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Two municipal rockets have been launched in Hintonburg: a first-ever Neighbourhood Plan and a Community Design Plan. The latter is related to infrastructure replacement; the former is an outgrowth of the City's Official Plan (Ottawa 20/20) and several companion documents. Both are on short journeys through our part of Ottawa and both give all of us a chance to greatly influence what our neighbourhood will be like for the foreseeable future.
The Community Design Plan is related to the renewal of the Wellington "Main" Street -- sewers, sidewalks, etc extending from Western Avenue to Breezehill Street -- in 2008. The Neighbourhood Plan will focus on Hintonburg and Mechanicsville and include consultation with the adjacent West Wellington area. It will set the tone of all three
neighbourhoods. These plans will be determining factors for what
Wellington Street will look like and feel like. They will establish the
characteristics of our neighbourhoods with potential influence on
zoning, traffic, demographics, transportation, affordability, streetscaping, security
as well as business, retail and cultural behaviours. The City of Ottawa has already begun consultations with community stakeholders so it can take the pulse and tailor the plans to best fit the interests of residents. They are working on both plans simultaneously, within a fairly tight schedule. The forecast is for both plans to go to City Council in the fall of 2007.
Coincidentally, the City also has a study underway that is looking at the impact of the O-Train corridor along Hintonburg's eastern boundary and the possibility of a new station on Gladstone Avenue. (The Hintonburg Community Association believes that the community would be well-served by this new O-Train stop.)
Community issues to be accessed and addressed
The Hintonburg Community Association (HCA) is involved in all of the consultations as are, among other interested parties, the West Wellington Community Association, Creative Neighbourhoods, various business groups and,of course, residents. The HCA has a strong bias towards arts and heritage which it believes should be the cornerstone of planning for Hintonburg.
The City has completed two consultation sessions with community representatives and it has drafted a work plan that includes up to seven more meetings with stakeholders on a range of topics yet to be determined. These interests have already identified issues including streetscaping, greenspace, arts and heritage, transportation, safety, housing and the retail character of the main streets.
Through its active involvement with residents, the HCA has been
gathering opinions on what Wellington Street might feel like at the end
of the construction. Heritage lovers would like to
see the street benefit from sympathetic retrofitting possibly including
some of its historic buildings re-purposed for the arts. The creative
people in Hintonburg's QUAD
arts district want
to see an innovative approach to streetscaping which could include
"parkettes" beautifying vacant lots, concrete art instead of just
sidewalks, above-average light standards and novel approaches to
encouraging a main street that is a pedestrian-friendly, welcoming
meeting place --
all made possible by the City's own policy for a 1% capital projects
budget set-aside for public art. The HCA is wanting to see an outdoor
sculpture "ArtsWalk" developed along Wellington between Parkdale and
Rosemount and
beyond. Businesses along Wellington Street may suffer somewhat during reconstruction of the infrastructure but hope that the results of both plans will be worth the wait. The City clearly wants to work with residents and businesses to "minimize the negative impacts" during the construction phase expected to begin in 2008.
Some people would like to see Wellington itself re-named to prevent confusion with the Centretown thoroughfare. Maybe a return to Richmond Road (East) in honour of the centennial of Hintonburg's amalgamation with the City of Ottawa in 1907?
A communications program will undoubtedly be a feature of the City process and, at this point, three public meetings are on the agenda for next year. Meanwhile, the HCA would like to hear from you.
- Tip: to print his page, choose "landscape" format in print options.
This is the official site of
the Hintonburg Community Association
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