MINUTES
GCA Board Meeting
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Chair: Laura Smith, President
Secretary and timekeeper: Janet Mayhew
Board members present: Laura Smith, June Creelman, John Crump, Janet Mayhew, Ahmed Ibrahim, Angus McCabe, Della Wilkinson, William Price, Elizabeth Ballard, Janna Rinaldi, Carmen Sanchez, Carolyn Mackenzie, Dan Chook Reid, Rochelle Handelman, Vaughn Guy, Christina Honeywell-Dobin, Andrew Marquis, Judy Wilson, Sue Stefko, Cassandra Church
Others present: Jonathan McLeod, Liz McKeen, Bhagwant Sandhu, Bob Monaghan, Jay Miller, Paul Wu, Monica Fathallah, Simone Bardonner
Welcome and approval of agenda and minutes:
Laura Smith opened the meeting with an Indigenous land acknowledgement.
The agenda was revised to add an update from the Transportation Committee and an update from the Planning Committee.
Motion to approve the agenda was put forward by Della and seconded by Janna.
Minutes
One change to the minutes was received to revise the word ‘multi-storey’ to ‘highrise’.
Motion to approve the minutes from October was put forward by John and seconded by Carolyn.
Report from the Councillor:
Jonathan McLeod from Councillor Shawn Menard’s office provided an update on the following items:
- City budget
- Bank St. Height and Character study
- Future of Bank St / transportation
- Lansdowne trees
Committee updates, motions, Q&A:
Health, Housing & Social Services update:
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- The Bottleworks project has been a great success and Dan thanked Board members for their contributions. This initiative will continue on the third Saturday of each month.
- The GCA had an opportunity to show support for a bill asking the province of Ontario to give more autonomy to municipalities regarding the location and distribution of cannabis retailers in their community.
- The committee has been partnering with the Centretown Community Association and their Affordable Housing Working Group which has been a great opportunity for brainstorming, dreaming and learning.
- Cannabis stores: an urgent motion was presented via email in between the October and November meetings that required action. The motion was carried. Please refer to the details at the end of this document.
Transportation Committee update:
- The committee is considering engaging a consultant to do a study of pedestrian and cycling conditions in the Glebe, and to develop a plan to target key deficiencies. Funding will be required.
- The plans for reconstruction and reconfiguration of Pretoria Avenue from Metcalfe St. to Bank St. were reviewed with a view to providing comments to the city project manager.
- The work done by the Mutchmor/Corpus Christi parent safety committee on safety improvements in the vicinity of the schools was presented for discussion. The Committee supported the efforts.
- Discussion re: ongoing efforts to get highway noise barriers along the 417 through the Glebe.
- The City’s scooter pilot project was discussed.
- The Committee spent considerable time discussing Bronson Ave, and the next steps in the audit that was conducted in the Spring. With respect to the proposal, the Committee generally felt that the impact of the proposal on traffic on Bronson would be negligible, but that there were specific improvements that should be targeted.
Planning Committee update:
- The committee discussed the Bank St Height and Character study, including the affordable housing element and the methodology that went into the study.
- Following the board’s approval of contributing $5,000 for legal fees regarding the proposed development at Bronson and Carling, the committee is preparing a policy about future funding related to proposed developments.
- Carolyn is also preparing a draft conflict of interest policy for the GCA.
Items for Discussion:
Draft communications protocol: the draft document was circulated to Board members in advance of the meeting for review.
Janna indicated to Board members that the focus would be communications with Glebe residents. Objective is to ensure that communications remain objective and that we look at what’s in scope.
A few questions were raised regarding targeted email blasts, identifying a subset of our mailing list, criteria to be used. A suggestion was made to develop standard messaging to send when we receive requests to share information or promote something.
Board members agreed to add this to the agenda for our January meeting.
Fundraising for women’s residence: Cassandra notified Board members that she was leading an initiative to raise funds for the women’s residence that was affected by a fire in the winter of 2020. A GoFundMe account was created to help the women who lived in the residence. In addition, gift cards were being purchased to hand out to the women. She encouraged Board members to support this initiative in any way possible.
President’s Report:
Laura provided updates on the following topics:
- Mutchmor ice skating rink is likely not happening this year
- Committee reports are welcome in advance of meetings to share the important work being done in the community.
- In-person vs. virtual meetings: Board members are encouraged to reach out to Laura to share any concerns.
Adjournment:
Rochelle made a motion to adjourn the meeting, which was seconded by John. Motion carried. Laura adjourned the meeting.
Urgent motions passed since October meeting:
In November, the GCA received a last minute notification that there was an opportunity to show our support for a Bill asking the province of Ontario to give more autonomy to municipalities regarding the location and distribution of cannabis retailers in their community.
For the past few years, we have heard concerns from community members regarding the clustering of cannabis stores and looking to see what our best way forward may be. COVID-19 has proved to be difficult on many small businesses and is changing the landscape of main streets all over Ontario. It is our hope that this Bill would help to continue to keep Bank Street lively, diverse and vibrant.
In keeping with the GCA’s process to deal with urgent matters that arise between meetings, the Board voted by email on this motion. The motion passed.
Motion: Cannabis Retail and Municipalities
Whereas the legalization of cannabis has led to an influx of cannabis applications in the Glebe;
Whereas the AGCO (Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario) currently has no regulations regarding the clustering of Cannabis stores;
Whereas municipalities are currently prevented from making decisions about the location or number of licenses in any area;
Whereas COVID-19 has proved to be difficult on many small businesses and changed the landscape of main streets all over Ontario;
Therefore may it be resolved that the GCA request Ontario municipalities have greater control in the location and distribution of private cannabis retailers in their community.