Canada Day has passed and what a great time enjoyed by Stittsville residents celebrating at the many events around our community. This week, Councillor Gower addresses community safety and shares what residents can do when they see or experience any suspicious activity. Residents are being sought to form a committee or community group to save our area wetlands – see more below. If you want to expand your driveway and before you do, information and guidelines are provided below. The Councillor also provides a recap of the Transit Committee of last week with a number of new initiatives and future activities for OC Transpo. Much more can be found in this week’s Community Notes from Councillor Gower below.
Canada Day Recap
Thanks to all of the volunteers and community groups in our Stittsville community for organizing so many great Canada Day activities this past weekend. Great community spirit! Highlights included the big Stittsville Village Association event and fireworks, family-friendly fun at the Stittsville Legion, and the car show organized by the Knights of Columbus.
Thanks to everyone who joined us for our flag raising ceremony in front of the Stittsville sign. This event has become a nice tradition and we hope to continue it next year as well. Thank you to the team at Hazeldean Gardens for their assistance and hospitality.
A note about community safety
We’re aware of recent thefts from local food trucks, and major vandalism to a Canada Post mailbox kiosk last week. Thank you to residents who have reported this to police. Canada Post is also aware and are making repairs.
I know these recent incidents are causing a lot of concern and distress in the community. If you see any suspicious activity, call 911. Report it ASAP so that police can be dispatched.
- Call 9-1-1 for fires, drugs, excessive noise, or other destructive or threatening activities.
- You can also call in a request for an officer at 613-236-1222.
- If you see evidence of damage or vandalism the next day, please call 3-1-1.
The Ottawa Police Neighbourhood Resource Team and Youth Resource Team, along with Ottawa By-Law and Ottawa Parks staff, are all engaged. Every call/report from residents can be useful to provide information to aid in the investigations and pro-active community work.
Although it’s not necessarily youth involved in all of these incidents, we are asking parents to please check in with your kids and ask about what they’re doing at night around the community.
Finally, there is work underway by the Stittsville-Kanata Kiwanis Club to establish a youth drop-in centre in our community, in partnership with other community groups. Watch for more info in the coming weeks.
We’ll continue to share updates via my web site and email newsletter at glengower.ca.
Help protect our wetlands
What a great turn-out to last week’s resident meeting about protecting wetlands and natural areas west of Stittsville. The community meeting, hosted by Steve Klein and Janet Stavinga, was a great success with over 130 attendees. The organizers presented a vision to attendees and spoke to the goal of forming a committee and active community group. Read a recap here…
Hydro Ottawa strike
We’re now entering week two of the strike by Hydro Ottawa workers. Hydro Ottawa’s management says that they are making every effort to minimize the impact of any power outage. They have crews available to respond and make repairs, but response times may be slower than normal. For the latest updates visit hydroottawa.com.
Thinking of expanding your driveway this summer?
Make sure you’re aware of the zoning and by-law restrictions that may be in play for your home. Section 107 of the City’s Zoning By-Law covers driveway alterations, but there may be additional restrictions depending on zoning and site plan agreements for your address. You can contact a Development Information Officer (DIO) at 613-580-2424, ext. 23434 or dioinquiry@ottawa.ca for more information.
Why all these rules? Landscaping and parking is regulated by the City for a number of reasons, including maintaining effective stormwater management, managing street parking spaces, meeting accessibility requirements, providing adequate snow storage, and to promote an attractive streetscape design.
OC Transpo summer service + free rides for kids 12 & under
A reminder that OC Transpo has transitioned to summer service, with adjustments for service reliability, seasonal ridership, and construction, as well as the introduction of free transit for kids 12 and under. Before heading out, use the Travel Planner on octranspo.com to see if summer service changes or detours will impact your trip. More info here…
There’s a lot going on with OC Transpo right now:
- Work continues on the new LRT line from Bayview to the Airport and Limebank (Riverside South). Trail running is expected to begin in the coming weeks.
- OC Transpo has hired and trained 108 new operators, towards their goal of 320 new operators to be added in 2023.
- New smartcard (and smartphone) readers have been installed on all buses and at train stations. They’re in testing now, with a launch in the coming months.
- A new partnership with the Transit App is a significant improvement for customers to navigate the bus network and track bus arrivals.
- Ridership and reliability continues to improve on both the bus and the train. LRT reliability was 99.7% during May, and conventional bus service delivery was at 98.7% – meaning far fewer bus cancellations.
- An on-demand transit pilot is planned for this fall. To start, it will run on weekends and be targeted to growing areas with limited service where ridership has been particularly low post-pandemic. Based on pilots in other cities, it can be a more efficient way to provide service using the same resources (vehicles and drivers).
- For ParaTranspo, OC Transpo will be studying the feasibility of overnight service, same-day booking, and advanced booking for trips that are more than 24 hours in the future.
We discussed these initiatives and more at last week’s Transit Commission meeting. You can read a recap here…
July 2023 multicultural & human rights calendar
We publish a monthly calendar listing the main commemorative dates of different religions and cultures, as well as important dates related to the strengthening of human rights and diversity. Check out this month’s edition here…
Let’s Bike Month wraps up
Way to go Stittsville! Our community’s team biked over 3,500km during the month of June for Let’s Bike month, organized by EnviroCentre. In the process we averted nearly 900kg of greenhouse gas emissions.
Get in touch!
If we can help in any way, please email me at glen.gower@ottawa.ca or leave a voicemail at 613-580-2476. Please call 3-1-1 if you require immediate assistance. – Councillor Glen Gower