What's new in Capital Ward?

City of Ottawa

Your workplace can get the perfect toolkit to help encourage a more active and healthy mode of transportation: It's the City of Ottawa's free Bike to Work Toolkit.

The toolkit helps staff and employers promote May as Bike to Work Month and commuter cycling in general. The month-long campaign, brought to you by the City and coordinated by EnviroCentre, encourages people to choose cycling as an effective, fun and cheaper way to get to and from work. In addition to the environmental benefits, cycling to work has also been linked to increased workplace productivity and morale.

This year's toolkit also contains a USB Stick with Ottawa specific videos, ready to go email messaging to encourage colleagues to cycle, posters, and presentation slides.

Visit www.biketoworkottawa.com/  to see the list of events and activities for both the seasoned rider and those just starting. While on the site, select "Participate to Win" and complete a pledge form and you will be automatically eligible to win several prizes – including a new bike from Kunstadt Sports.

Currently, Bike to Work toolkits are being mailed out to businesses and organizations across the city. To ensure your workplace receives one, contact EnviroCentre by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or by phone at 613-656-0100 ext 111. Toolkits will also available online at biketoworkottawa.com.

City of Ottawa

Christine Hartig, an employee with the City of Ottawa's By-law branch, was presented with the title of Honourary Keeper of the Royal Swans at today's Community and Protective Services Committee.

"Christine's caring and compassion for these majestic animals over the past 25 years has preserved an important piece of Ottawa's history for generations to come," said Mayor Jim Watson. "On behalf of City Council and the community, I want to thank Christine for all of her hard work."

Ms. Hartig was recognized at the committee meeting for her tireless commitment to caring for the swans and to making sure they were safe and healthy. She had taken on this important role in addition to her job as a project and policy officer with the By-law and Regulatory Services Branch.

"Christine's continuous commitment towards both people and animals has drawn admiration from her colleagues and the community," said Councillor Mark Taylor, Chair of the Community and Protective Services Committee. "Her caring nature towards these lovely creatures is a heart-warming legacy that will live on in our City."

The timing of the City's recognition of Ms. Hartig's tireless commitment to the Royal Swans coincides with the celebration of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee in 2012, which marks 60 years of the Queen's reign. Her Majesty presented the ancestors of today's Royal Swans to the former City of Ottawa as a gift to mark Canada's Centennial year in 1967.

City of Ottawa

Residents are advised that starting today, demolition operations on the main tower of the Airport Parkway pedestrian/cycling bridge will extend throughout the allowable noise by-law hours from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Residents may experience additional noise due to this work.

Motorists travelling along the Airport Parkway near the work zone may also expect delays as speed limits are lowered throughout the duration of the construction of this project as a safety measure. Following demolition, work will continue to rebuild the main tower of the Airport Parkway pedestrian/cycling bridge

City of Ottawa

As part of National Road Safety Week (May 15 to May 21), Mayor Jim Watson is challenging Ottawa drivers to sign up for the online Leave the Phone Alone pledge to avoid distractions caused by talking, texting or using a hand-held electronic device while behind the wheel as part of the City's Safer Roads Ottawa Program.

"Deciding not to use your cell phone while driving is an easy and smart choice when considering the alternative could be causing a collision that results in injury or death," said Mayor Jim Watson. "I encourage everyone to take the pledge and commit to making our roads safer for all pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists."

The Leave the Phone Alone online awareness campaign will run locally until June 30, 2012. Motorists can fill out the pledge form stating that they will not use a cell phone or electronic device while operating their vehicle. While completing the form, they will also have the option of receiving a sticker and a bookmark featuring Leave the Phone Alone information.

City of Ottawa

Effective May 19, 2012, the seasonal motorcycle and scooter parkade will re-open, offering half-price parking at the ByWard Market parking garage at 70 Clarence Street (Lot 4). In addition, half-price parking is available year-round for motorcycles and scooters at the City Hall parking garage at 110 Laurier Avenue West (Lot 6) and at all Pay and Display machines throughout the city.

The Pay and Display machines are located on-street, at all of the City of Ottawa's off-street surface parking lots and in the seasonal motorcycle and scooter parkade at the ByWard Market parking garage. To activate the half-price feature on the Pay and Display machines, motorcycle and scooter customers are reminded to press the designated grey motorcycle button.

Motorcycle and scooter customers can also use the new PayByPhone service. After registering for PayByPhone, simply enter the ID number from the Pay and Display machine and the half-price charge is automatically applied. Paying using the PayByPhone system eliminates the need to display a parking receipt on the vehicle.

Visit ottawa.ca/parking for more information on PayByPhone, Pay and Display and other parking services.

City of Ottawa

Mayor Jim Watson officially announced the addition of a free shuttle bus service to this year's June 2 and 3 Doors Open Ottawa event.

"In response to an astounding number of requests from past event participants, the City of Ottawa, with the generous support of the event's sponsors, will provide Doors Open Ottawa visitors with a free shuttle service," said Mayor Watson.

Also in attendance to help celebrate the new shuttle service was Community and Protective Services Committee Chair Mark Taylor, Transit Commission Chair Diane Deans, and Somerset ward Councillor Diane Holmes.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. during Doors Open Ottawa weekend, two shuttle buses will drive along a route through downtown Ottawa, Sandy Hill, Rockcliffe Park and the Byward Market area. More than a third of the participating buildings are within walking distance from the seven shuttle stops.

Buildings on the shuttle bus route include 7 Rideau Gate on the grounds of the Residence of the Governor General at Rideau Hall, the Bytown Museum, the Government Conference Centre, formerly Ottawa's Union Station, the Lester B. Pearson Building, the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat, the Apostolic Nunciature, Ottawa City Hall's Heritage Building, the embassies of the United States, Kingdom of Spain and Republic of Angola, and the Official Residences of the Ambassadors of Ireland and Sweden.

Doors Open Ottawa is the most celebrated architectural event in the nation's capital, unlocking over 125 of the region's architecturally, historically, and functionally significant buildings, many of which are not open to the public. On an annual basis, over 60,000 attendees jump at this unique opportunity to see the interior of some of the city's finest urban and rural buildings.

Sponsors of the Doors Open Ottawa shuttle bus service are RBC Royal Bank, OC Transpo and the Ottawa Citizen.

For more information, please visit ottawa.ca/doorsopen.

City of Ottawa

Ottawa's historic sites will officially open for the season this weekend. Spend the day exploring the stunning heritage buildings and sprawling grounds of Billings Estate National Historic Site, Cumberland Heritage Village Museum or Pinhey's Point Historic Site.

Billings Estate National Historic Site, 2100 Cabot Street, Ottawa

Give mom the ultimate gift of family quality time at Billings Estate and treat her to Mother's Day tea this Sunday, May 13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The air will be filled with music and mystery. Enjoy your tea to the sounds of the harp and find out what is in your future by having your fortune told.

Pinhey's Point Historic Site, 270 Pinhey's Point Road, Dunrobin

This Sunday, May 13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., create your own memories at Pinhey's Point as you pose with mom for a photo taken in period costumes, sample some heritage crafts and make your own custom tea blend to take home.

Cumberland Heritage Museum, 2940 Old Montreal Road, Cumberland

The whole family can celebrate mom while experiencing a slice of history at the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum. Discover the boom of the 1920s and the bust of the 1930s at Ottawa's only village museum.

For a full list of activities happening this summer at Ottawa's historic sites, visit ottawa.ca/museums.

City of Ottawa

The City of Ottawa is working closely with local Source Water Protection Committees and other stakeholders to ensure our source water, surface water and groundwater continue to be protected and safe. While water treatment is always necessary to ensure clean drinking water, protecting water at its source should be the first proactive step.

Under Ontario's Clean Water Act, municipalities must assess existing and potential threats to their source water and implement the actions needed to reduce or eliminate these risks. The City is working with local Source Water Protection Committees, Mississippi-Rideau and Raisin-South Nation, to develop plans for protecting our local rivers and groundwater.

As part of these plans, residents can take the following actions to help protect our source water:

• Properly dispose of household hazardous waste

• Properly maintain septic systems and fuel storage tanks

• Properly maintain vehicles to prevent leaks of oil and other fluids, and

 • Ensure Nutrient Management Strategies or Plans are up to date and properly followed.

For more information on the City's involvement in source water protection, visit either the Mississippi-Rideau Source Protection Region or the Raisin-South Nation Source Protection Region websites.

By David Reevely, The Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA — The city's secretive treatment of parts of the plans for light rail has councillors worrying about public confidence in the project.

The city is in closed-door discussions with bidders on the $2.1-billion light rail plan and with owners of properties along the planned route, which leaves it wide open to speculative criticism of what it might be doing, said Alta Vista Councillor Peter Hume, who chairs city council's planning committee.

"I don't understand why, when we do these things, we always have a tendency to lean toward the, 'It's commercially confidential, can't release this, can't release that'," said Hume. "Releasing documents should be the rule and not the exception."

In March, the city decided to move a station it had planned to build under the Rideau Canal several blocks east, to a spot linked directly to the Rideau Centre. It only emerged afterward, in reporting in the Citizen, that the city had been in talks with the Rideau Centre's parent company Cadillac Fairview since last year and that the negotiations were covered by a confidentiality agreement.

Jeff Gillin, whose family owns the Lord Elgin Hotel near Confederation Square and who's been fighting to keep a station serving that area, said Tuesday it's impossible to know what inducements might have been offered to whom to get the station moved.

"I ask myself questions like, 'Does the confidential agreement say there cannot be an Elgin Street station?' I don't know. The developer in me says if I were writing the agreement, that's what I'd write in it," he said.

No actual agreement has been reached, according to the city.

Capital Councillor David Chernushenko pointed out he has recent experience of the problems with quiet negotiations. "As the councillor for Lansdowne Park, so to speak, yes, that's something we always have to be [conscious of]. You only go the route of commercial confidentiality on the rarest of occasions where it can't be avoided, and I think discussions with private property owners about locations of transit, that's not necessary. It might just be at the last moments of signing a deal on something. These are public stations."

City of Ottawa

City Council today approved a package of measures intended to improve low-rise residential infill development in Ottawa's mature neighbourhoods.

There is strong demand for low-rise infill housing in Ottawa's mature urban neighbourhoods. Sometimes these developments cause concern because they are judged to be unsuitable, not fitting in with the street. Issues of community concern include dominant front garages, building mass and height, setbacks and landscaping.

Planning and Growth Management did a major review of the infill issue that included much research and many meetings with interested groups, five public meetings and dissemination of information through the project website at ottawa.ca/infill. The department also recently met with developers and community associations to clarify certain issues and make minor technical changes to the documentation.

Under the approved package, there are changes to zoning for five wards in the central area of Ottawa, requirements for information on existing trees that are subject to the Urban Tree Conservation By-law and new tree planting requirements.

The zoning changes include not requiring parking for small lots, a clear methodology for grade calculations and limits on the rooftop projections of new houses. The zoning changes are for wards 15, 14, 17, 12 and 13. They do not involve building height or setbacks.

In addition to the zoning changes, the Urban Design Guidelines for Low-rise Infill Housing have been updated. These guidelines will not have the force of law but will be used to encourage better infill development, with stronger relationships between the house and the street, built form and landscaping that fits into the neighbourhood's character.