Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Vehicles bottom out after speed humps built 'too high'

By CFRA News, July 6, 2017

Speed humps placed along Bayswater Avenue as a speed calming measure are being replaced after complaints about vehicles bottoming out.

Earlier this month a notice to residents was sent out explaining that three humps located between Beech St. and Sherwood Dr. were constructed too high and did not meet city specifications.“The city has a specification to which the speed humps should have been built -They weren’t built that way so the city is forcing the contractor to come back and replace those,” said Jeff Leiper, the councillor for the area.

Uber's driver-tipping feature rolls out in Canada - Windsor - CBC News

By Derek Spalding, CBC News Ottawa, July 6, 2017

Uber passengers in a handful of Canadian cities can now tip their favourite drivers as the ride-hailing company rolls out its new gratuity feature.

The tipping option, which was first introduced in select U.S. cities earlier this year, is part of a new package of features Uber is introducing to its phone app. The ability to tip was by far the No. 1 request from both drivers and passengers, says company spokesperson Susie Heath.

Orléans residents still feeling effects of spring landslides - Ottawa - CBC News

By Giacomo Panico, CBC News Ottawa, July 6, 2017

A normally quiet and tranquil section of nature trails in Orléans is unrecognizable these days as a result of a snowy winter and spring landslides that forced the city into emergency action to stabilize soil in the area.

The section of Bilberry Creek near Des Epinettes Avenue — an area better known for hosting songbirds and mature trees — has been bulldozed to make way for heavy machinery needed to build a retaining wall.

Prolific feral felines a 'crisis' for Cornwall, Ont., neighbourhood - Ottawa - CBC News

By CBC News Ottawa, July 6, 2017

An eastern Ontario city is trying to reclaim a neighbourhood it says has been taken over by hordes of feral cats that disturb residents and leave the area covered in animal waste.

Those who live on Bergin Avenue in Cornwall, Ont., estimate there are upwards of 50 cats calling the street home, with new litters born every week. They say the street is consistently riddled with cat feces and urine as well as newborn kittens and numerous cat fights.

Feds want to cut taxi bill by abandoning paper chit payments - Politics - CBC News

By Dean Beeby, CBC News Ottawa, July 7, 2017

Canada's taxi industry is facing more pressure to modernize as the federal government looks for ways to cut its multimillion-dollar cab tab.

Most public servants are currently issued taxi chits, paper tickets filled out by hand – a system dating back to the Second World War.

Hanif PatniHanif Patni is president of Coventry Connections, an Ottawa taxi dispatch company. He says his firm has been in talks for two years about getting rid of 'paper chits.' The cost of ferrying public servants to and from meetings in the Ottawa-area alone is about $11 million annually, with each ride costing an average of $14.50. Every business day, local cabs pick up and drop off more than 3,000 federal workers on average, many headed to the airport.

Snowmobiles, ATVs allowed to use Ottawa Valley rail trail - Ottawa - CBC News

By Trevor Pritchard, CBC News Ottawa, July 7, 2017

Two eastern Ontario counties have decided to allow communities that sit on a proposed multi-use trail to divert snowmobile and ATV traffic into the countryside — as long as the communities foot the bill.

The 296-kilometre trail will be built along a one-time Canadian Pacific Railway corridor that connected Smiths Falls to Mattawa, and which passes through Carleton Place, Almonte, Arnprior, Pembroke and Petawawa.

Judge grants injunction in fight against Chelsea plan to convert tracks to bike trail

Ottawa Citizen

By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, July 6, 2017

A 10-day injunction over conversion of the Wakefield Steam Train’s tracks to a bike trail has left opposing sides arguing over what work is permitted.

Chelsea wants to tear up the old tracks, saying they are damaged beyond repair by repeated washouts and landslides. It wants a bike trail instead, but this has some opposition.

On Wednesday, a judge ruled that for the next 10 days Chelsea and its contractors are limited in what they can do: They can remove rails and ties, but not bring in heavy equipment to level the ground afterwards.

City must “get creative” to pay for O-Train to Riverside South

Ottawa Citizen

By Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen, July 6, 2017

The city must “get creative” if it wants to bring the O-Train all the way to Riverside South, planning boss Steve Willis said Thursday.

Tweaking the proposed extension of the north-south Trillium Line to bring trains almost a kilometre closer to the fast-growing suburb can be done as part of the $3-billion Stage 2 transit program. The future station would move south from a rural area along Bowesville Road to Earl Armstrong Road.

But a further three-kilometre extension to the community’s future town centre at the corner of Earl Armstrong and Limebank roads — which would cost roughly $40 million, including $8 million to $10 million for an additional train — is beyond what the city can afford.

Ottawa tops livability list for second year in a row

Metro Ottawa

By Kieran Delamont, Ottawa Metro News, July 4, 2017

For the second year in a row, Ottawa has been named the best Canadian city to live in by MoneySense magazine.

The ranking’s methodology includes factors such as income, unemployment and taxes.

Ottawa, which scored highly in transit, housing prices and income, beat out 416 other Canadian cities to top the list.

Twelve-storey building proposed for St. Joseph Boulevard in Orléans

OttawaCommunityNews.com

By Brier Dodge, Ottawa Community News, July 5, 2017

Residents from Queenswood Heights have given a developer feedback that they’d rather see something closer to eight storeys, not 12 when the lot at Duford Drive and St. Joseph Boulevard is developed. The development group wants to build a 12-storey building on the lot, with commercial tenants on the main floor, and condos or apartments on the rest of the floors.

In order to build 12 storeys, the developer would have to apply for a zoning change because buildings that high aren’t currently allowed on the site. But it’s only about 600 metres from a future light rail station, and the city’s plans call for more intensification close to LRT stations, which means the company can apply for the change.

Moose relocated after ending up in Orléans yard

CTV Ottawa News

By CTV News Ottawa, July 5, 2017

It wasn’t what Al and Leona Ritchie expected to wake up to: a moose in their Orléans backyard.“There was a moose prancing around and having breakfast on our cedar hedges,” said Leona Ritchie.

Officials estimated the moose to be two years old and around 600 lbs. Ottawa Police and NCC conservation officers were called to the yard in an area off Jeanne D’Arc Blvd. and the 174 to tranquilize the moose and relocate it to the Greenbelt.

They believe the moose arrived during the night and was in search of food. Officials treated a cut on its leg and tagged it before it was released back into the woods.

City planners back 24-storey tower on Richmond Road - Ottawa - CBC News

By CBC News Ottawa, July 5, 2017

City of Ottawa planners say they support a proposal to increase the height of a building complex on the site of Kristy's restaurant in Carlingwood from 19 to 24 storeys, despite opposition from residents.

The scale of the proposed development at 809 Richmond Rd. has been contentious in the Carlingwood neighbourhood since it was originally presented as two 16-storey towers. (...)Now Kristy's restaurant has come back with a third proposal, one with a five-storey base and a single 24-storey — or 75-metre tall — eastern tower. The zoning for that area has a height limit of 20 metres.

The proposed complex would have retail on the ground floor with 240 residential units above, and an underground garage providing access to 137 parking spaces and 132 bicycle stalls.

City planners recommend council amend the zoning bylaw to permit the building, arguing the location about 200 metres from the future Cleary Light Rail Transit station and on a traditional main street make it a prime area for intensification and, therefore, taller structures.