WVCA Newsletter: December 2022

(Sent 6 December at 12:24 p.m. to all subscribers) 

Highlights from the WVCA November 2022 meeting 

A shining moment from the Granville Avenue tree lighting event on November 26.

During its meeting of November 17, 2022, the WVCA board discussed a range of issues of interest to the community:
 

Mask Wearing

As we know, Ottawa Public Health is strongly recommending mask use in all indoor public settings to help limit the risk of viral transmission, and protect health-care capacity, the board agreed to echo this advice in communications to the community–staying kind and doing our part to keep each other safe.

 

Byron Path Pumpkin Parade 

This year’s Byron Path Pumpkin Parade featured close to 800 jack-o-lanterns! What an amazing display of community spirit, enjoyed by so many. That said, this is a volunteer-run event, and its growing success means increased logistical challenges. Organizer Anita Grace has asked that the WVCA consider partnering going forward. This would increase fundraising capacity which would be used primarily for the expense of hiring a company to assist with removing and transporting pumpkins to a farm for livestock feed. The WVCA Board is open to being part of this valued community event. As a first step we are seeking advice about the possible need for insurance. 

 

Huron Ave. 

Resident consultation will soon begin regarding Huron Avenue’s future road reconstruction. Plans will likely include measures to narrow the (very wide) Huron Ave. Some residents have made suggestions including a ‘woonerf’ or green boulevard design, but these may be limited by road width-constraints. 

 

Tunney’s Pasture 

Neighbours for Tunney’s is preparing an email to newly elected Mayor, Mark Sutcliffe, returning Kitchissippi ward Councillor, Jeff Leiper, and Ottawa Centre MP Yasir Naqvi to make introductions and underscore community priorities as identified in the Neighbours for Tunney’s spring 2021 survey. 

With the YMCA-YWCA selling its downtown building, many community members have wondered if the organization might be interested in relocating its facilities to the Tunney’s site. We are in communications with councillor Leiper with our questions about this and we are hopeful for a meeting to learn more about the City’s plans for Parks and Recreation in the ward. 

Further to pressing the City for details on the status of green space and recreation amenities at Tunney’s, the Board remains concerned about finding ways to mitigate the local traffic impact of any re-development at Tunney’s Pasture.

 

Spencer Street Parkette

The City arborist has been informed of the community’s interest in protecting any viable mature trees on the site of the future parkette at 115 Spencer. Local residents have already begun–informally–sharing ideas on naming options. More formal consultations with our Kitchissippi Ward councillor and neighbours will likely begin soon and carry on into 2023. If you’d like to be kept in the loop on the informal side of things, please send our working group an email: wvca.park@gmail.com.

 

Art Installation

You may have noticed that “The Kiss”, the wrought-iron bicycle art installation by artist Maciek Peter Kozlowski, has disappeared from our Wellington Village streetscape (it was located at 1278 Wellington Street West, in front of the former Hair Committee storefront). This installation was part of a past Hintonburg Happening event, and the WVCA is asking community members for suggestions of possible new mainstreet locations in Wellington Village. If one cannot be found, there is a likelihood that the artwork will be installed at Parkdale Park.

Treasurers’ Report

The WVCA has received some funds through our website, but is looking into other options for receiving funds, for example using QR a code App to make donating easier for community members. Currently our main way to receive donations is cash or an e-transfer to wvca.ottawa.treasurer@gmail.com

The WVCA would also like to thank all of those who have made donations–this fall alone we’ve received close to $100 in donations–every dollar is appreciated!  

 

Roundtable

Board member Allan Kagedan attended a recent meeting hosted by the Federation of Citizens’ Associations of Ottawa. While the meeting included presentations on the value of community gardens, and the challenges posed by household waste disposal, concerns were raised about a number of provincial government initiatives that may have an adverse effect on municipalities across Ontario.

 

Coming up in Wellington Village… 

• Fisher Park Christmas Craft Sale — The Fisher Park Community Recreation Council held its annual Christmas Craft Sale on Saturday, December 3

• If you are hosting a community event please let us know - we are happy to amplify your event through our channels! 

 

Calls to action… 

• The WVCA always needs more community volunteers, especially those with website expertise or interest in event planning. Please reach out to get involved! 

• Membership funds–You’re already a member just by living within the boundaries!  As always, we appreciate your support to help us run events and engage with residents. While $10 is the suggested membership fee, the WVCA appreciates donations of any amount. We’re happy to pick up a cheque or you can e-transfer. 
  
  E-transfer to:  wvca.ottawa.treasurer@gmail.com
  *Please include your contact details in the message section to let us know how to reach you—we’d like to confirm and give thanks for every donation.

• Spread the news! Please share this newsletter with Wellington Village neighbours. Those interested can sign up on the landing page of our website. 

 

Join us at our next meeting!

Our next meeting is planned for Thursday, December 15th. Follow our social media channels for details or send us an email to ensure you get the invite.

 

Find us here: 

e: president@wvca.ca

w: www.wvca.ca

f: @WVCAOTTAWA

t: @theWVCA

We’re better together!

WVCA Board Meeting (virtual) - Thursday November 17th at 7:30 p.m.

Good day,

The WVCA is holding its next board meeting this coming Thursday evening, November 17th, at 7:30 p.m. 

Meeting location: Virtual (via Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84952526446?pwd=SEhuSmRiM0tGNVN1b0NCYjlFOXBDZz09)

If the link doesn’t work, here is the meeting ID and passcode: Meeting ID: 849 5252 6446. Passcode: 314018

Proposed Agenda

1. Welcome and introductions

2. Community updates news

3. Events:
    a. Byron Pumpkin Walk- ways to engage the WVCA in 2023
    b. December event
    c. SRO/Bike safety

4. Spencer Ave Parkette

5. Tunney’s Pasture
    a. Updates from Tunney’s Pasture Update with Community Perspectives Group
    b. Potential Rec facility

6. Board Updates
    a. Treasurer’s Report
        i. Donations
    b. Communications and marketing
        i. Newsletter
        ii. Email insights
    c. Community Meetings
        i. K9
    d. Community Engagement
    e. Location for in-person meetings

7. Next meeting

WVCA Newsletter: Fall 2022

 (Sent 27 October at 2:02 p.m. to all subscribers) 

If you missed our October meeting… 

The Byron path Pumpkin Path will be lit up again on the evening of November 1st, 2022. (Photo of past event: Bradley Amson)  

 

The Wellington Village Community Association and several community members met online on October 20th, 2022, to discuss the exciting events and issues that we will engage in over the coming months.

Exciting news–the City’s transaction of purchase has been finalized on 115 Spencer! A new City of Ottawa park will be created on the site - a huge win for local residents and the entire WV community. We know that many important steps are in the works at the City–assigning a project manager, clearing permits for demolition, and working with forestry on tree identification and preservation–but in the meantime, it’s important to let us know if you’d like to stay informed about any opportunities for resident input on decision-making. Consultations with the Kitchissippi Ward councillor and neighbours will likely begin soon and carry on into 2023. Please indicate your interest by sending an email to wvca.park@gmail.com.

The Pumpkin Parade is back! Byron Path will once again be all aglow on November 1st, as this popular tradition returns to our neighbourhood. There are many ways to take part, from contributing your carved  Jack-O-Lanterns, donating tealight candles, or arriving just before dark to help with spacing & lighting up the path. We especially encourage early risers to join us the morning of Nov 2nd to help the Wellington West BIA in piling and loading the spent pumpkins. These highly-appreciated volunteers are rewarded with the satisfaction of knowing they are helping to fill the tummies of the happy pigs at Maple Hill Urban Farm with Wellington Village pumpkins (and rumour has it, early morning volunteers will get to fill their own tummies with some local treats as well).  It’s a whinny win win! 

Read more about the Pumpkin Parade & Volunteer details here. 

Special event, “Welcoming New Citizens to the Canadian Family.” This in-person event, hosted by our MP, Yasir Naqvi, was attended by WVCA president, Anne Murray. The celebratory event gave new Canadian citizens of the Ottawa Centre community a chance to connect with longstanding community members, and we are always pleased to have Wellington Village included in these gatherings. “Welcome, neighbours!”

Tunney’s Pasture redevelopment, neighbourhood art installations, and meeting space for the WVCA were all topics of discussion that will require our attention through the fall. Please reach out if you would like to learn more or offer your involvement. 

Website or social media savvy? Interested in event planning? Our Community Association needs you! Please be in touch if you can help lend a hand in bettering this great community; even as a one-off contribution. Email: president@wvca.ca

 

 Coming up in Wellington Village… 

• Early engagement on the new park space in WV

• WVCA Holiday event 

• Introduction of the WVCA to our newly elected councilor and mayor. While the Municipal election took place after our last meeting, the WVCA extends our congratulations to our re-elected city councillor, Jeff Leiper, and Ottawa’s new mayor, Mark Sutcliffe
   

Calls to action… 

• As mentioned, the WVCA needs more community volunteers, especially those with website expertise or interest in event planning. Please reach out to get involved! 

• The WVCA needs a new location to meet each month. Do you know of a space? Let us know! 

• Membership funds–You’re already a member just by living within the boundaries!  As always, we appreciate your support to help us run events and engage with residents. While $10 is the suggested membership fee, the WVCA appreciates donations of any amount. 

       E-transfer to:  wvca.ottawa.treasurer@gmail.com

• Spread the news! Please share this newsletter with Wellington Village neighbours. Those interested can also sign up on the landing page of our website. 

 

Join us at our next meeting!

November 17, 7PM. Location TBD. Reach out via the President’s email below if you’d like to attend or consider becoming a member of our WVCA Board. 

 

Find us here: 

e: president@wvca.ca

w: www.wvca.ca

f: @WVCAOTTAWA

t: @theWVCA

We’re better together!

Be prepared for municipal election day, October 24

 Be prepared for municipal election day, October 24

 

 

 

Voting in the municipal election shapes our community, it’s the level of government that has the biggest presence in our day-to-day lives—with the responsibility for social services, roads and sidewalks, our parks and recreational spaces, library services, police services, and much more. 

 

At the same time, voting in municipal elections can seem more daunting than federal or provincial elections, because it involves researching the candidates running for mayor, councillor and school trustee all at once. Fear not: there are handy references to help.

 

The City of Ottawa website lets you look up all the candidates for these three races in our ward and school zone all at once — complete with links to their campaign sites — simply by inserting your street address. 

The site also offers information on voter eligibility, and additional information for voters (on accessibility, identification, where and how to vote, et cetera).

 

The information is no further away than your keyboard so that when voting day rolls around on Monday, October 24, you’ll be ready to go to the polling booth.

Let’s get out and vote, Wellington Village!

 

Find us here: 

e: president@wvca.ca

w: www.wvca.ca

f: WVCAOTTAWA

t: @theWVCA

 

 

WVCA Board Meeting (virtual) - Thursday October 20th at 7 p.m.

Good day,

The WVCA is holding its next board meeting this coming Thursday evening, October 20th, at 7:00 p.m. 

Meeting location: Virtual (Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/top-egzj-dye)

General Assembly (7-730): 
- Welcome new members, roundtable and introductions
- General updates including:
    * Updates on the Parkette

    * Municipal election

    * New concerns

Community/members-at-large may drop off the call
- Updates:

    * Treasurers' report 
    * Meetings attended (K9)
    * Newcomers' Event hosted by Yasir Yaqvi
    * Communications updates: newsletter + stats, opportunity for a new website, agenda for upcoming topics
    * Discuss Committees + elect Directors 

Previous meeting minutes can be found in the "Meetings" tab of our website.

WVCA Newsletter: October 2022

 (Sent 12 October 10:23 a.m. to all subscribers) 

If you missed our September meeting… 

 

With the chill in the air signaling the arrival of fall, the WVCA met on September 22, 2022, to discuss the activities and concerns that will hold our focus over the coming months.

The WVCA welcomes a new President! Local resident Anne Murray has stepped into the role, replacing Dave Allston. Thank you Anne! And while we have filled the roles of Treasurer, Secretary, and Communications, we do need more members to round out our work, especially on topics of development, fundraising, promotion and event planning. Please reach out to us if you’d like to pitch in. 

Smirle Avenue was discussed, namely resident concerns about the new bridge to Tunney’s Pasture. The WVCA is still not privy to the full plans for the redevelopment of the Tunney’s campus but we do believe that the new bridge will serve as a main connection to the redesigned community, with a route leading directly north to the Parkway. Our group decided to defer this topic until after the municipal election takes place on Oct 24th, and then meet with our councillor to discuss options.   

We highlighted the expected closing date of the City’s acquisition of 115 Spencer. We would like to plan a celebratory neighbourhood gathering when it happens, later this fall. We also plan to start compiling ideas for the space, to be done in consultation with the Kitchissippi Ward councillor, and neighbours over the winter and into 2023. Further, we will continue to voice our immediate concern around and interest in protecting the two mature boundary trees. The house demolition date is uncertain but there is an indication that it could take place before the snow flies. 

Coyotes! We know that local coyote sightings have increased, especially in the park areas near the Ottawa River and the property surrounding Tunney’s. With thanks to our neighbours in Champlain Park we can share these useful steps you should take if you interact with, see, or hear of resident encounters with coyotes: 

We continue to follow the Mizrahi development nearing completion at 1451 Wellington, and the promised “Rockhurst Parkette” that is planned for the space (on the western border where several towering evergreens once stood). Our WVCA has reached out to Mizrahi twice earlier in 2022 for details, with no reply. We encourage surrounding residents with an interest in this topic to reach out to us.  

Neighbour requests regarding development are a constant theme of our meetings so we agreed to review our WVCA Code of Conduct (for developers) and re-share it with our members. Importantly, the WVCA would like to recruit more Board members with a passion / expertise in themes surrounding development, infill, Ottawa’s Community Design Plan (CDP), zoning etc. Please reach out to us. 
 

Coming up in Wellington Village… 

• Pumpkin Parade! The WVCA would like to do more to help promote & run this popular annual event. Please reach out if you are keen. 

• Stay tuned! We should soon be celebrating a local City land acquisition! 

• We plan to engage with a newly elected councilor and mayor
   

Calls to action… 

• The WVCA needs more community volunteers, please reach out to get involved! 

• The WVCA is also researching a new location to meet each month. Do you know of a space? Let us know! 

• As always, we appreciate your membership funds. While $10 is the suggested membership fee, the WVCA would appreciate your donation of any amount. 

       E-transfer to:  wvca.ottawa.treasurer@gmail.com
 

Our next meeting is… 

October 20. Location TBD. Just reach out via the President’s email below, if you’d like to attend. 

 

Find us here: 

e: president@wvca.ca

w: www.wvca.ca

f: @WVCAOTTAWA

t: @theWVCA
 

We’re better together!

WVCA Board Meeting (in-person) - Thursday September 22nd at 7 p.m.

Good day,

The WVCA is holding its next board meeting this coming Thursday evening, September 22nd, at 7:00 p.m. 

Members of the community are always welcome to attend. This will be our first in-person meeting after 2+ years of virtual meetings.

Meeting location: 32 Granville Avenue (side porch)

– AGENDA--

1. Nomination of Secretary for the meeting

2. Approval of minutes from previous meeting

3. WVCA Executive Roles for 2022-23 (President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer)

4. Community work:

- Smirle Ave 

- Parkette on Spencer 

- responding to individual requests for support (CoA)

5. Municipal Election

6. Roundtable

7. Next WVCA Meeting

8. Motion to Close

*Agenda subject to change prior to meeting.

Previous meeting minutes can be found in the "Meetings" tab of our website.

It's official! A new park for Wellington Village!

 After years of pushing for much-needed park space in Wellington Village, it appears our dream is about to become reality! Jeff Leiper announced in his recent Newsletter update (Kitchissippi Weekly Email 318 on August 5th) that the City's acquisition of 115 Spencer Street (at the north-west corner of Huron Avenue North) is complete! 

Here is what Jeff wrote this past weekend:

As I noted in a previous newsletter, I've been hoping to use our ward's cash-in-lieu of parkland fund to acquire the property at 115 Spencer to turn into a park - the area very much needs it. I'm happy to say that I came back from vacation to news that the sale is now firm! It will close sometime in mid-September unless the buyer and seller accelerate that. Our parks folks have already engaged infrastructure services and the first step will be demolition as soon as possible. Over the winter we'll consult on how that park should be built and with some luck we can break ground early next year.

And here is a longer piece he wrote in Kitchissippi Weekly Email 316 on June 26th:

I'm thrilled to say that it looks like we're very close to acquiring the property at 115 Spencer to be re-developed into a park. That acquisition will be finalized when it get a clean environmental bill of health, and after community members researched the parcel's history it seems almost certain that it is uncontaminated. It will take a while to actually become a park, and there will have to be a demolition and then consultations on how residents would like to see it configured. The good news is that our ward has a very healthy cash balance in parkland funds, and this should be a priority for the city.

It is only in the past six months that, in consultation with community members, I've contemplated diverging from the parks plan that we developed together in the last term of Council. However, the message I continue to hear from residents is that park space and space for trees is critically important - and that has only become more resonant and insistent as the implications of the new Official Plan, the Westboro Infill rules, and the new R4 zoning have become clear.

Over the Christmas holidays, we had a unique opportunity to acquire parcels and expand another park. Ultimately, despite extremely hard work by City real estate and parks staff over our holidays, we simply couldn't compete for the parcels on the open market in this instance, and several structural hurdles were identified that I expect will be addressed in the next term of Council when we craft an urban parkland acquisitions strategy. 

When I agreed to pursue that opportunity, I also made a commitment that I would consider diverging from our parks plan if an opportunity came up in the area bounded by Scott/Holland/Wellington/Island Park. That is a very populous area and residents have to cross an arterial in every direction to get to a play structure. 

Residents alerted me to this corner lot, and I hope in a few weeks I'll be able to say the rest is history.

The use of our ward parkland funds will become more constrained in the coming years as a result of provincial changes. Some of the control over those funds (which come from development) that councillors have enjoyed will be reined in through the creation of spending plans more akin to how development charges are calculated and allocated. To date, I've been able to use those funds flexibly to achieve a complete re-development of Laroche Park including marquee field house attracting millions in City money to the effort, build a very well-used new field house at Van Lang, achieve amenity and climate resiliency upgrades at Dovercourt (in addition to helping keep it afloat in the pandemic through restructuring some of their own investments), de-pave Pontiac Street to enable the incredible work Champlain Park volunteers have been doing there, and to do lots of other small one-off projects. That will change. I believe that by pivoting to take advantage of an opportunity to buy land we are dovetailing with changing needs. Property values in our ward are not going down, and it behooves us to be nimble in our approaches.

The house that stands there now was the long-time home of the Connell family from 1950-2003. It was built in the fall-winter of 1943-1944 by local builder Michael W. Cain. Prior to that, the lot sat vacant, and was originally part of the upper north-west corner of the 19th century Hinton farm. The lot was sold in the original 1920 auction for $275, but at the time this area of Wellington Village was still susceptible to heavy flooding, so it was one of the last lots to be built on. Believe it or not, the original lot owner surrendered it to the City at the onset of the depression in 1928 over $17.74 of unpaid taxes!

The lot is exceptionally deep, at 130 feet (most of the lot depths in north WV are 100 feet), and is 33 feet wide.

So Wellington Village residents, it is time to start thinking about what YOU would like to see in the park! Jeff's office will be looking for input on how the space will be used, laid out, purchases to be made, etc. There is no forum yet established for this input, but rest assured we will share this information with you as soon as it becomes available! 

The WVCA will have a role in helping coordinate this feedback, so if you are not yet on our mailing list, please visit www.wvca.ca and add your email via the form on the right-side of our webpage!

This is a huge win for Wellington Village, and a great success to have dedicated park space back in the north half of our neighbourhood since we lost Grange Park back in the mid-1990s!

Have your say about the future of Tunney’s Pasture

If you have ever walked around Tunney’s Pasture, you have likely found yourself imagining how the 49-hectare federal government campus could be transformed into a dynamic, multi-use space. 

What do you picture when you imagine it as more than a work environment, when you start to envision adding features like housing and recreational spaces, or other possibilities?

Now is the chance to weigh in on the future of Tunney’s Pasture, by providing your feedback to the public consultations hosted by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), and the Canada Lands Company (CLC).

Members of the public are invited to fill out an online survey, open until Sunday, June 19, to provide their thoughts on integrating Tunney’s Pasture with the communities that surround it. 

In addition, PSPC and CLC are in the process of forming a Communities Perspectives Group (CPG) as a forum to bring forward and consider the wide-ranging viewpoints of community members and interest groups as the planning and redevelopment proceed. If you are interested being part of the CPG, please review the terms of reference and selection criteria and submit a completed application form by Sunday, June 19. 

Further to the recently held engagement sessions, the partners are also organizing an online Questions and Answers Coffee House on Monday, June 20, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Participants are asked to register in advance of attending.

Finally, if you happen to be speaking to neighbours, please invite them to join Neighbours for Tunney’s to stay up to date on news and events about Tunney's Pasture. Simply send an email to NeighboursforTunneys@gmail.com. 

WVCA Community Meeting 8:00-9:00, June 6, 2022

 Meeting Link for community meeting: 

meet.google.com/xbi-hqwj-bwy

Community Events: Venturing Out and About!

The derecho storm may have derailed our plans to gather outside during Victoria Day Weekend, but fear not — there are plenty of opportunities in the neighbourhood to enjoy the warmer weather amidst good company.

Saturday June 4, and Sunday, June 5 (11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day)

The spring edition of West End Studio Tour is approaching. The tour's participating artists look forward to welcoming you all in their yards and on their porches for this wonderful outdoor event.

 

Saturday, June 4 (8 a.m. onwards)

The plan this year is to make the Kitchissippi Yard Sale a bit of a community party… From 8 a.m. onwards, neighbours can search for treasures or set up tables to sell their wares, kids can run lemonade stands, musicians can play on porches, and more!

Saturday, June 18, (10 a.m. to 10 p.m.)

ArtsPark is back. Stroll down to the Parkdale Market to peruse the works of artists and craftspeople, sample local fare, and enjoy live music. (If you’re lucky, you may even find the perfect piece of art to adorn that bare space on your wall.)

All summer long

Do you have more tomato plants than you have space, or are you seeking a new destination for your walks? Check out the Goldenrod Community Garden, located within walking distance of Wellington Village, at the north end of Tunney’s Pasture.

 Photo caption: The Goldenrod Community Garden: lettuce entertain you.

Kitchissippi-Wide Community Yard Sale!

Kitchissippi-Wide Community Yard Sale!

Saturday June 4th - 8am onwards (rain date Sunday June 5)

All Kitchissippi community associations & Councillor Jeff Leiper are partnering for a ward-wide yard sale.

Participating neighbourhoods:

Champlain Park - Civic Hospital -Hampton Iona - Hintonburg - Island Park - McKellar Heights - McKellar Park - Mechanicsville - Wellington Village - Westboro (multi-family at Dovercourt) - Westboro Beach

Tips for sellers:

• Promote your sale through social media, put up signs on your street corners, & share the ward-wide Facebook event.

• If Saturday is rainy, you choose whether to go ahead or wait until Sunday.

• Some sellers are planning to donate some/all of their earnings to charities supporting the crisis in Ukraine. Maybe an option to consider.

• Didn't sell all your stuff but want it gone? Consider leaving items out for the afternoon with a free sign or post the items on your local buy nothing group.

Let's make our Kitchissippi yard sale a bit of a community party…

Kids can run lemonade stands, musicians can play on porches, and more!

The sale is dependent on public health guidance applicable to large events at the time.

Assessing the impact of new access to Tunney’s Pasture

 The WVCA recently met with representatives from Councillor Jeff Leiper’s office, and the City’s Traffic Assessment Specialist for Kitchissippi Ward to discuss changes to the roadway network environs Tunney’s Pasture. 

As you may be aware, to help with the Stage 2 LRT detour, there are plans to install a new traffic signal at the intersection of Smirle Avenue and Scott Street. Plans also include adding a bridge over the transitway to connect Goldenrod Driveway to this intersection, providing new signalized access between Wellington Village and Tunney’s Pasture.

To determine how this new traffic signal and connection to Tunney’s Pasture may impact the traffic on Smirle Avenue and the surrounding streets, the WVCA requested that a traffic study be conducted. In the past, the WVCA has raised concerns repeatedly regarding the intersection of Ross and Scott, which — along with Holland Avenue — serves as one of the few access points from Tunney’s to Scott Street. A traffic study would also be useful in assessing the existing through traffic issues on all of the streets between Wellington and Scott. 

Unfortunately, the City has informed us that the affected streets do not currently meet the city’s criteria to be approved for a traffic study. As an alternative, they suggested that the neighbourhood could wait to see how the traffic responds to the LRT being up and running, and how the new Goldenrod connection is being used. They also raised the possibility of temporarily closing the street, with planters, as a pilot project. However, the WVCA is concerned that this might cause traffic to use adjacent streets instead, merely shifting the issue rather than addressing it.

Other options include requesting that the signal be programmed to prohibit straight through traffic in the north-south direction, as has been done at other intersections in the City (such as Baseline and Centrepointe Drive, for example). Looking into the future, the WVCA and the City both recognize the potential for new problems arising once the LRT detour is no longer needed, and Tunney’s Pasture is developed.  

The WVCA continues to maintain that a traffic study should be undertaken as part of the planning process for Tunney’s Pasture. Further, we would like to see how Wellington Village, and the other bordering communities are considered as part of this undertaking. Tunney’s Pasture is a Federal Government undertaking and therefore, may require some lobbying with them to achieve this.  If you are interested and available to assist the WVCA with this, please send an email to president@wvca.ca.

Summary:

City to conduct traffic study of Wellington Village – declined

City offered to conduct pilot closure of Smirle Avenue at Scott Street with planter boxes

WVCA request City to consider prohibiting North-South through traffic movements at the Smirle/Scott intersection – pending review

WVCA request to have community traffic impacts studied as part of Tunney’s Pasture redevelopment application – please indicate your availability to assist with this.

Tunney’s Pasture ski trail link

There’s a reason why you’ve been seeing many of our neighbours with blissed-out expressions on their faces as they carry their cross-country ski gear down local sidewalks.

The Kichi Sibi Winter Trail is a groomed, multi-use winter trail along the Sir John A. Macdonald multi-use path. It’s a local gem that promotes active living by providing access to the Ottawa River shoreline for walking, skiing, snowshoeing or winter biking. And now, a recent improvement has made access to it even easier for the residents of Wellington Village. 

This winter, the Trail added a link from Tunney’s Pasture, making ski excursions more accessible than ever. The hope is that this link will become a permanent fixture each winter, because it brings the trailhead into the neighbourhood.

As we wrap up the ski season we wanted to thank everyone involved in making Wellington Village a ski-in/ski-out urban neighbourhood!

Take Action on Wellington Village Parks & Trails!

Are you interested in the future of parks & trails in Wellington Village? 

If you answered "yes", read on to learn about current action opportunities from your Wellington Village Community Association. 

Addressing the lack of park space in Wellington Village

The WVCA invites residents of Wellington Village to express their interest in joining a working group that will consider potential solutions for addressing the lack of park space in the area between Holland Ave. and Island Park Drive to the north of Wellington Street. If you are interested in joining a small team that will consider this issue, please send an email to: wvca.park@gmail.com

Please indicated what street you live on, as we are hoping to achieve diverse geographic representation on the working group. 

Connecting Wellington Village to Tunney's, the Ottawa River and Beyond

The Kichi Sibi Winter Trail folks want to get a jump on Tunney's Pasture redevelopment plans by making sure multi-use pathways are part of the design right from the beginning. While it's not "exactly within" the boundaries of Wellington Village, their new Scott St. Connector Trail lies right at our doorstep! Have you used the new trail and have an opinion to share?  

Watch their video & share your feedback via the survey link provided. 

Or skip straight to the 3-question Trail survey. 

Survey closes March 18th. 

As a general update on Tunney's Pasture, the WVCA would like to remind residents that our working group, Neighbours for Tunney's continues to push for resident involvement in the redevelopment plans. Through this work, local community associations have been assured by Public Services & Procurement Canada and the Canada Lands Company that we can soon expect public engagement opportunities regarding the future of Tunney's. 

In the meantime, our working group continues to keep residents informed via regular e-news. Sign up by emailing neighboursfortunneys@gmail.com

WVCA Board Meeting - Monday February 7th (Virtual) at 7:00 p.m.

Good day,

The WVCA is holding its next board meeting this coming Monday evening, February 7th, at 7:00 p.m. 

Members of the community are always welcome to attend. At present we continue to meet virtually. The link to Monday's meeting is: https://meet.google.com/hik-vjiu-rtz

The agenda will largely be focused on discussions surrounding future greenspace development opportunities in our neighbourhood, some local development proposals that have arisen, and planning for our AGM in April.

Previous meeting minutes can be found in the "Meetings" tab of our website.

WVCA Board Meeting - Monday January 10th (Virtual) at 7:30 p.m.

Happy New Years! 

The WVCA is holding its first monthly board meeting of 2022 this coming Monday evening, January 10th, at 7:30 p.m. 

Members of the community are always welcome to attend. At present we continue to meet virtually. The link to Monday's meeting is: https://meet.google.com/oao-wnyw-kwn

The agenda will largely be focused on discussions surrounding the Tunney's Pasture redevelopment, future greenspace development opportunities in our neighbourhood, as well as some local development proposals that have arisen. We will also be discussing plans for our AGM, which is tentatively being planned for April.

Previous meeting minutes can be found in the "Meetings" tab of our website.