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Golden closure controversy
Sun Jan 6, 2008 Miss Vicky
Miss Vicky has been hearing some rumblings from Westboro regarding the proposed closure of access to Golden Ave from Richmond Road. Andrea from quietfish has posted an interesting description of December's public meeting on the matter. I had heard it was pretty raucous but had no idea of the extent of the divide between the community and the councillor on the matter.... and that they had been told that this proposal came out of a request from the community. They didn't have a site plan at the meeting, but a resident was able to obtain one later . Note the driveway on the left of the diagram, into the new Westboro Exchange development. The closure would permit them to put a ramp to their parking garage on a slice of current greenspace/path that used to be the Byron Tramway And from the sounds of it, the developers want to cram as much parking into the space as possible.
Next week the Committee of Adjustment considers the developers' application for some minor zoning variances, one of which would permit the access to underground parking in the back of the property, from Byron Avenue. This was the original plan for the development. So now, with this so-called "community-initiated" closure of Golden, the ramp at the back has become a driveway jutting through the Byron pathway to Richmond . The people who seem to benefit the most from the closure of Golden are the developers of the Westboro Exchange, who get more square footage and private driveway access to Richmond (do they pay anything for the encroachment onto current public greenspace, I wonder).
There is some interesting debate over on the Westboro Community Association blog. The association's letter to our councillor sums up their concerns - closing Golden is not part of the recently-approved community design plan, it doesn't jive with traffic studies that have been conducted in the area, and the timeline seems more in line with the needs of developers than the interests of a transparent and fair process (to name a few).
Sounds like the Committee of Adjustment meeting on January 16 will be pretty interesting! (Here are the details: 1:00 p.m., Ben Franklin Place, The Chamber, 101 Centrepointe Drive, Ottawa) Miss Vicky will be keeping an eye on the issue; let's see what the councillor decides to do....
UPDATE: Citizen Columnist David Reevely blogged the issue today, and was able to ask Christine Leadman directly about it. Apparently the driveway to Richmond is off the table now, so the Byron entrance to the parking garage stands. The proposal to close Golden is still up in the air, but if it were closed the idea is to extend the tramway and make it a pedestrian walkway. So really the debate now is on the implications of the closure on local traffic. You can read the councillor's email to Reevely in the comments over on the quietfish thread.
Some people were moved to reply
While you're keeping an eye on the issue, keep the other one on the strip mall at Richmond and Carleton -- across from the construction project.
I hear that a development application was approved by City Council for that property in the holiday season, with little or no notice having gone out.
By the way, how long does one have to live in a neighbourhood to earn the right to complain? Just wondering.
This would be the home of the Samosa Hut, yes? We had some discussion about this in another thread - apparently there is or was some sort of notice sent out to neighbours on Western but the community association has heard nothing. So much for more transparency in the development process, eh?
I saw the sign for the Golden Ave proposal. Closing that would be awful. Our guys went to a preschool on Roosevelt and often the only "safe" place to cross Bryon was via Golden as the visibility via Roosevelt was next to nothing anytime the shrubbery had leaves or there was banked snow. Yech.
So, city council granted approval to the construction project on the site of the strip mall. If it's true,things--well, some things--sure do move fast at city hall.
What I was told on the eve of the holidays: that residents and business owners had received notices saying that approval was being sought.
Around here, construction projects are like mushrooms. Because they do seem to pop up without notice.
[Edited By JMG Jan 07, 2008 10:58 AM]
Let's not get ahead of ourselves - council didn't meet over the holidays so they couldn't have approved it. I see nothing in the Dec 18 minutes of the Planning and Environment committee and nothing on the upcoming meeting agenda. There's been no notice posted and we haven't actually seen what the folks on Western got.
Transparent it is not, but I'm not yet convinced the process has been circumvented. Still have some digging to do.
I like the idea of all these condos going up on the main drag - as part of urban intensification. Beats the heck out of paving over our country's prime farmland which is going on in the burbs. Mark my words this area will come to regret it in the near future when the cost of shipping food goes through the roof.
However ...
What pisses me off to no end is that they approve things like the monstrosity at the end of our street in the name of urban intensification. And the one up by Connaught School. That's 1 or 2 extra units. Big deal. Makes no difference. I'm all for doing my part - but do it in the right way for goodness sakes! Leave the older neighbourhoods alone - at least in the back streets. They are already far more dense than the burbs. It doesn't have to be this way.
If I resided in the Golden Avenue area, I would be taking issue not just with the closure of the street but also the elected councilor's autocratic stand.
Our representative at city council should understand best how these residents in Westboro must feel; she ought to just look at her own battle with city staff over parking meters in West Wellington and Hintonburg.
*****
If you oppose parking meters, you can sign a petition at Saslove's butcher shop.
(Yesterday the owner told me that he is trying to put the petition in other West Wellington Street businesses.)
The "strip mall" in question is the home of Istanbouli Shawarma and the Indian grocer -- both businesses my family and I use heavily, so I'm interested to see details of this rumoured decision.
It is also part of the area covered by the Wellington Street West corridor community design plan (CDP) that the city is working on with a group of local residents -- including myself and reps from the West Wellington and Hintonburg CA's. I would want to make sure that the new envelope is in line with the guidelines we're drafting rather than the existing ones.
Oh, and it's really great Shawarma too.
Oh, and on the Golden Ave closure. I'm glad that the ramp is off the table. That's the only part of the plan that would get my goat.
Otherwise, I think converting that small stretch of Golden to a pedestrian pass-through from the business district is not a bad idea at all. That It connects the main business strip to a small "pocket park" that could become a really wonderful little public space - if the city does it right. It also expands the area that could be used for events like WestFest, and connects the cenotaph into the main district. Have you ever been out there on November 11? It's really odd having this moving little ceremony on what is today a traffic island.
Rather than protesting the loss of a small stretch of asphalt (and really, can we ever get enough of that?), I'd put pressure on the city to really do this right.