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Home
HCA Annual General Meeting
Hintonburg Community Centre
1064 Wellington Street, Ottawa
6:30 pm – doors and membership table open
7:00 pm – AGM, reports from the Board of Directors, election of new Board, open forum
President’s Message
The past year has been a very active one for the HCA. On every front – zoning, arts, security, special events, supervising a summer student and more – our volunteers have been putting in a fantastic effort to help ensure a vibrant, safe and prosperous community for everyone. I was very proud to work with our committee chairs and volunteers on some special initiatives around security.
The public actions of last summer, and the tireless lobbying of our security committee members of politicians at various levels, in addition to our ongoing work with city officials and agencies, will likely be a model for other communities across the country facing law and safety issues. A spate of new developments that were proposed for our neighborhood in the past two years are either finished or nearer completion as real buildings and homes. Buildings like the one at 45 Spencer and the Currents are a testament to the results of cooperation between developers and the community.
Our volunteers remain active as more builders seek to work in Hintonburg, drawn by its fast-growing reputation for a balance of arts, culture, commerce and living. The always-tough job of working more closely with the many small business owners in our community remains. I hope in the coming year, under a new president and board, that that outreach will continue, My term as president expires at the end of September, and I would like to thank our generous and hard-working board of directors for their efforts -- of which they should be very proud.
To the numerous members of the community who have made my term such a wonderful experience, my sincere appreciation.
Jeff Leiper
HCA Annual Report to the Community
Arts
This last year has seen Hintonburg's QUAD arts district initiative flourish. The HCA staged its second one-day ArtsPark in May with more entertainment, increased artist representation and better attendance. The event was marketed more widely with thousands of promotional items distributed throughout the city and media coverage was extensive. The QUADVIEW photo contest linked to ArtsPark went online at the Hipster and Poser website and the top entries were also displayed at the new Pukka Gallery in combination with a special weekend exhibit of work from a former Hintonburg resident and a gallery talk. Thanks to the generous support of sponsors and volunteers, ArtsPark turned a small profit which will be reinvested in the community. Monthly movie nights at the community centre (winter through mid-summer) drew many families and Salamander Theatre attracted a "best-ever" crowd to Hintonburg Park in July for their Shakespeare Young Company's performance of Much Ado About Nothing.
Overall, interest from the cultural community in the QUAD has been strong and another new gallery is scheduled to open here in the fall. Alliances with groups such as Creative Neighbourhoods is helping to further develop the cultural fabric of Hintonburg and the HCA Arts Committee has set an ambitious agenda for creating greater visibility over the next year. More information about the QUAD is available at www.hintonburg.com, the HCA website.
Gardening
The Gardening Committee continued its good work on the gardens of the Hintonburg community centre. This included the replacement of flowers and maintenance of the front garden, thinning and replanting day lilies to the back gardens and hiring Asaad Saikley to water this summer. We thank him!
Future plans include the expansion of flowerbeds at the back of the HCC – but we need more volunteers! If you would like to lend your green thumb, your aching back or donate your divided perennials, please give us a call. The Gardening Committee would also like to participate in the City of Ottawa’s Heritage Trees Project. Thanks again to all who have participated in the past. Your efforts are growing!!
Heritage
Heritage Walking tours were offered during ArtsPark and as one of the series of neighbourhood walking tours sponsored by Heritage Otttawa. Our summer student carried out research on buildings and properties which will be useful in updating our walking tour.
Through its Heritage Designation Program, the City is asking community groups to identify buildings that may be worth of designation and the Heritage Committee would like to make this a priority project for the coming year. More information will be available at the AGM.
Membership
As of June 2005 Hintonburg Community Association has 418 paid households. This includes 756 people who live, work, or own property in Hintonburg. For more membership information or to volunteer with any of our committees call the phone line at 798-8741 or contact us at www. hintonburg.com. Most people join or renew their membership in the HCA at the Annual General Meeting but we have collected memberships at other activities in the community, such as Community Day, Craft Fair and ArtsPark. If you have an interest or skill in a particular area or just want to be part of vibrant volunteer group in a great community, we always welcome volunteers.
Security
What a difference a year can make! Over this last year Police, City Staff, Councillor Little and the community have intensively worked together to try to find short term and long term solutions to problem properties in the community. A little over a year ago the Task Force on Problem Properties was started to address short term solutions and in February the Hintonburg Safety Partnership was formed to try to find strategies for long term solutions.
Last summer we lobbied to keep and expand funding for the Detox Centre – the province has agreed to do both. We also added our voices to the call for a Drug Court for Ottawa – the Federal Government has announced that Ottawa will get a Drug Court - it will start in January 2006 and Rideauwood (on Parkdale) will provide the addictions program for this court.
Other activities: presented to Police Services Board in November, presented to the Federal Justice Sub-Committee on Solicitation Laws in the winter; took the Members of Parliament from that Sub-Committee on 2 hr walkabout in the community; have made representation on some City by-law harmonizations.
The network of residents and businesses that was created last summer and fall through the Harmony in Hintonburg Walks has been vital to continuing to improve the community. Early reporting of problems can sometimes lead to solutions before things get too far. Several of the houses that have been problems for years have been sold over the last year – most of those have resulted in positive changes. A huge thanks to the hundreds of residents and businesses that participated in these efforts, to our elected representatives at all levels, Police and City staff for partnering to help create a safe community.
Traffic
The Traffic Committee dealt with the provincial study of the Queensway and City plans for road reconstruction. Parkdale Avenue is under way and the work will continue in 2006. Gladstone Avenue (Melrose to Booth) will be next, with the design work starting this fall and winter. The goal is to begin construction in spring/summer 2006. Wellington Street from Western Avenue to Hilda Street is on the list for preliminary engineering work in 2006, subject to budget approval. Funds for construction would only be requested in 2007 or later.
Zoning
The Zoning Committee is concerned with ensuring that any new development is compatible with our community and enhances our neighbourhoods, We are also deeply involved in trying to improve city policies that determine what is built in Hintonburg and in the City at large.
In the past year, we considered many smaller development-related infill projects, as well as several major ones, providing comments to the City and appearing at hearings as community advocates, Major developments included the "Currents" building that will be built at Holland and Wellington, where the GCTC's new home will be, and a new 8-storey residential building at Parkdale and Spencer. We were able to get major changes in both these buildings, including space for the GCTC and a much-reduced bulk in the Currents, and a much better street-level presence in the building at Spencer.
Currently, we are working hard to ensure that another proposed development, on Holland south of Wellington, is compatible with the nearby residential area and protects an important tree on the lot line. At the city-wide level, the HCA appealed the City's new Official Plan to the Ontario Municipal Board, seeking changes that would make it more protective of existing communities like ours. We have obtained many of the changes we sought in pre-hearing mediation with the City, and the appeal should be settled soon, with most of what we wanted. A new Zoning Bylaw for the whole City is currently being developed, and the HCA has a representative on the public advisory committee. We will be working hard to keep appropriate residential and commercial zoning for Hintonburg.
Finally, a large planning study of the portion of the community near Bayview and the Light Rail is being started by the City, which will determine what can be built in this corridor. The Zoning Committee will be working to ensure that the results are good for our community, We are also working with other area groups on initiatives to improve our main streets and commercial areas. The Zoning Committee, which generally meets on the 3rd Monday of the month, always welcomes new members.
This is the official site of the
Hintonburg Community Association. Contact us by email or leave a message at (613)
798-7987 or write to us at 1064 Wellington, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada,
K1Y 2Y3
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