Come out and support the effort to bring a Toronto Blue Jay affiliated double A baseball team to Ottawa. It’s a FREE event featuring ballpark frank hotdogs, popcorn, drinks, a speed pitch challenge and special guests including people from Ottawa’s Champions of Baseball group. This free BBQ is sure to be a “home run”! Our goal is to prove to the Blue Jays that they should affiliate with our new AA professional baseball team. Simply by attending the BBQ you will be helping, but we will also show you other ways you can make it happen. This will be fun. But this is also an excellent chance to have a great time with family and friends and be part of Ottawa baseball history..and you can even discuss local issues with your Councillor!

Date: Saturday, May 12th 2012 [POSTPONED]
Time: 10:00am
Location: Ben Franklin Place 101 Centrepointe Drive (Side Lawn), in case of rain event will be postponed.
For more information: (613) 580-2478

Where: 100 Constellation, Cafeteria

When: Thursday, April 26th, 6:30-8:00pm

For more information, contact me at:
Councillor Rick Chiarelli 613-580-2478 or email rick.chiarelli@ottawa.ca

Construction is scheduled to begin in May/June 2012. All underground work and base course asphalt paving is expected to be completed in the Fall of 2012. Final asphalt paving will be completed Spring 2013.

Specifically, the work required includes:

• Sanitary sewer and watermain replacement along Woodroffe Avenue from approximately 150 metres north of Baseline Road to Highway 417;
• Replacement of curbs and sidewalks on both sides of Woodroffe Avenue;
• Full depth road reconstruction of the north-bound lanes and removal of existing asphalt and repaving of the south-bound lanes on Woodroffe Avenue;
• Sanitary sewer and watermain replacement on Iris Street between Checkers Road and Woodroffe Avenue;
• Replacement of curbs on both sides of Iris Street between Checkers Road and Woodroffe Avenue;
• Full depth road reconstruction on Iris Street between Checkers Road and Woodroffe Avenue;
• Installation of new watermain on Iris Street between Field Street and Whitmore Avenue with trench reinstatement only.

During construction, the northbound (east side) lanes will need to be closed to accommodate the sanitary sewer, watermain and road reconstruction work. Two northbound only lanes, on Woodroffe Avenue, will be maintained during construction. Iris Street will need to be closed for approximately six to eight weeks to allow full road reconstruction between Woodroffe Avenue and Checkers Road.

Please note an open house for the project to review the project plans and traffic management strategy was held on Monday, 16 April 2012 from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. at 101 Centrepointe Drive, Main Floor ‘Chamber’ Meeting Room. Information display boards shown at the open house will be available for viewing in the near future on the City’s website located at: http://www.ottawa.ca/en/city_hall/planningprojectsreports/construction/projects/woodroffewater/index.htm

The following figure depicts the general limits of construction for the project.

For more information: http://www.ottawa.ca/en/city_hall/planningprojectsreports/construction/projects/woodroffewater/oh1/index.htm

April 15th to May 15th, 2012

The City of Ottawa and Tim Hortons are launching the annual Spring Cleaning the Capital Campaign. Residents of all ages are invited to participate.

Register your cleanup project on or before April 14 to be eligible to win early bird prizes. Registration continues until May 15. Cleaning the Capital volunteers who submit their online cleanup reports by May 31 are also eligible to win one of many prizes donated by our generous sponsors.

Registration is quick and easy. Start by selecting a cleanup location. It can be a park, ravine, shoreline, bus stop, pathway or any public area requiring tidying up after the winter months. Projects can include litter pickup or graffiti removal. Register your cleanup project online at ottawa.ca/clean or by calling 3-1-1 (TTY: 613-580-2401).

Cleanup starter kits for litter pickup and/or graffiti removal projects are available to all registered volunteers upon request. Litter pickup starter kits include: disposable vinyl gloves, garbage bags and leaf and yard waste bags. Graffiti removal starter kits include graffiti removal wipes, masks and gloves. All kits come with helpful project and safety information to guide your cleanup project.

It is a great opportunity for families and friends to work together on community cleanup projects that help make Ottawa clean, green, graffiti-free and litter-free. Cleaning the Capital is an excellent way for high school students to earn their community volunteer hours.

For more information you can contact our office at: (613) 580-2478

Your community steering committee and Councillor Rick Chiarelli have worked with City Planning staff and consulted with the applicant to develop options for your consideration.

Over the past ten months we have achieved significant potential improvements to the developer’s application. These improvements address most of the issues identified by residents at our last community-wide meeting held June 30, 2011 and offer some possible protections to the rest of the neighbourhood. However, only minor gains have been achieved on the important issue of height and massing of the project.

The community needs to make a decision about what our position will be when the application is debated at Planning Committee on April 10th. Please join us to see the potential new plan and discuss its applications. We need to consider the pros and cons of the two main options available to the community along with the options for intensification in the neighbourhood into the future. This is an excellent opportunity for you to offer your perspective.

For More Information; Contact:

Councillor Rick Chiarelli, 613-580-2478 or email rick.chiarelli@ottawa.ca
Sharon Roy, email Sharon.roy@sympatico.ca
Deanna Stearns, 613-226-6886 or email meadowlandssteeringcommittee@hotmail.ca

141-151 Meadowlands Drive – Zoning Amendment Application

Below is a set of the original plans dated August 31st, 2011 and a set of the revised plans dated March 5th, 2012 with respect to the zoning amendment and site plan applications for a proposed 4 storey residential apartment building at 141-151 Meadowlands Drive.

The 6 penthouse units are set back on the south, north and east sides of the building in order to minimize any impact of height to the adjacent dwellings. The south and north setback is 1.6 metres from the wall of the building. The east setback is 14 metres from the wall of the building. The outdoor terraces of the penthouse units are all oriented south towards Meadowlands Drive.

The height of the building to the top of the 4th storey is 12.5 metres. The height at the top of the 3rd storey is 9.4 metres, just below the current permitted height limit of 9.5 metres. The height at the second storey is 6.5 metres.

One level of underground parking provides for 56 cars at a ratio of 1.0 space for each unit plus 9 visitor parking spaces at a ratio of 0.2 spaces for each unit.

The community meeting for the Meadowlands/Woodroffe development will take place on March 20th at Ben Franklin Place from 7-9pm in the Chambers.

For more information you can contact our office at 613-580-2478

The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is a green beetle that is highly destructive to ash trees. The potential damage of this insect rivals that of Chestnut Blight and Dutch Elm Disease.

Native to eastern Asia, this pest was first discovered in Canada and the U.S. in 2002. The EAB has killed millions of ash trees in South-Western Ontario, Michigan and surrounding states, and poses a major economic and environmental threat to urban and forested areas in both countries.

The EAB infestation pattern is similar to a locust plague in that populations grow exponentially after it is introduced in the area. Approximately 11 years after being introduced, it will have wiped out all of the ash trees in the region. The Emerald Ash Borer chews through the trunk of the tree as well as the inner bark creating winding galleries as they feed on the ash trees sap. This cuts off the flow of the water and nutrients to the tree thus causing the larva to die off.

Signs of an EAB infestation include:

• Thinning crown
• Diminished density of leaves
• Evidence of adult beetle feeding on leaves
• Long shoots growing from the trunk or branches
• Vertical cracks in the trunk
• Small D-shaped emergence holes
• S-shaped tunnels under the bark filled with fine dust

We have identified areas in each neighborhood where the trees are more at risk than others and will be treating the trees with a special solution which raises the EAB’s sugar level causing it to die off.

If you see suspected signs of infestation of your ash trees please call our office at 613-580-2478.

Emerald Ash Borer	Bells Corners	Braemar Park, Bel Air Heights, Copeland Park	Briar Green, Leslie Park	Centrepointe
Crestview, Meadowlands	Iris	Qualicum, Redwood Park

“Everyone says it will never work…That is the one essential ingredient in every great success story”
        • Lloyd Dobler, Say Anything, by Cameron Crowe.

I have lived in Bells Corners for over 20 years but it didn’t fall under my jurisdiction until the start of last term on Council. In a community with many who don’t like change, most still recognized that this area had reached a low point and needed dramatic change just to survive as a sustainable community featuring both jobs and residents. Bells Corners needed to be reborn.

A few decades ago Bells Corners boomed because shoppers had to go there. The business strip didn’t need to do anything to thrive because it was the only game in town. But as Kanata, Barrhaven and Ottawa West developed their own sizable shopping areas, that success melted away. The disintegration of Bells Corners’ biggest employer, Nortel, was really the final blow that left its business sector with a 40% bite taken out of its traditional customer base.

We all set to work. When I initiated the creation of an association of Bells Corners businesses (Business Improvement Area, or “BIA”) many thought the businesses would not buy-in to the long term potential just because they wouldn’t want to pay the annual costs of financing the organization and its investments in the community. But, at formation, the Bells Corners BIA had fewer objectors than any BIA formation in recent memory.

Together with economic development experts, we took a look at what should be our obvious market niche and, for the first time, we have a “focus” that is taking advantage of the fact that seven out of 10 tourists to Ottawa are not coming to see the Parliament Buildings but are, instead, coming to participate in the Capital’s dozens of annual festivals and hockey and soccer tournaments.

Bells Corners is located at the confluence of the 416, the Queensway, Hwy 7 and Hunt Club Road. That means those festival and tournament visitors, who are almost all driving into town, actually have to pass Bells Corners on their way. Our new hospitality focus is growing our hotel, drug store and restaurant presence in order to get some of those visitors to stop here and enjoy some better prices and our unique access to the Greenbelt, biking, free parking and other amenities – very appealing to those who want to avoid the pressure-packed downtown.

We have made successful improvements already. These help build on our focus and grow back our business sector’s previously vanishing customer base.

The rebuild began with some take downs. We were able to convince the owners of the iconic eyesore building formerly known as the Vox to demolish their building ahead of schedule. The decontamination process is well underway on the site. The building has been for sale for many months and we have been working to encourage potential applicants who are specifically geared toward constructing something on the site that is within the strip’s new hospitality focus. There is a good chance that, very soon, a hotel will made a bid for the property. That would give us a critical mass of hotels which would form a legitimate “cluster” on online booking sites like Expedia – and that means proven synergy for all in the cluster.

In the event that a hotel does not make a bid, we have also been trying to attract highrise residential builders to consider the property.

Further down the strip, the old Hooters building will soon come down. Tim Hortons will build a new larger store at the site. After public consultation, I have just signed-off on site plan approval so construction can begin very soon.

So you see, the welcome demolitions are leading to more renewal and construction. Sidewalks have been reconstructed through much of the main business strip, after receiving significant public input, we enjoyed the very successful creation of one single road name for the strip (the whole road will soon be called “Robertson Road” instead of the former two names on the same street, Richmond and Robertson which was confusing to the out-of-towners we are now trying to attract), we have installed a new signalized intersection at Timm Drive to improve traffic flow on event days at Scotiabank Place and, of course, thanks to the the support of people like MP Pierre Poilievre and John Baird, we have a new large employer coming to Bells Corners with the location of DND where Nortel used to be.

Change is always difficult for some, but in Bells Corners most demand it. They see that the pieces are falling into place. The foundation for success is being poured. They also see that Bells Corners today is dramatically better than the Bells Corners of four years ago. And that, as we consult with residents in 2012 on an improved vision for the area, a decade from now, things will be even better as Bells Corners becomes a place go to, instead of a place to drive through.

Friday, Jan. 27

When: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Scotiabank NHL Fan Fair™

Where: Ottawa Convention Centre

The official fan festival for the 2012 NHL® All-Star Weekend continues for the second of three days of family-friendly activities.

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When: 7 p.m.

Energizer® Night Skate™ at NHL® All-Star

Where: Rideau Canal Skateway

Energizer®, the NHL and the Sens Foundation will host the first-ever Energizer Night Skate, a one-of-a-kind 5KM  skating event on the Rideau Canal Skateway that will benefit the Sens Foundation. Under the blanket of the night sky, families, friends and hockey fans will don headlights that will light up the evening as they skate the Rideau Canal Skateway to raise money to construct future outdoor ice rinks in eastern Ontario and western Quebec. Entry to participate in this event requires registration and is $20 per person or $15 for those aged 12-and-under. All entrants receive an Energizer LED headlight and an Energizer Night Skate commemorative toque for their participation and donation. To register, visit

www.energizernightskate.ca.

*EVENT WILL NOW BE TAKING PLACE AT CITY HALL “RINK OF DREAMS” DUE TO WARM WEATHER CONDITIONS ON THE CANAL.

Saturday, Jan. 28
When: 9 a.m. to noon
2012 Canadian Tire NHL Junior Skills™ National Championship
Where: Rideau Canal Skateway The Canadian Tire NHL Junior SkillsTM

Competition was a program launched in September to find the most skilled hockey players between the ages of seven and 12 in Canada. This nation-wide competition culminates in Ottawa, as finalists from the regional competitions gather on the Rideau Canal Skateway to showcase their skills in fastest skating, shooting accuracy, puck control and passing accuracy in front of a national audience during All-Star Weekend. The championship will feature a special guest and NHL alumni and will be taped for a segment on CBC that will air as part of the All-Star coverage.
For more information, visit canadiantirehockeyschool.ca/nhljuniorskills

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When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Scotiabank NHL Fan Fair™
Where: Ottawa Convention Centre

The official fan festival for the 2012 NHL® All-Star Weekend, the 2012 Scotiabank NHL Fan Fair™ wraps up with its third day of activities.

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When: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. 2012
Molson Canadian NHL All-Star Skills Competition™
Where: Scotiabank Place, (CBC, RDS, NBC Sports Network)

The NHL All-Stars show off their skating, puck-handling and shooting skills in the Molson Canadian NHL All-Star -Skills Competition

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Sunday, Jan. 29
When: 4 p.m. 2012
Tim Hortons NHL® All-Star Game®
Where: Scotiabank Place, (CBC, RDS, NBC Sports Network)

The League’s mid-season spectacular concludes with the 59th annual NHL All-Star Game. Live television coverage of the event will be provided by CBC and RDS in Canada and NBC Sports Network in the U.S. NHL, the NHL Shield and Stanley Cup are registered trademarks and the NHL All-Star Game logo, NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft, NHL Fan Fair, NHL Junior Skills and NHL All-Star Skills Competition are trademarks of the National Hockey League. All Rights Reserved. Canadian Tire® and the Canadian Tire logo are trademarks of Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited. Used under license.

When: 7:30 PM, January 17th, 2012

Where: St. John the Apostle School, 30 Costello Avenue, Nepean

Background:

In the summer of 2011, Brigil Platinum filed an application with the City to develop 2940 Baseline. The application detailed 4 residential buildings of varying heights.

I held a community meeting which was well attended and the developers presented the full details of their plan. Many in the community expressed concerns with the proposal so we formed a Steering Committee of residents to formulate options for a community response.

Since August we have been in communication with Brigil to urge the developer to address as many of our concerns as possible before we reassemble the community to reach our final position on the 2940 Baseline Road application and before the Planning Hearing.

We asked Brigil to

A) address the excessive height of the proposed buildings;

B) specify what it plans to do with the adjacent property which it had acquired such that we do not face an additional application for a mirror project of residential towers on that property too;

C) address the excess traffic pressures that high rise developments on both properties would produce especially during a.m. and p.m. peaks;

D) address our need to maintain commercial zoning in the area such that we could one day see a “farm boy type” of grocery store move to the area.

Although Brigil has not yet responded to each concern exactly as we have hoped, it has recently indicated a significant change. As a result of our efforts and those of the Steering Committee, Brigil is now suggesting it will not simply revise its application, but will withdraw its application and replace it with a brand new one.

It is suggesting that, in February, it will advance a new proposal which includes both 2940 Baseline AND the adjacent property at the same time-complying with a key request from the community’s Steering Committee.

I want to ensure the whole community gets to see the brand new plan prior to any filing which could happen as early as February. That leaves very little time, so I am calling a community-wide meeting for January 17th at 7:30pm at St. John the Apostle School.

At the January 17th meeting, Brigil will respond to our concerns and will present a new concept plan for these properties. After the presentation, the Steering Committee and I will meet the community in private (ie without the applicant or media present) to discuss our options.

Please come out to see the proposal and to ask any questions you may have. If you cannot make it out but have comments, please call me at 613-580-2478 or email

Voted “Best Place to be on New Year’s Eve” by a CTV Ottawa poll and attracting more than six thousand guests annually, Rick Chiarelli’s Alcohol Free New Year’s Eve Celebration is not to be missed!

From 6:30pm to 10:00pm at Ben Franklin Place guests can enjoy free sleigh rides, live music, magicians, dance showcases, Ice skating, Games, Face Painting, and Contests, ending with a beautiful display of fireworks as a Grand Finale at 10pm. There are also snacks and warm drinks at a cost of $1 with proceeds going to MADD and OSAID

For further information about the event contact Courtney at 613-266-6099…and for those wishing to skate don’t forget to bring your skates along!

Rick Chiarelli would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and hopes to see you all for what promises to be his best New Year’s Eve Event to date!
Rick’s daughter Natalia tells us more:

Ben Franklin Place, 101 Centerpointe Dr. December 31, 6:30pm – 10:00pm