(Councillor Gower welcomed those who attended and thanked the organizers at the July 22nd West Side Pride festival. Photo: Kaitlyn LeBoutillier-Stittsville Central.)
Summer is passing quickly as is the summer vacation season. Councillor Gower has returned from his ‘local’ vacation and is back at his desk providing updates for the community in this week’s Community Notes. Below you can read about: the current LRT situation; extending thanks to organizers for recent events; development files; and, links to updates from the City on various programs and announcements.
I hope you’re enjoying the summer so far. I’ve been mostly on a stay-cation for the last couple of weeks, spending a lot of time on my bike as well as at the Amberwood Pool. It’s great to be outside. Thank you to my team for “holding down the fort” while I’ve been off.
I say “mostly” because my attention has been on the ongoing LRT outage. I’ve been in touch almost daily with OC Transpo management, the Mayor, and my Council colleagues. We are finally heading in the right direction but the time it’s taking to get there is frustratingly slow. More on this issue below.
Thank you for recent events:
I want to take the opportunity to thank two event organizers for their outstanding community contributions. First, to Sarah Blakely who organized the fourth annual Stittsville Front Porch Concert Series in June. This year’s event raised over $11,500 for Parents’ Lifelines of Eastern Ontario. Incredible! Read more…
Thank you as well to Marion Steele for organizing the inaugural West Side Pride festival on July 22. Her goal was to celebrate pride and raise awareness of LGBTQIA+ services and advocacy in Stittsville and surrounding activities. We hope this will become an annual event in Stittsville. Read more…
Planning & Development:
UPDATE: Site plan approved for 360 Bobolink
City staff have approved the site plan for a mixed-use development at 360 Bobolink Ridge. There will be a total of 407 purpose-built rental apartments accompanied by 192 underground parking spaces, 358 surface parking spaces, and 208 bicycle spaces. Since fall 2021 City staff have been working with the applicant on a number of changes to the proposed development. While there have been some improvements to the plan, I wanted to see much less surface parking and more neighbourhood commercial space. Read more…
37 Wildpine: Revised Development Proposal
The City of Ottawa has received a revised Plan of Subdivision application and a revised Zoning By-Law Amendment application for 37 Wildpine Court. To address stormwater and servicing concerns, Latitude Homes has halted a Plan of Condominium and proposed a revised draft plan that includes a four-storey. Read more…
121 Brae: Zoning by-law amendment
The City of Ottawa has received a Zoning By-law Amendment application to permit the development of a three-storey apartment at 121 Brae, at the corner of Brae and Norway Spruce, with five apartments. Read more…
We will be holding info meetings both the Wildpine and Brae applications later in August. Watch for more info in our update next week.
City updates / Mises à jour
- Council ratifies its priorities for 2023 to 2026
- Get involved in your city: join an advisory committee
- Ottawa Police sees a 49% increase in misdialed calls to 911
- Mailout to residents from Service Line Warranties of Canada
- Project Phoenix disrupts car thieves with 75 vehicles recovered
NOTEBOOK: Understanding the O-Train wheel problem
Alstom and RTG are redesigning and replacing the wheel hub assembly on all light rail vehicles. We’ve known there have been problems with the wheels for a while, at least since the August 2021 derailment. But what exactly are wheel bearings and what do they do? Why has it taken so long to figure this out? What can be done to fix this?
CBC’s Ottawa Morning aired three excellent interviews that, taken together, paint a really clear picture about the wheel problems plaguing the LRT in Ottawa, and how a solution can be found. Read more…
We’re expecting an update on Monday with more precision about when the trains may return to service. Visit OCTranspo.com or my web site for the latest information.
Get in touch! Écrivez-nous!
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