Oct 3 - NCC's Horizon 2067 looks 50 years out to plan...a green, mass-transit world-class capital
Last week CSC Directors were present at the Ottawa session of Horizons 2067, an NCC initiative to plan for the Capital in 50 years. The 4 keynote speakers hit some chords that will resonate with CSC Members - preserving green space at all costs, and planning beyond single-vehicle transit. Let's hope the NCC traffic folks were there. Make your voice heard by submitting online feedback at http://horizon2067.ca.
Oct 2 - Ontario MPP Candidates weigh in on the bridge
Over one week ago - CSC sent all candidates in Ottawa-Orleans, and Glengarry Prescott Russell an email, and multiple reminders asking them to summarize their position on the inter-provincial bridge file for us, with the promise that we'd post their answers verbatim.
Only Phil McNeely, Liberal candidate for Ottawa-Orleans responded. If other responses come in, we will post them.
Pat Boule (info@commonsensecrossings.com)
Ottawa - Orleans:
Phil McNeely:
Dear neighbour,
The residents of Ottawa-Orléans have spoken loud and
clear, NO bridge in the Greenbelt.
The Greenbelt lands north of Highway 174 and along
the Ottawa River must be protected.
The traffic that would be added by building a bridge
in that area would instantly wipe out any benefits we will enjoy as a result of
the improvements being made to the Highway 417/174 split and widening of the
Queensway to Nicholas Street, a project costing $230 million.
Our top priority should be getting light rail to
Orleans and easing traffic congestion on Hwy. 174, not building a bridge and
making it worse.
In 1997, I worked with Ministry of Transportation
staff to split the second phase of the Interprovincial Crossing study into two
parts to allow for more public consultation.
I also wrote a letter to the NCC demanding that
Common Sense Crossings be recognized as a community organization and included
in the Phase 2A discussions.
Lastly, I endorsed a letter signed by a number of
community organizations including Common Sense Crossings and Sustainable
Solutions which called for the inclusion of a tunnel under King Edward in Phase
2B that was regrettably rejected.
But I can’t stop this without your support. On Oct. 6
vote for Phil McNeely and vote against building a bridge in the Greenbelt.
Phil McNeely
Liberal Candidat Ottawa-Orléans
Chère amie, cher ami,
Les résidantes et résidants d’Ottawa-Orléans se sont
faits entendre fort et sans équivoque. PAS de pont à l’intérieur de la Ceinture
verte!
Les terres faisant partie de la Ceinture verte au
nord de l’autoroute 174 et le long de la rivière des Outaouais doivent être
protégées à tout prix.
La construction d’un pont augmentera considérablement
la circulation et éliminera automatiquement les avantages que procureront les
améliorations présentement en cours à l’échangeur 417/174. et l’élargissement
du Queensway à la rue Nicholas, un projet au cout de 230 million $.
Notre priorité devrait être d’allonger la ligne du
train léger jusqu’à Orléans afin de réduire la congestion de la circulation sur
la route 174, plutôt que de construire un pont.
En 1997, j’ai travaillé avec le ministère des
transports pour diviser en deux partie la deuxième phase de l’étude des
liaisons interprovinciales pour permettre plus de consultation publique.
J’ai aussi écrit une lettre à la capitale nationale
pour que Common Sense Crossings soit reconnue comme une organisation
communautaire et qu’elle soit inclut aux discussions Phase 2A.
Dernièrement, j’ai appuyé une lettre signée par des
organisations communautaires, y compris Common Sense Crossings et Sustainable
Solutions qui ont demandé d’inclure un tunnel sous King Edward en Phase 2B, une
demande qui a été regrettablement rejecté.
Mais je ne peux faire cela sans votre appui! Le 6
octobre, votez pour Phil McNeely et votez ainsi contre la construction d’un
pont à l’intérieur de la Ceinture verte.
Phil McNeely,
Candidat libéral d’Ottawa-Orléans
June 7 - NCC Phase 2B fast track public consultations begin June 11-18!
Last night, June 7, the NCC kicked off Phase 2B of the Bridge process with their first meeting with leaders of various community groups. The NCC shared their plans for the study (short version: follow what was developed in Phase 2A), and talked about the first of 4 rounds of public consultation.
The NCC asked for our help in promoting the first rounds of community consultations – which require pre-registration and are all happening within the next – wait for it - 10 days! A collective thump was heard as the jaws of all community leaders hit the floor together.
So - holding my nose - there are a couple of rounds of public consultation coming up that you need to pre-register.
If you can register and attend one of these – please do. If not, consider dropping our friends at Genivar a note and tell them why you can't attend at this late notice. In spite of them trying to rush through the public consultation process, it's important to make our voices heard. What is important to us as a community is being decided NOW, in round one. Later dialogue will simply focus on the community values determined in this round.
Full list and dates and times of the 9 meetings between now and June 18 found here on my site: http://bit.ly/mJ5BUz
The ones of particular interest to our community are:
Pre-register by emailing info.crossings@genivar.com or call them at 613-829-2800.
- Wed June 15 – 7pm-10pm – Ray Friel – Corridor 6 (Lower Duck/Canotek) “Community Consultation Group”.
- Thurs June 16 - 7pm-10pm – Ray Friel – Corridor 7 (MacLaurin Bay/Gatineau Airport) “Community Consultation Group”.
- Sat June 18 – 9am-noon – Cyrville Community Centre, 4355 Halmont – “World Café Style” table discussions.
Last night - we tried as a group to reason with the NCC & Roche/Genivar that these dates were WAY TOO SOON using the arguments that:
a) It’s not enough notice.
b) Summertime consultations are historically very poorly attended (See: Recent school closure consultations).
c) Future consultation rounds build on what’s said in round one - let’s do it right.
d) There are other public consultations taking place the SAME DAY for similar public interest topics in Gatineau.
After the break, the NCC came back and told us that the June consultations would go forward regardless. From my perspective this is a pretty disheartening start to the process. As if it was somehow our fault that Phase 2B started 6 months behind schedule. Bad enough that the notice on the ncrcrossings.ca website (under “Public Consultation”) doesn’t mention dates or times of any of these meetings beyond “June”. Bad enough that the NCC said they delivered flyers to the affected households, and only one person at the meeting had received or heard of these flyers – which once again only mentioned “June” (see here to check out the flyer - time yourself to see how long it takes you to figure out what this flyer is saying).
The main positive thing that happened at the meeting was that the various community groups actually agreed on something – how unacceptable the current schedule is. It’s just too bad the NCC and consultants chose not to act on our input.
Best regards,
Pat Boulé
Director – Common Sense
Crossings
pboule@gmail.com
Phase 2B Awarded to Roche-NCE on April 6
On April 6th, the NCC awarded the contract for Phase 2B of the interprovincial crossing study to Roche-NCE. For $4.5 million they’ll be conducting more detailed assessments of the three remaining corridors. Once again there will be public consultations where we’ll have to make our voices heard loud and clear that any bridge that destroys Greenbelt and dumps thousands of extra cars and trucks onto the already clogged 174 is not acceptable. At the end of the process a single corridor will be selected and an environmental assessment performed for it. This phase is expected to take 18 months to complete.
2009: Two Greenbelt Options added for the next Ottawa-Gatineau Interprovincial bridge
Some background: In February 2009, two Greenbelt Options, called Lower Duck Island corridor (Option 6) and Gatineau Airport - McLaurin Bay corridor (Option 7), were added to the Kettle Island option (Option 5) to be studied in the NCC's Phase 2 environmental impact study. At the eleventh hour, the Ontario and Quebec governments asked the NCC to study the top 3 candidates from the Phase 1 report, instead of only focusing on the Kettle Island corridor (Option 5) which the NCC's own study recommended.
Aerial views of the corridors are here.
View Interprovincial Bridge Options in a larger map
Why should all National Capital residents oppose these two Greenbelt options?
1. The Greenbelt isn't for highways. If the NCC builds a 4 lane highway through the Eastern Greenbelt then what's next for the Greenbelt near you? We don't want the Eastern Greenbelt destroyed - it's already only 1.1 km wide at the eastern edge, the thinnest in the region. No matter where you live in the National Capital Region - this would be the thin edge of the wedge for Greenbelt development and decimation as a whole. If there was a bridge to Quebec in the Greenbelt - where would they build a Ring Road in the future?
2. A Greenbelt bridge doesn't solve the truck problem. Diverting King Edward traffic to Lower Duck means a 25km detour for truckers on practically every trip. Will trucks even use a bridge in this location - or will they just divert to another downtown bridge? They can't close all downtown bridges to trucks. Shouldn't we be considering an option that wastes less fuel, and does less damage to the environment.
3. Greenbelt bridge options worsen the traffic problems of East Ottawa and the 417/174 split. Adding additional traffic between the 417 and Montreal Road/Jeanne D'Arc overtaxes the already busy 174, and will drive bridge traffic onto residential streets. A Greenbelt bridge will turn highway 174 into the National Capital Region's biggest parking lot. Close your eyes and imagine what a cloverleaf interchange will do to the bus lanes along 174 today.
4. The Greenbelt Options cost more. The Greenbelt bridge options cost the most and are the least green environmentally of the bridge options.- Bringing three options to Phase 2 (versus one) is costing taxpayers millions of dollars extra. The NCC is already asking the provinces (taxpayers) to fund the extra costs.
- The estimated capital bridge costs of the Greenbelt options are $18M and $132M more than the NCC's current study recommended option.
- Ongoing per trip fuel costs are much higher due to the significant city core to city core detour.
5. Community impact of these options. There are significant costs to our communities: costs associated with traffic/transit, reduced quality of life, decreased recreational spaces, impact on the Greenbelt and citizens.
- Option 6 requires the expropriation of 79 homes on the Gatineau side and would split the community.
- Option 7 comes within 200 meters of Orleans on the Ottawa side, and the bridge would traverse the river diagonally for over a kilometer - landing in an environmentally protected area. Does this make sense?
- Both options bisect the narrow eastern edge of the Greenbelt. A 4 lane highway would completely destroy this part of the Greenbelt.
- One hundred thousand people live in Orleans today, and commute times to Ottawa are a major quality of life issue. The Greenbelt options hit the communities east of Montreal Road at Hwy 174 right where it hurts.
Bonus question: What about the so-called "Canotek" option?
There is no Canotek option - it's a red herring leading to Option 6. The Canotek corridor wasn't even studied as one of the 10 corridors in the Phase 1 environmental assessment - because there's no room on the 174 for an interchange at this point. Also, you cannot put a highway that close to Green's Creek because of the soil make-up in this area and associated instability. Just ask the South Nation River residents about soil instability and mudslides.
The Greenbelt Bridge Options don't make sense. We need a common sense crossing.
Cette page sera bientot en francais.