This past week saw the City of Ottawa Council meet for a marathon meeting of seven hours on December 7, 2022 at which Councillor Gower shared his three priorities for Stittsville during this term as Councillor for Ward 6 Stittsville. You can watch the comments he delivered in a link provided below. He also stated that there will be more oversight on the LRT situation with the creation of a Light Rail Committee that stems from the LRT inquiry report recently released. As well, a handful of the city committees have changed names – the list is below. Watch for this week’s announcement of new Committee chairs and members, a property tax increase introduced by Mayor Sutcliffe and a vote on the 2023 budget allocations. There are three new development files to watch also listed below. The city is seeking residents to join and provide input to a committee or board.
City Council update
At the start of last week’s 7-hour City Council meeting, every councillor had five minutes to share some “opening remarks” to colleagues at the start of the new term. You can watch my comments on YouTube…
I shared three priorities for Stittsville:
- Revitalizing Stittsville Main Street;
- Establishing a Health Hub; and,
- A pilot project to help welcome newcomers to our community.
I also shared my top city priority: addressing the housing crisis. As of last week there were 10,997 households on a waitlist for affordable housing in Ottawa, and residents at every income level are finding it more and more difficult to find an affordable home to buy or rent.
I also shared concerns about changes the Province of Ontario has made to our new Official Plan that will result in neighbourhoods that are more expensive to live in and service; lower the quality of life in our City; and make it harder to reach our climate change goals.
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Also at last week’s Council meeting, we created a new Light Rail committee that will be tasked with oversight of the existing LRT Confederation Line and construction of Stage 2 LRT. It’s one of the actions stemming from the LRT inquiry.
Other changes:
- The Planning Committee is now the Planning & Housing Committee, with more responsibility for affordable housing.
- The name of the “Standing Committee on Environmental Protection, Water and Waste Management” is changed to the “Environment and Climate Change Committee”.
- We’re establishing a new transit advisory body made up of public members, including at least one user of Para Transpo.
This week at Council we’ll be picking members and chairs of each committee, and we’ll voting on the 2023 budget directions, timeline and consultation process. Mayor Sutcliffe is proposing an overall property tax increase of between 2 and 2.5% per cent. Watch my web site for updates this week: glengower.ca.
Planning & Development Files:
- 5000 Robert Grant Avenue
There’s some activity this week on the Lépine site at 5000 Robert Grant Avenue near Abbott. They’re removing soil from the site, and transporting it for use in another location. There will be safety crews on site to help manage trucks as they turn on and off of Robert Grant. Lépine says it’s at least a couple of years before construction will begin on any of the buildings planned for the site. - 1837 and 1849 Maple Grove Road – Plan of Condominium
The City of Ottawa will hold a Public Meeting on Thursday, December 15, 2022 at 7:00 pm through Zoom to discuss the proposed plan of condominium. More info… - 4829 Abbott Street East: Zoning By-law Amendment
The City of Ottawa has received a Zoning By-law Amendment application to extend the temporary site-specific zoning exception for Metric’s sales office. No change in built form or uses of the property is proposed. More info…
Get involved in your city: join a committee or board
The City is recruiting residents with diverse backgrounds to provide their voices and unique perspectives on many of its committees and boards. These volunteer positions are opportunities for residents to make a difference in their community by providing their experiences, expertise, knowledge and professionalism. Read more…
How our team responded to the derecho
We’ve published a report to capture a chronology of the storm and power outage back in May and how it affected Stittsville. We wanted to share what we did, what we learned, and how we can be better prepared for a future emergency. Read the report at glengower.ca/derecho/.
Get in touch!
My team and I are working every day to answer your questions and connect residents with the resources they need. If we can help in any way, please email me at glen.gower@ottawa.ca or leave a voicemail at 613-580-2476. You can also message us on WhatsApp at 613-277-0193. – Councillor Glen Gower