Category: Projects

QTN Continues Advocacy on New Secondary Plans

QTN’s Planning Committee continues to work for improvements in proposed new Secondary Plans for the  Pinecrest/Queensview Station area, which includes our neighborhood, and the Lincoln Fields Plan, with includes Carling Avenue along QTN.  There will be public meetings on both plans in the coming months, before they go to the City Planning Committee and City Council.  Both plans will have significant impacts for life in QTN, for many years to come.

Following are some of the issues raised by the QTN Planning Committee:

  • Better connections for easy access to LRT and new services in these areas;
  • Inclusion of community services in new developments
  • Safe walking and biking; safe crossings of Carling and Pinecrest; and careful attention to traffic at intersections along Pinecrest and Carling.
  • Reduction of noise, especially on the south side of QTN
  • Green space, useable park spaces, friendly streets, trees
  • Replace “bus barns” with recreation center and/or other community services.

Watch for more details in the next month.  If you have questions or suggestions, send a message to qtncommunity@gmail.com.   The Chair of the QTN Planning Committee will respond and share more details about the process.

ICE RINKS OPEN

The ice rinks at Frank Ryan Park are open!

Thanks to our team of ice-maker and volunteers.

  • OPEN: The rinks will be open during regular park hours as long as weather conditions permit.
  • Please stay off the rink when it is being flooded, the weather is above freezing, or there are signs indicating the rink is closed.  We do that to preserve good conditions.
  • CHANGE ROOM: The change room and fieldhouse will be open evenings, 1600-2200, and weekends, 1000-2200, when we have volunteer attendants.
  • VOLUNTEERS NEEDED:   We are still looking for people to help us keep the field house open for more hours. This is a great opportunity to give back to your community, get volunteer hours for High School, meet your neighbours, and get some fresh air.  It’s easy:  Show up,  open and close door, monitor and enjoy.  You will get instructions.  Two hour shifts.  Help us get the word out to your neighbors. More volunteers – more open hours! Send message to icerink.qtn@gmail.com.
  • CONDITIONS:  Our rink co-ordinator updates conditions weekly or when there are major changes. We encourage users to submit condition reposts on Ottawa Rinks website. This is a great community, crowd-sourced site you can check before going out to skate: https://www.ottawarinks.ca/
  • THANK YOU:   Special thanks to Robert Graham, our ice maker, for his hard work to get the rink open and keep it in good conditions.
  • QUESTIONS or COMMENTS: Please reach out to icerink.qtn@gmail.com

 

Green Space: A QTN Priority

by Caroline Béland-Pelletier, Chair of the QTNca Natural Environment Committee

Caroline has been a QTNca board member for 3 years and has chaired the Natural Environment Committee for two years

From surveys and conversations we know that QTN residents value the green space that we have in our neighborhood. Some report that it was a major factor in their decision to move into QTN. Residents enjoy the parks and forested trails. I also hear praise for our neighborhood’s tree canopy from visitors who come into QTN.

Neighbourhoods with trees and natural areas such as ours promote physical activity which benefits health and well-being. Many of us go for regular walks through QTN. We are fortunate to have natural areas near our doorsteps. It makes us feel good to spend time around trees. Trees are also our ally for climate change adaptation. They moderate temperature, provide shade to help us through the heat waves, provide natural protection against UV rays and can lower the AC bills.

We know we have a good thing in QTN. We cannot take it for granted. The ash borer, one stress factor for our trees, has resulted in the loss of many trees. We’ve also had two seasons of heavy spongy moth infestation, trees dying of old age, and trees and green space being lost in in-fill projects.

QTNca has sponsored projects to help residents minimize the impact of the spongy moth and we have requested tree planting in the forests and parks to replace the trees taken down due to old age or ash borer illness. We advocated for improvements in the tree protection by-law and policies that require green space and soft landscaping surrounding new infill. We promote the inclusion of trees in front-yard spaces in order to maintain a healthy tree canopy throughout QTN. We ran a Canopy Regeneration Project to invite people to plant trees on their properties, to make use of the City tree-in-trust program, and to reach out to us with ideas of where we could add more trees.

For the future, I would like to emphasize that trees and green space have to be an integral part of urban planning. In my opinion, they are the most important part because without nature we are nothing; we won’t exist. It takes a couple of hours to take down a mature tree and all the benefits I mentioned previously. It will take decades to bring that level of canopy back. If, on top of that, we don’t plan for proper green space for trees to grow, we might see a much greyer, asphalt, concrete, plastic-siding looking neighbourhood in decades to come. It is possible to combine redevelopment and greening strategies but it has to be well-planned in advance and not left as an afterthought.