Upcoming Community Association Meetings

We have two meetings in the queue:

  1. Tuesday, October 15, 7 pm. The usual board meeting on Google Meet, mostly to talk about the AGM (Annual General Meeting) and planning for guest speakers and elections. The agenda is being collected (write to the secretary to add items), but if anyone wants to talk about it, likely there will be something about the cut-through traffic filling the neighbourhood with cars (behind the scenes, various submissions have been made to the city and NCC). We’ll do another post when the agenda is ready, and as usual write to us if you want a link to the meeting.
  2. Wednesday, November 20, 7 pm. Annual General Meeting with guests Jeff Leiper (our city councillor) and (prompted by all these zoning changes allowing way more units per lot) architect Rosaline Hill on “BuildingIN: A low-rise solution for infill housing”. We’ll be trying to have a hybrid meeting – online and in the field house. If you want to vote, you’ll need a membership, but you are free to drop in without one.

Traffic Overflow in the Neighbourhood

Excess traffic is annoying people in the neighbourhood, leading some to take action (there are a couple of rather hot posts in the Champlain Park Facebook Group, where rather than blocking the cars, submitting a request for service to the police was suggested). Our city councillor Jeff Leiper has written about it, here’s his text from https://kitchissippiward.ca/2024/10/07/cut-through-bridge-traffic-woes/

Cut-through bridge traffic woes

October 7, 2024

Good evening, Kitchissippi.

Residents of Westboro Beach and Champlain Park who live on streets like Clearview and Lanark have been writing to me tonight to let me know they’ve had another bad weekend. Cut-through traffic trying to reach the bridge, especially starting in mid-afternoon, has been rough this summer, backing up for blocks, most recently on Clearview and yesterday for a period as far as Northwestern. Residents have a hard time getting in or out of their driveways, traffic is idling and they’re fed up.
Continue reading “Traffic Overflow in the Neighbourhood” →

Ping-Pong Club and Tables?

We were thinking of fun things to do with our neighbours, and the idea of ping-pong or table tennis came up.

If you have a spare table, could we use it? We think we could fit two of them in the field house and store them away in the back room between sessions.

[Fieldhouse with a couple of AI generated ping pong tables]

A ping-pong club could work, if there’s enough interest. There already is an Ottawa wide club, universities, the RA Centre, and the larger community centres have tables.

Perhaps the city could build us an outdoor table, but that would need to be tough enough to survive winter and vandals, and thus be very expensive! Some do exist, this is one in Optomiste Park in Vanier.

[Optomiste Park Vanie Ping Pong Table, via Google Maps]

So, any interest in a ping-pong club and are there any spare tables? If you want to play or have a table, please drop a note to chparkevents@yahoo.com or come to the next games night to talk with the rest of us.

Drug Paraphernalia on Scott Street

Just got a message from the Mechanicsville Community Association about a mess found on Scott last Saturday. It’s been reported for cleanup. Of note, needle cleanup kits are available. Their story is:

I was biking along the northside Scott St MUP before Island Park and came across what appeared to be a needlenest. I didnt find needles but LOTS of drug paraphernalia. There may have been needles but I didn’t have proper shoes to go into the bushes to see. I will send to Bylaw for pickup. If you have a community safety committee, you may want to send to them. Somerset West Community Health on Rosemount provide CAs with needle disposal kits if you need any.

Drug Paraphernalia Mess on Scott Street, September 29 2024]

Hockey Pool – October 11

Annual Champlain Park Hockey Pool – picks due Oct 11th

From: Nick

Join the 5th Annual Champlain Park NHL Hockey Pool!!!

To participate, it’s easy, open to all in the neighbourhood and free, simply:

1) Choose 15 skaters (forwards or defencemen) and 1 Goalie

– To ensure we all don’t pick the same top players, you cannot choose the following 15 players:

C. McDavid, L. Draisaitl, N. Mackinnon, N. Kucherov, M. Tkachuk, J. Hughes, M. Marner, A. Matthews, D. Pastrnak, M. Rantanen, K. Kaprizov, A. Panarin, J.T. Miller, C. Makar, W. Nylander.

You can choose any other players.

– Scoring: most points at the end of the season wins.

  • Goals and assists each count for 1 point
  • Goalie wins count for 1 point each
  • Goalie shut-outs count for 5 points each

2) Email your team list (15 skaters, 1 goalie) to Nick at chparkevents@yahoo.com by end of day October 11.

– Provide me with your player list, your first name and first initial of your last name and name of your street where you live (i.e. John D from Daniel Ave).
– Updates will be provided to all participants via a free hockey pool website.

Winner will be announced via our website at the end of the season and gets bragging rights as “Champlain Park’s Hockey Pool Champion”, unless they wish to be anonymous.

If you have any questions email Nick at chparkevents@yahoo.com

Workshops on New Zoning – 5 Tuesdays

In-person new zoning workshops

This fall, join us for a series of in-person workshops to discuss Ottawa’s New Zoning By-Law. These workshops are designed to engage the community, gather valuable feedback, and ensure that our new Zoning By-law reflects the Official Plan and the needs and aspirations of all residents. Your participation is crucial in shaping the future of our city!

Here’s what you can expect:

  • Display Board Exhibition – dive into the basics of zoning and key concepts of the proposed By-law. This is your chance to ask questions and get informed.
  • Roundtable Discussions – engage in intensive discussions on various topics with planners and fellow residents.

Five opportunities to participate:
All in-person workshops will start at 6:30 pm.

  • October 1 – Ray Friel Recreation Complex
  • October 8 – John G Mlacak Community Centre
  • October 15 – Fred Barrett Arena
  • October 22 – City Hall
  • November 5 – Confederation Education Centre

From the city press release.

Ottawa’s Climate Change Team at Westboro Farmer’s Market – September 28

The city of Ottawa invites you to attend the Westboro Farmers Market on Saturday, September 28 from 9 am to 3 and visit its information booth to learn more about the City’s climate change initiatives and learn how you can contribute to a greener future with the Rain Ready Ottawa and Better Homes Ottawa programs.

Our knowledgeable City of Ottawa staff will be on hand to answer all your questions and guide you through the steps you can take to make a difference.

[Westboro Market, from https://ottawafarmersmarket.ca/westboro-market/]

Garden Club – October 8

Please come to what will be a remarkable slideshow and talk by one of the most knowledgeable naturalists in Canada. Mike Runtz is a lecturer (voted best at Carleton University), brilliant published photographer, birder, wolf call howler in Algonquin Park, expert canoeist and has many, many other talents.

How about this for the title of his talk: Wildflowers and their sex slaves: the steamy side of pollination. Even if you never thought much about wild flowers, Mike will astound. Mark your calendars!

[Bio photo of Mike Runtz from Carleton University]

He will be the special guest speaker at the Garden Club on Tuesday October 8 2024 at 7:00 pm at the Champlain Park field house – 149 Cowley Avenue.

Drop in fee is $7.00 for this night but if you join for the season ($25.00 plus a current Champlain Park Community Association membership) each meeting is only $2.50.

The Garden Club page also has general information about the club.