Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

No plans to fix bus travel within Kanata: Manconi

By Jessica Cunha, Ottawa Community News, February 6, 2017

John Manconi, general manager of the city’s transportation services, said OC Transpo has no plans to fix bus travel within Kanata during a meeting on Feb. 2.

A number of Morgan’s Grant and Briarbrook residents criticized the lack of bus options to get from one end of Kanata to another. In order for Dmitry Elman’s children to travel from Shirley’s Brook to the intersection of Katimavik and Castlefrank roads, “they need to go through Bayshore. There is no other way to travel (there),” he said. “My kids travel to Kanata south six days a week. They stopped using the bus completely.”

Presentation on amphibians in Almonte

By Cheryl Morris-Putnam, Ottawa Community News, February 6, 2017

On Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m., the Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists (MVFN) will host the fifth presentation in their natural history series “Wild Creature Close-Ups.” This event will take place in the Social Hall of Almonte United Church, 106 Elgin St., in Almonte.

The guest speaker for the evening is an experienced naturalist, painter, and author, Peter Mills, with his presentation entitled “Metamorphosis: Changing the Way We Look at Amphibians.”

Plan for rapid transit corridor could cause problems for seniors: Chiarelli

By Jennifer McIntosh, Ottawa Community News, February 6, 2017

The proposed transit corridor from Baseline to Heron will have an unexpected benefit — moving private cars along the road — said College Coun. Rick Chiarelli.

The city’s transportation committee gave the green light for the $148-million, 14-kilometre project on Feb. 1.While the plan would shave about six minute off bus riders’ commutes, residents are concerned about increased walking distances to bus stops.

Report on plans for Phase 2 of LRT pushed back - Ottawa - CBC News

By Joanne Chianello, CBC News Ottawa, February 6, 2017

A report on the plans for the second phase of LRT scheduled to be made public Monday will be delayed by almost two weeks.

City council's finance and economic development committee was to meet on Feb. 13, meaning that the agenda, and its related reports, would be posted to the city's website one week earlier, as per provincial rules.

However, on Friday, city officials confirmed the meeting would be pushed back to Feb. 24, which means the report on Phase 2 of LRT won't be made public until Feb. 17.

High costs of licensing in Ottawa doesn’t encourage new patios

Ottawa Citizen

By David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen, February 6, 2017

A final report on how to get more pubs and restaurants to open patios in Ottawa is due at city hall this month, but it won’t include talk of lowering permit prices that are 10 times what Toronto charges.

We’ve learned some things about patios by trying out more little narrow ones on Elgin Street the past couple of years, and now we want to put those lessons to use. We’re writing a whole new bylaw specifically for patios. The new rules are expected to preserve wider corridors for pedestrians to get past and to restrict sandwich-board advertising, while allowing patios to be away from a restaurant’s front door (if there’s enough room) and permitting umbrellas to extend over a sidewalk as long as they’re high enough.

Today’s letters: Tree-cutting in winter and its impact on animals

Ottawa Citizen

By Donna Dubreuil and others, Ottawa Citizen Letters to the Editor, February 6, 2017

In Kanata, the city is failing our wildlife

Re: Wildlife group, developer clash over city’s rules for tree-cutting, Jan. 31.

Ottawa Coun. David Chernushenko indicates that city experts have assured him that clear-cutting in winter does not contravene a protocol at city hall for the protection of wildlife during construction. He states “our own experts and the people who developed the protocol have assured me that there is nothing about doing it now in January that is worse than other times of year.”

The protocol states: “The timing of site clearing should be carefully considered, because the impacts to wildlife will be greater during sensitive times of the year. During the winter, overwintering and hibernating wildlife may be physically unable to escape from the site, or may freeze or starve to death if forced to leave their dens and food caches.”

Expect freezing rain, snow this week, Environment Canada says

Ottawa Citizen

By Ottawa Citizen, February 5, 2017

Commuters can expect to face another wintry mix this week, as Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for the region. Accumulating snow and freezing rain are possible for Central and Eastern Ontario, the agency says, and freezing rain could last for several hours Tuesday.

A low-pressure area brewing in the Southern Plains States is expected to deepen as it tracks northeast towards Southern Ontario early this week, bringing a “significant precipitation event.”

UPDATE: Qadri responds to bus service complaints

StittsvilleCentral.ca

By StittsvilleCentral, February 3, 2017

Councillor Shad Qadri posted some comments about OC Transpo service in his weekly newsletter today.

Highlights:

A double-decker bus will be added to the 4:00 p.m. trip on Route 261 starting in April.

Overall, most morning trips are taking three minutes longer to reach downtown than they did before Christmas.

Scheduled times for all routes are being adjusted based on up-to-date actual observations.

Ottawa Riverkeeper asks residents to lay off the salt

By Jennifer McIntosh, Ottawa Community News, February 3, 2017

The Ottawa Riverkeeper is asking us to lighten up on salting our roadways.

As the temperatures plummet and it gets harder and harder to navigate safely, city road crews turn to rock salt to keep traffic moving safely, but the environmental advocacy group is asking individuals to pitch and lay off the salt where possible.

“Obviously the cars have to be able to get traction on the roads and that’s a safety concern,” Meaghan Murphy, a senior scientist for the Ottawa Riverkeeper said. “But there are alternatives and road salt and chemical de-icer can do a lot of damage.”

Feds give money to cities to prepare for what climate change may bring

Metro Ottawa

By Ryan Tumilty, Ottawa Metro News, February 3, 2017

The federal government announced funding Thursday to help municipalities deal with rising flood waters, higher fuel costs and an increased risk of forest fires.

Split between two programs that will both be managed by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), the $125 million is meant to help municipalities do flood mapping and mitigation and to find ways to reduce green house gas emissions in their fleets.

“By enabling municipalities to plan, build and maintain their infrastructure most strategically, communities will be better positioned to make their infrastructure dollars go further with a lighter environmental footprint,” Minister Amarjeet Sohi said in announcing the funding.

Piece of the farm: Looking at the string of proposals for the Central Experimental Farm

Metro Ottawa

By Ryan Tumilty, Ottawa Metro News, February 2, 2017

Ottawa’s Central Experimental Farm has been a 1,055-acre oasis in the heart of the city since 1886

.But its central location has also made it a target for a host of development ideas.

Using an existing access to information request, Metro obtained all the proposals that Agriculture Canada has received for a piece of the farm since 2005.

The list of requests for farm land have included some well-known and well-publicized ideas, including a new Ottawa Civic Hospital, the Baseline Transitway proposal and a National Botanical Garden.

It also included less well-known ideas: wind turbines, a climate-change research centre and a community garden.

Building a central library at Pimisi Station: The location debate we didn't have - Ottawa - CBC News

By Joanne Chianello, CBC News Ottawa, February 2, 2017

Over the past weeks, the public discussion over where to build a new central library has concentrated on just two of the three short-listed sites released late last year, plus one red-herring argument over Confederation Park.

That Ottawa Public Library and city staff would defend their choice of the city-owned land at 557 Wellington St., which was approved at Tuesday night's marathon library board meeting, is no surprise. Nor is it a shock that many residents who currently use the main branch at Laurier Avenue and Metcalfe Street argue the library's preferred site is too far outside the city's core.