BMW dealership parks plans to pave over neighbouring forest

By Céleste Dicaire, CBC News Ottawa

After months of community pushback, an Ottawa car dealership has parked its plan to expand into a nearby forest.

Otto's BMW had requested to extend its parking lot over approximately 1.57 hectares of the nearby forest at 400 Hunt Club Rd. because the dealership was dealing with space issues, and needs more room to store and park cars. 

The dealership has now voluntarily paused its zoning bylaw amendment application, which was set to go before Ottawa city council on Sept. 9, as it assesses other options.

Find the whole article here.

Buckles: We need modest, mixed housing options everywhere in Ottawa

By Daniel Buckles, Ottawa Citizen, August 13, 2021

...Ottawa’s draft Official Plan calls for a new urban form — dubbed 613 Flats — to house the city’s growing human population, while also increasing affordability and sustainability. It is a collection of seven housing designs, each with a total of six rooms including the bathroom, that could be built in mature neighbourhood while respecting the required amenity space, trees, soft landscaping and neighbourhood context.

It seems unlikely, however, that the house going up behind me takes this work into account. Modest homes and small, multi-family units have no visibility in the public discussion on the Official Plan and few policy supports in the draft. So far, Ottawa’s builders, architects, landscapers and the wealthy for whom they build have shown remarkably little imagination in regards to questions of housing diversity and greening outside of the building envelope, whether it be in new subdivisions or urban infill.

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Pellerin: When it comes to fighting climate change, we need to change targets

By Brigitte Pellerin, Ottawa Citizen

When I think about the “code red” warning from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change working group, I imagine heat waves like the one we recently had as summer’s cooler days. I don’t know how we’ll deal with lows in the mid-20s. But I do know we’ll be stuck dealing with them because we can’t seem to get our act together on emissions.

...May I suggest switching targets to municipal governments? They’re certainly easier to reach, and as it happens the city of Ottawa has already declared a climate emergency in 2019.

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Ottawa organization gives away record number of trees, as city fights worsening heatwaves

By Ben Andrews, CBC News Ottawa, August 13, 2021

Ecology Ottawa is seeing record demand for tree seedlings at its annual giveaways this year, as it says efforts to limit the effect of worsening heat waves are gaining momentum across the city.

The non-profit environmental advocacy group said it's given away more than 9,400 seedlings so far — well over what it gave away in the same period, before the pandemic, in 2019.

..."Trees do so many different things," said Robb Barnes, executive director of Ecology Ottawa.

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Logements communautaires «net zéro» à Overbrook: aide supplémentaire du fédéral

Par Gáelle Kanyeba, Le Droit, le 10 aoút

Les résidents du 197-203 chemin Presland, dans le quartier d’Overbrook à Ottawa, sont les premiers dans tout le pays à participer depuis le printemps 2020 à un projet pilote de rénovations des maisons à loyer modique, qui réduisent la consommation d’énergie des locataires afin qu’ils en produisent autant qu’ils en consomment. Le fameux objectif «net zéro».


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For the sake of our climate, we need to dial back what we eat and consume

By Ralph Martin, National Observer

...

J.B. MacKinnon, with reference to his book, The Day the World Stops Shopping, noted overconsumption surpassed overpopulation as the greatest driver of our eco-crises in about 2000. Even if population peaks and declines to seven billion by 2100, a decrease of one billion from today, overconsumption is racing to trump any ecological gains from slower rates of population increase.

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Plus de 100 000 Canadiens ont reçu un rabais du fédéral pour l’acquisition d’un véhicule électrique

Par Paul-Robert Raymond, Le Soleil

En juillet 2021, plus de 100 000 Canadiens ont reçu un rabais maximal de 5000 $ pour l’achat ou la location d’un véhicule électrique, en vertu du programme Incitatifs pour l’achat de véhicules zéro émission (iVZE) du gouvernement fédéral.

Le ministre des Transports, Omar Alghabra, en a fait l’annonce lors d’un point de presse jeudi matin à Markham, en Ontario. Ces 100 000 véhicules électrifiés auraient contribué à réduire de 352 000 tonnes les émissions de gaz à effet de serre par année. Ce qui représenterait assez d’énergie pour alimenter plus de 991 000 foyers pendant un an.


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Pellerin: Cutting down mature Ottawa trees is a truly dumb idea

By Brigitte Pellerin, Ottawa Citizen Op-Ed,

....You’ve no doubt heard the story of the luxury car dealership wanting to cut down majestic, mature trees off Hunt Club Road not far from the airport to build a parking lot. And of course knowing how this city operates, you can bet it’ll happen, despite all the opposition we can muster. Then there’s the other trees and green spaces we’re similarly going to massacre near the site of the new Civic hospital campus to build an above-ground parking garage.

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Air quality statement issued for Ottawa area; those exposed warned to take precautions

By Ottawa Citizen staff,

The active wildfires in northwestern Ontario have led to an Environment Canada air quality statement for the Ottawa area.

“If you or those in your care are exposed to wildfire smoke, consider taking extra precautions to reduce your exposure,” the statement read. “Wildfire smoke is a constantly-changing mixture of particles and gases which includes many chemicals that can be harmful to your health.”

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Wallace, Mackenzie and Hill: Let's include 'walkability' in future plans for Ottawa

By Janet Mark Wallace, Carolyn Mackenzie, Rosaline Hill, Ottawa Citizen, June 24, 2021

The City of Ottawa’s draft Official Plan forecasts that Ottawa’s existing neighbourhoods will increase in population by roughly 50 per cent over the next 25 years. As we await the second draft of the plan, many people are wondering how all the new housing will fit in.

Walkable Ottawa, founded in May 2020, seeks to answer this very question. It advocates for low-rise infill intensification that makes neighbourhoods better; gives more space to people and less to automobiles; more to trees and less to paving; more to walkable amenities and no more at all to big-box stores. This is a vision of added population making our neighbourhoods safer, more interesting and more inclusive.


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Coun. Jan Harder leaves planning committee in light of integrity probe

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen

Jan Harder stepped down from the planning committee Wednesday as the veteran city councillor criticized an integrity report that accused her of having an “apparent conflict of interest” stemming from her friendly connection to a local developer.

...The Federation of Citizens’ Associations of Ottawa, Ecology Ottawa, Horizon Ottawa and Ottawa ACORN called for Harder’s removal from the planning committee, as recommended by the integrity commissioner.


Find the whole article here.

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