Chair, GCA Parks Committee

Notwithstanding delays due in part to the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020-2022 and resulting supply chain issues, construction of the newly created parkette at 625 O’Connor Street at Fifth Avenue next to Fire Station Number 12 in the Glebe is set to begin in the Spring and Summer of 2022. Having pushed for the creation of [...]

After a two-year pandemic hiatus, the GCA Parks Committee was pleased to renew its efforts to mobilize grassroots community energy to help out in keeping our neighbourhood’s city parks clean and safe as part of the City’s Spring Cleaning the Capital programme. On Saturday, May 14, 2022, park clean-ups were undertaken across the Glebe.

The GCA Parks Committee continued its work in the winter and spring of 2022 on the City’s current Parkland Dedication By-law Review and Replacement process as part of a broader inter-community effort organized through the Federation of Community Associations (FCA): the Parkland Dedication - FCA Working Group. The fundamental goal of this work is to [...]

At its October 26, 2021 meeting, the GCA Board passed a Parks Committee motion which urged that the City, in its consideration of a project proposed at 770 and 774 Bronson Avenue, and other like it, continue in good faith to work to ensure that new developments be approved that: - are consistent with the [...]

The city is almost ready to break ground on the planned parkette at the corner of Fifth and O’Connor (next to the Fire Station Number 12). The designs, including the idea that this be a park centred on the needs of senior citizens in particular, take into account ideas articulated by the committee and the [...]

In June, the GCA Board passed a Parks Committee motion to provide the City of Ottawa with its feedback on the City of Ottawa’s first-ever combined Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan (PRFMP) in support of the new Official Plan (OP). The draft PRFMP contains recommendations about new and existing parks and recreation facilities to [...]

In the draft Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan (which is going to the Community and Protective Services Committee and City Council in September, 2021 for approval) City staff are recommending that pickleball court lines be added on all existing and new public tennis courts. In June, the GCA Board passed a Parks Committee [...]

Due to provincial health measures forbidding larger gatherings in parks, the Spring Parks Clean-Ups planned on the weekend of May 15, 2021 did not go ahead. We look forward to renewing our Fall and Spring cleanups as physical distancing measures are relaxed.  

In April, the GCA Parks Committee reported to the GCA Board the committee's majority position opposing on principle any permanent or seasonal commercial project in City-owned or NCC-owned Glebe parks, including the proposed Bistro at Patterson Creek Park, subject to a full and extensive engagement in meaningful consultation by the City and/or the NCC with [...]

Parks have played an important role in enabling residents to get outside for fresh air and exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic. This has understandably increased the amount of park use and take-out waste, and consequently garbage overflow, in park garbage containers. The GCA approved a Parks Committee motion in April asking that the City establish [...]