PARKS COMMITTEE

Parks2025-07-25T12:23:39-04:00
Angus McCabeCommittee Chair

Parks Committee

Welcome to the GCA Parks Committee webpage!

The Glebe, which we gratefully acknowledge to be on Algonquin Anishinaabe Territory, is so fortunate to be home to thirteen, beautiful city-owned parks as well as National Capital Commission (NCC) parks and parkland — a source of daily joy, peace, health, and wonder for residents young and old.

The GCA Parks Committee is passionately committed to serving the Glebe community by advocating for, and facilitating, the preservation, maintenance and improvement of current Glebe (and citywide) parks and other greenspace, as well as the creation of new greenspace in the neighbourhood and beyond. In addition to their creative committee work on behalf of the community as a whole, its members care deeply about their stewardship of the individual parks they represent.

In 2020, the Parks Committee completed its work on the Evergreen Plan for Glebe Parks. The Plan captures much of what the committee has worked on in recent years, and imagines a progressive Parks vision for what still needs to be done now and into the future. The GCA Board approved the Plan at its September 2020 meeting. Among its other ongoing initiatives, the Parks Committee is excited about its efforts to work with and for the community to enact the Plan’s recommendations, all encompassed by our committee’s stated goals above, and as outlined in our mandate below. Please see links below to our mandate and the Evergreen Plan for Parks.

GCA Parks Committee Mandate

Evergreen Glebe Parks Plan October 2020

We invite you to contact us with any ideas and concerns in support of Glebe Area Parks.

Chair: Angus McCabe

angusmccabe1@gmail.com
GCA Parks Email – parks@glebeca.ca

In conjunction with its monthly meetings and representation on the GCA Board, the Parks Committee actively engages in the advancement and follow up on issues on its agenda; these often take the form of reports to, and motions subsequently adopted and approved by, the GCA Board.

The committee meets by Zoom on the second Monday of each month at 7:00 pm, September to June, while remaining active as well during the summer months. To receive a link to our meetings and/or become part of our mailing list to receive monthly agendas and meeting links directly, please email the chair at the addresses above. Here is a link to current and archived agendas:

GCA Parks Committee Meeting Agendas, Current and Archived

GCA Parks Committee Annual Reports:

2021; 2022; 2023; 2024; 2025

Below you can follow recent GCA motions moved by the Parks Committee and approved by the Board, as well as other ongoing items on our agenda:

Committee Minutes/ Reports

Encampments in Glebe Parks

Ottawa, like cities across North America, continues to face a shortage of social housing solutions for its population’s unhoused citizens. Some unhoused citizens, many with underlying health conditions which require additional help, are turning to [...]

Giving Heritage Designations for Parks More Teeth

The GCA Parks Committee is working with representatives of the Lowertown Community Association (LCA) in an effort to give the City’s heritage designations for parks more teeth. Landscaping, maintenance, restoration, rehabilitation and installations (memorial benches [...]

A third call for financial transparency

Subject: Press Release: Lansdowne 2.0 financials and need for greater transparency around costs and risks Please find enclosed a Press Release related to Lansdowne 2.0 which goes to Joint Committee on Nov. 2nd of next week. [...]

Lansdowne: Fact Check for Councillors

UPDATED Fact Check for Councillors: Lansdowne 2.0 is the most expensive project you are being asked to vote on in this term of Council.  Lansdowne 2.0: Half a billion dollars of City spending At [...]

Lansdowne Park 2.0 Press release

Lansdowne Park 2.0: Community Stakeholders call for informed and meaningful Public Consultations before new Council makes any further decisions Mayor Sutcliffe and his new Council are facing hard decisions over the future of Lansdowne [...]

Lansdowne Update

At the end of January, the GCA was invited to participate in a public meeting on the future of Lansdowne Park hosted by a community organization called Parkways for People. Carolyn Mackenzie (GCA Planning Chair) [...]

Feedback needed on new play structure at GCC

In the spring of 2021, the city approved a plan to update the expiring play structure at Glebe Community Centre. This was made possible by fundraising efforts by The Glebe Neighbourhood Activities Group (GNAG), Glebe [...]

Spring 2022: Working to create and enhance inner city urban parks and greenspaces that meet the world’s Carbon 2050 Neutral goal, provide a natural habitat for animal and plant life, and meaningfully engage the peoples on whose un-ceded and un-surrendered territory they are on in the spirit of stewardship and reconciliation

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 [...]

October 2021: A Call for Good Faith in the Planning & Development of High-Rise Projects: Preserve and Promote the Benefits of our Natural Urban Environments by Maximizing Green Space over Cash-in-Lieu of Park Payments; and Considering sites other than those Bordering Parks and Other Green Spaces for High Rise Projects

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 [...]

November, 2020: Chamberlain Realignment – Urging Cooperation Between the City and the MTO on Highway 417 Bronson Avenue Interchange and Operational Improvements, Detail Design: Envisioning Expansion of Glebe Memorial Park and Addition of Multi-Use Pathway (MUP) on South Side of Chamberlain Avenue

In November, the GCA Board passed a Parks Committee Motion which called upon the MTO and the City of Ottawa for a commitment that they actively and transparently consult each other and the affected communities [...]

NCC Patterson Creek Bistro updated

Consultation The NCC is finalizing the report in both official languages and hopes to distribute it within the next few days. We were told that they received approximately 500 responses, and about 60% were supportive [...]

Spring Parks Clean-Ups: postponed

Subject to the lifting of current provincial health measures forbidding larger gatherings in parks, the Spring Parks Clean-Ups will not be going ahead as planned on the weekend of May 15, 2021. Alternative dates will [...]

Have your say: Patterson Creek Bistro

The National Capital Commission is proposing to set up a small bistro in Patterson Creek Park this summer as a pilot project.  Find out about the proposal and provide your comments through an online survey [...]

Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan

Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan The City is looking for your feedback on the first Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan. The plan will provide a framework to help the City determine what municipal [...]

Parks Plan

Here is the link to view the PDF  Parks Plan: Evergreen Glebe Parks Plan

Glebe Parks Committee – April Updates

The GPC volunteers meet monthly to discuss all aspects of the running and upkeep of our beautiful and well used Glebe parks.  Moving into Spring we hope to arrange, oversee, communicate such amenities as: the [...]

Memorial Bench in Brown’s Inlet

Through the commerative bench program a group of Jennifer Giles' friends have raised the funding necessary to place a memorial tree and bench in Brown’s Inlet Park where she spent many hours with her dogs. [...]

Central Park Lighting Update

From 2005-07 the City undertook infrastructure renewal of Central Park west of Bank St (CPW). Comparable work was not undertaken for Central Park East (CPE). The community using and surrounding the park has been actively [...]

Thanks Ministers McKenna and Joly!

Residents of the Glebe and Old Ottawa East are thrilled with the new access points to the Canal at Patterson Creek and the foot of Clegg Street.  We thought we should thank our MP and [...]

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