8 minute read
PLANNING
Bank Street Plan approved by City’s Planning Committee
By Carolyn Mackenzie
After three years, the Bank Street Height and Character Study finally made it to Planning Committee where it gained unanimous approval on November 25. Hooray! Next stop is consideration by full City Council.
The Glebe Community Association (GCA) thanks the City for working closely with the GCA, other stakeholders and residents on this plan. In the summer of 2018, after the completion of Lansdowne and approval of a couple of significant developments that are currently under construction on Bank Street, the City agreed the time was right – the Glebe was a target for development and intensification, and a plan to guide its future was needed. The result is a plan that includes policies on height and massing that are more tailored to the unique characteristics of Bank Street as well as adjacent lots on Chamberlain and Isabella.
The Plan
The plan seeks a balance – adding density in some areas to contribute to a more vibrant Bank Street while also including measures to “sculpt” buildings in a way that should better maintain the pedestrian scale and street character. It puts in place policies to improve how mixed-use buildings (commercial on the first floor, office or residential above) transition to the residential properties that they back onto. It also establishes policies for the street itself. Bank Street is categorzed as a “Traditional Mainstreet.” Currently, most of Bank Street has a “right of way” (public land used for sidewalks, roads, bike lanes, landscaping, etc.) of roughly 18.5 metres. This is among the narrowest of Traditional Mainstreets in the city. This plan will allow the city to take an additional 1 to 1.25 metres in front of any new redevelopment to expand the right of way, making room for wider sidewalks or other public uses. The plan also calls for the city-owned parking lot at the corner of Chamberlain and Bank Street to be used for affordable housing. The GCA will continue to work with the City to find solutions for how to make this happen.
The Model Helped
Many residents visited the GCA’s presentation of a physical model of the City’s recommendations in the fall of 2020. The model was built by GCA volunteer Richard Corbeil. I found it very useful to visualize what Bank Street could look like in the future based on the City’s recommendations, and I believe others did as well. It provided a much more effective basis for residents to give informed feedback to the City, and possibly even for city planners to “see” what the result of their recommendations might eventually look like. So a big shout out of thanks to Corbeil for this. The City should consider greater use of modelling – if not a physical model, then greater use of visual modelling tools – to engage with
The Bank Street Height and Character Study and the plan that resulted from it benefited greatly from the physical model of what Bank Street would look like with the proposed policies. The model was painstakingly created by Glebe volunteer Richard Corbeil.
residents more effectively in future.
To be clear, the community didn’t get everything it asked for: for example, stronger measures to improve the transition from mixed-use buildings to residential areas and building stepbacks at three storeys to better establish human scale. But overall, I think we settled on a plan that will enhance Bank Street for Glebe residents and for all Ottawa residents who work, shop or play here.
It is our hope that adoption of this plan, with clearer rules that are the result of consultation with residents, owners of land on Bank Street, the Glebe BIA and other stakeholders, will ease the way for good development of underutilized land, including a number of surface parking lots fronting the street – but only if the city is prepared to stand behind it in future.
The GCA would like to thank city planners Alain Miguelez and lead Peter Giles for their effort and commitment to this study, as well as the thoughtful and useful input of Councillor Shawn Menard and his staff all along the way.
Carolyn Mackenzie is chair of the Glebe Community Association Planning Committee and one of the chief community crafters of the plan.
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My animal disposal career
By Mary Kathryn Dunlop
Afriend of mine recently found a dead bird on her driveway. Unlike most of us who would likely throw the bird in the garbage, possibly without even bagging it, my friend hesitated and thought the issue through. She did not wish to breach any public health guidelines pertaining to disposal of dead animals, even a small bird that is low on the food chain.
A couple of incidents involving animal carcasses have hardened me, so I was amused by the consideration my friend afforded a dead bird.
Driving on Highway 15, my husband and I once saw with dismay that a dog was lying on the side of the road. I persuaded my husband to stop the car. The dog was dead, but I worried that children might get off the school bus and find their beloved pet. We got a blanket from the trunk of the car and fashioned a makeshift stretcher to carry the dog up the long driveway of the nearest house and deliver the sad news to the dog’s owner.
“Not our dog. Never seen that dog before.”
We carried the dog back to where we found him. My husband declined to try other houses. Reluctantly we left the dog at the side of the road and drove away.
We live on the river. Those familiar with the Rideau know it has an inimitable scent, but the odour that June was more pungent than usual. One hot summer day, I finally found the source – it was a ripe and rotting raccoon carcass lodged under the dock.
“After all it is Father’s Day,” said my husband as he handed me a bucket and shovel.
It took me a while to gather the bits of the racoon into the pail. Gagging, I gave the remains of Rocky a burial in the backyard, but it was by no means a spiritual ceremony.
I declined to take the raccoon’s tail. One of my regrets in life is that I did not take the tails from raccoons I found as roadkill over the years. I entertained this idea when I bought my first car and travelled the roads of Western Ontario as a child welfare officer. Had I followed up, I likely could have wallto-wall raccoon carpeting throughout my house by now.
When I now see a dead animal on the road, I drive or walk around it. If I find a small creature (bird or chipmunk proportions), I bag it and throw it in the garbage. If it is medium-sized (squirrel), I bury it in the yard. If it is larger C M (raccoon or ground hog), I call the city. Mercifully I don’t find that many dead animals. Y
My friend is less cavalier than I and CM did not throw the bird away. Wearing MY disposable gloves, she carefully placed CY the bird in a plastic bag and telephoned the city to ask for advice on disposal CMY protocol. The officer on the other end K of the line indicated that the city would pick up bodies of larger animals but generally did not pick up birds.
“Maybe the Humane Society could help?”
The Humane Society was sympathetic and told my friend to bring the bird to their offices and they would dispose of the remains. They shared her concerns about public health but were also concerned that the bird be handled with respect.
When my friend told me her story, of course I joked. After all, it wasn’t as though it was her pet bird. I am ashamed to admit that I am that kind of person.
“Will they cremate the bird? What if they cremate the bird in tandem with some unclaimed cats? Will there
be a ceremony? Did they invite you to attend?” But then I stopped, and I was grateful for people like my friend and the officer at the Humane Society, grateful that there are still people who care and respect each other and all living things. M. Kathryn Dunlop lives in Ottawa.GMSElemAdGR19BW.pdf 3 2019-10-18 3:52 PM
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