an environmental law charity, which is asking people to tell their M.P., the Prime Minister and key cabinet ministers to support the National Strategy to Redress Environmental Racism Act. Visit their Take Action page to find out more.
6. City committee to consider motion to oppose Chalk River Nuclear Waste Facility
City Council's Standing Committee on Environmental Protection, Water and Waste Management will consider a motion to oppose a planned radioactive waste mound at Chalk River at its March 30 meeting.
The Chalk River site is a federally owned nuclear research campus next to the Ottawa River, and the radioactive waste plan has been developed by a consortium of SNC-Lavalin and two US corporations contracted by the federal government.
While approving the plan falls under federal jurisdiction, over 140 municipalities, including Gatineau and Montréal, have passed motions opposing the waste plans. The municipalities certainly have a responsibility and concern for clean drinking water and the Ottawa River.
Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County and Area have posted Six reasons to STOP the Ottawa River radioactive waste dump.
If the motion doesn't pass the environment committee, it will go no further. To support the motion, contact the Councillors who sit on the Committee: Councillors S. Moffatt (Chair), S. Menard (Vice-Chair), R. Brockington, J. Cloutier, G. Darouze, K. Egli, A. Hubley, R. King, C. McKenney. (Find their contact information here.) Note that three of them, Councillors McKenny (who seconded the motion), King and Menard have expressed their support for the motion.