By the Canadian Press, Global News, March 7, 2019
TORONTO – Ontario’s realtors and home builders say the province could address a housing supply crunch if it allowed a greater range of developments around 200 transit hubs.
The associations which represent Ontario’s realtors and home builders are calling on the provincial government to change zoning rules around the transit stations.
By Jason White, 1310 News, March 7, 2019
As Ottawa city council approved $4.2 billion in contracts for the second phase of light rail, one councillor suggested that one of the winning bidders -- SNC-Lavalin -- hadn't met the minimum technical requirements.
"Did all of the bidders achieve the 70 per cent threshold in the technical scoring?" Gloucester-Southgate Councillor Diane Deans asked staff, during Wednesday's meeting.
Each of the bids were scored by a team of experts hired by the city but the city's lawyers and staff refused to release the bidders' scores, citing confidentiality rules in the bid process.
By Lesley McKay, StittsvilleCentral, March 5, 2019
The open house held on March 2nd for the ‘new look’ proposed for the Trans-Canada Trail entranceway off of Main Street near Abbott, was well attended and received positive feedback.
The site and history of the trailhead entranceway has been taken into consideration by the City of Ottawa’s Planner, Melanie Knight. She had the architect incorporate the seating area of the benches to resemble old railway ties, and these would also be used for some of the fencing on the property. There will be trees and shrubs added and a new brick entrance. Bicycle lock-ups will also be added so you can park and then shop, eat or get a refreshment at the local businesses.
By Brigitte Pellerin, Ottawa Citizen, March 6, 2019
Maybe you didn’t notice the news. Unless you live in Nepean or work in the business, you probably don’t care all that much that the City of Ottawa last week gave the go-ahead for a new filmmaking complex and creative centre to be built in a big old field across from the Nepean Sportsplex.
I live nearby (my jogging path runs by it), and for a while there I was very active in indie film production. But that’s not why I’m excited.
I like this development very much because it goes well with one of the potential avenues for development that municipal staff put together in their Ottawa Next: Beyond 2036 study. It’s also a great way to make people’s life triangles tiny.
Let me explain.
(...)I get the appeal of the pretty little house in the suburb with a patch of grass and nature nearby. But the dream is a victim of its own success. So many people want it that suburbs are now crammed and expanding even farther. Why, just last week we heard there would be as many as 2,000 new homes built on a field in Riverside South. Lovely area for sure, but not practical if you work downtown. That’s why we need more jobs in the suburbs, and not just in restaurants and stores. Anchors. We need them.
By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, March 7, 2019
Ottawa families will pay more for drinking water, transit, recreation programs, garbage pickup and other city services now that council has approved the 2019 municipal budget.
Council on Wednesday locked in the $3.6-billion operating budget and $767-million capital program with a unanimous vote, confirming in a three-per-cent property tax increase and hiking several user fees.
The transit tax on property tax bills, which helps pay for LRT and OC Transpo, will increase by 3.5 per cent. The Transpo fare increase scheduled for July 1 will mean transit customers pay on average 2.5 per cent more, but council could face the question of extending the fare freeze past Canada Day if the LRT system doesn’t open by then.
(...)The stormwater fee is increasing by 9.8 per cent, one of the few changes to the city budget after it went through the committee process. It was originally set at 10.8 per cent, but the environment committee recommended knocking it down by reducing the stormwater infrastructure capital program for the year.
By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, March 7, 2019
Ottawa’s $4.6-billion Stage 2 transit expansion is a go.
City council voted 19-3 on Wednesday to sign contracts with two construction groups to extend the Confederation Line LRT to Trim Road, Algonquin College and Moodie Drive, and extend the Trillium Line to Limebank Road and the Ottawa International Airport.
Kiewit and Vinci, under the name East West Connectors, will construct the Confederation Line extensions, and SNC-Lavalin, under the name TransitNEXT, will construct the Trillium Line extensions and maintain the line.
Voting against the largest infrastructure project in the City of Ottawa’s history were councillors Rick Chiarelli, Diane Deans and Shawn Menard.
Self-described LRT supporter Deans said she doesn’t have confidence in the decision-making process, especially since she couldn’t get a straight answer on how the winning contractors scored in the bidding process.
By Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen, March 7, 2019
The National Capital Commission is proceeding with the development of LeBreton Flats but is doing so in stages, starting with a three-acre site near the new main branch of the Ottawa Public Library.
As to a possible NHL arena on the 55-acre site, chief executive Tobi Nussbaum said: “That is a question to which we are very, very open.”
The NCC has broken the site into five large chunks instead of proceeding with a single vision for the area. The Crown corporation hopes to launch a request for proposal on the so-called “library site” in the spring of 2020, with a possible ground-breaking in 2021.
By Kate Porter, CBC News Ottawa, March 5, 2019
When city councillors vote to finalize the $4.66-billion procurement deal to expand light rail to Ottawa's suburbs on Wednesday, they'll make the decision without having seen the contracts.
Instead, councillors will direct city manager Steve Kanellakos to negotiate with winning bidders East West Connectors and SNC-Lavalin on their behalf.
However, with mounting concern about the original phase of the LRT project — news some councillors complain they heard first from CBC rather than from city staff — there's growing frustration about that lack of oversight.
By Jim Paulin and others, Ottawa Citizen Letters to the Editor, March 5, 2019
Let’s see LRT Phase 1 in action first
Re: Stage 2 LRT deadline arriving in a rush, March 4.
We have no idea at this point whether Phase 1 of the LRT will work reliably in the winter, nor what the costs might be to make it work reliably, and who will end up paying those costs. Meanwhile, city council is being pressured to approve the $4.7-billion LRT Phase 2 expansion.
Before taking on a huge new contractual obligation for LRT Phase 2, the city should insist on seeing Phase 1 operate smoothly through next winter, with any required costs to make it work reliably in the winter being born by the RTG construction consortium. Only then will we and the construction companies know what the true costs of LRT Phase 2 are going to be.
By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, March 5, 2019
Days are getting long and the sky is turning deeper blue, but Eastern Ontario is locked into at least a week of unseasonably cold weather before it will start to feel like spring.
“It’s a little too early to write the final chapter on winter,” notes David Phillips of Environment Canada.
Ottawa’s long-term average temperatures for this time of year are a high of 0 and a low of -9.
But the reality this week is much colder: highs ranging from a stingy -11 on Tuesday to -3 by the weekend, and lows mostly between -15 and -18. These are typical numbers for the middle of January.
By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, March 5, 2019
City council is under financial and political pressure this week to approve $4.6 billion more in LRT spending while not knowing if a $2.1-billion investment of government money will produce a decent transit system.
The city didn’t want to be in this position, asking council to ink Stage 2 deals to expand the rail network without having Stage 1 up and running.
But it’s going to happen Wednesday, and councillors have to decide if they have enough faith in much of the current LRT infrastructure to commit taxpayers for decades. It won’t be a unanimous vote.
By CBC News, March 3, 2019
An environmental research team from the prestigious Stanford University in California has calculated exactly how Canada can move away from fossil fuels, transitioning to a totally clean-energy future through existing technologies.
But the assertion that this transition is just over a decade away is the source of hot debate.