Park news: Icebreaking access, moth control, and hope for a clean-up day

By Karen Squires and Katherine Hall

Over the years the New Edinburgh Community Alliance (NECA) has worked with a group of volunteers to ensure the park area is preserved, kept clean and well-maintained, in collaboration with City team members.

While the park cleanup did not take place last year, the NECA parks group met with City staff members to discuss maintenance issues to do with the tennis courts, seasonal garbage bins, bench repairs, fencing and signage. As well, City staff have just confirmed that both the annual icebreaking program on the Rideau River and the Combined Sewage Storage Tunnel (CSST) tunnel maintenance will be accessed by the broadened, newly resurfaced roadway entrance near the New Edinburgh Fieldhouse. Therefore, you will see the equipment required for the icebreaking coming through this area from late February to early March. We hope to provide an update on scheduling for the ongoing CSST tunnel maintenance, which will also access the park from the same location near the fieldhouse.

During 2021, LDD moths became a major issue, destroying tree leaves all around Ottawa. City staff have confirmed there is a budget in 2022 which includes a new, temporary, full- time employee joining the Forestry department for the express purpose of developing and implementing community support programming around LDD. This role will also support the development and implementation of an Urban Forest Outreach and Engagement Strategy which is a key recommendation of the Urban Forest Management Plan. One element of this program is a burlap distribution kit, more details of which we hope to provide in a future edition. We all want to ensure we are able to protect our trees against ongoing LDD invasion.

Prior to COVID-19’s ongoing public safety restrictions, residents (with Friends of the Park) were invited to come out and do a collective spring park cleanup each May. We are monitoring the situation now to determine how best to move forward in 2022 for potential spring and fall dates.

In Spring 2021, the New Edinburgh News asked for input from residents as to what they enjoyed about the park and what they’d like to see more of. Here’s a summary of what we learned. People: 

  • love to walk in nature – natural setting is a key theme!
  • would like to see more garbage cans and recycling bins.
  • want better signage to keep cyclists off the shoreline.
  • are interested in the restoration of natural beauty and the addition of more benches.
  • would like more cleanup initiatives.
  • support more wildflowers, green space, and tree-planting to improve biodiversity.
  • would like to see better care taken of seeded grass areas.
  • want more native plant species planted to attract birds.
  • support the possible expansion of the waterfront area to Porter Island, Bordeleau Park and Rideau Falls.

In November 2021, we were pleased to hear that the City will be switching to a cleaner grass mowing alternative, to cut down on fumes. We liaised with City staff, who have agreed to reduce the amount of mowing in the “regeneration area” of the park. A consistent theme is to keep the park natural and clean, and have places where people can stroll, sit, and enjoy the scenery including birds, wildflowers, trees, and the waterfront.

Members from the Crichton Community Council (CCC) manage the Fieldhouse, the skating rink, and children’s playground area in addition to such annual events as the plant sale, in and around the fieldhouse area. NECA continues to liaise with the CCC and to provide updates, through NEN’s event listings on what’s happening. 

To conclude, while New Edinburgh and Stanley Park and nearby areas serve a diverse group of people, there are more people using the park year-round since COVID lockdowns and restrictions. We will increase our coordinated efforts with City staff to ensure we all work together for a clean, natural, and safe space to enjoy all year. As of January 2022, the City is aware of our requests and have approved the funds to do some repairs to the tennis courts and fencing near the fieldhouse. They have also noted our request for better signage for cyclists and the replacement of one bench near the tennis courts. 

Karen Squires and Katherine Hall are members of the Friends of the Park committee at NECA. To learn more about Friends of the Park, please email info@newedinburgh.ca

CSST Information and Resources

 

Since early November 2016, NECA’s Task Force has been working hard to learn more about the forthcoming Combined Sewage Storage Tunnel (CSST) project and what the community can do to prevent being used as the main extraction site, or to mitigate the impacts of such construction. (Visit the Task Force on Facebook).

This page features information on the CSST for New Edinburgh residents, to help better understand the scope and scale of the project, what we know about it, and to get the community thinking about what we can do to help mitigate the project’s impact on our neighbourhood.

In February 2017, a Community Construction Monitoring Committee was created to liaise between the CSST team and New Edinburgh residents.

Latest CSST-related news

  • Feb. 27, 2017: NECA releases statement on Feb. 22 CSST East-West Tunnel Trucking Options Consultation.

Recent events and actions

  • Feb. 22, 2017 The City of Ottawa held an Open House on CSST Trucking Routes. Stantec’s “Technical Memorandum: Review Alternative Trucking Routes for Site 5 / Stanley Park” was presented. Read it here.
  • Feb. 6, 2017 The Task Force held a “Call to Action” at City Hall to show the Mayor we mean business and to support the community delegation’s meeting with the Mayor. The delegation included Tim Plumptre, Joe Chouinard, Sean Flynn, Sonny Dhanani, Pamela Howson and Marta Klepaczek. Read the press release here. The delegation’s report on the meeting is available here.
  • Feb. 4, 2017 The New Edinburgh Task Force hosted an open meeting to discuss and share information on CSST developments and plans. Read the pre-meeting letter to the mayor and view a Site 5 construction sequencing document here.
  • Jan. 30, 2017 See the latest correspondence between the Task Force and City officials here.
  • Jan. 25, 2017 The Task Force held a demonstration at City Hall calling for the CSST main extraction site to be moved to LeBreton Flats. Details here. Residents presented the mayor with a petition (at the time featuring over 600 signatures) concerning CSST main staging site. You can sign the petition online.
  • Jan. 16, 2017 The City of Ottawa held a meeting for New Edinburgh residents who will be most affected by construction at Site 5c (Queen Victoria Ave and River Lane) and residents/property owners in close proximity to this site who will be most affected by the construction.
  • Jan. 6, 2017 “The Task Force’’s Heritage Working Group submitted a report.
  • Jan. 3, 2017 The Task Force’s Health, Safety and Environment team put together a report .

How did we get here?

  • Oct. 27, 2016, the City of Ottawa held an info session for New Edinburgh residents on the forthcoming CSST project and how it will affect the community. Residents felt they were not consulted on this project and have serious concerns about the traffic and environmental impact it will have over a 30-month period on Stanley (New Edinburgh) Park as well as the surrounding residential neighbourhood.
  • Nov. 2, 2016 a group of residents met with City of Ottawa officials to gain a better understanding of the project. The final report from that meeting is available here.
  • Nov. 10, 2016 NECA’s board of directors held an emergency meeting to discuss the community’s response to the CSST project. The meeting minutes are available here.
  • Nov. 16, 2016 City Councillor Tobi Nussbaum hosted a second information session for New Edinburgh residents with the CSST project team.
  • Dec. 24, 2016 The Task Force sent a letter to Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson. Learn more about how you can tell the mayor of the CSST in New Edinburgh here! The Task Force has also sent letters to MPP Nathalie Des Rosiers and then-Chief Government Whip Andrew Leslie.
  • Documents indicate that the City’s own consultants say it is feasible/doable to move the extraction site elsewhere.  The next step is to follow-up with the Mayor and City Council expressing your own individual concerns/messages to the politicians.

A message from the Task Force

  • It is feasible to move the primary mucking site from the park.  It won’t stop the rape of the park, but it will help to reduce the impacts of this massive project on our community.  It will take some additional incremental funding from each of the three levels of government. But, more importantly, it will require the political will by our elected officials to make it happen, as the City’s bureaucrats are still recommending that the primary site remain in the
  • The Task Force is also concerned about the lack of community consultation on the CSST issue. Read their full message here.