Spring is a season of renewal…and construction

Spring is here, and that means new activity in the city. We’ve got a lot going on in the coming months, including construction projects, public consultations and a new park in the neighbourhood! Here are a few things happening in the Glebe.

New Park at Fifth and O’Connor

Construction of the new park beside the fire station at Fifth and O’Connor will begin this spring – the exact start date depends on the weather and the contractor. The new park will have an accessible path, seating and other amenities.

There has been a lot of work put into the development of this plan. I want to thank the Glebe Community Association and its Parks Committee, as well as city staff and residents who provided input on the overall designs. It’s been a lot of work to get to this point and I appreciate all the time and effort.

We are glad that our office was able to provide funding through our cash-in-lieu of parkland reserves for this project. It was great working with staff and the community association on this project. We can’t wait to see the finished product!

Fourth Avenue School Zone

There are traffic and safety concerns around most of our schools in Capital Ward. Last year, as part of the city’s Road Safety Action Plan, Fourth Avenue between Percy and Lyon was identified as one of the top ten school zones in the city in need of traffic calming, especially with Mutchmor on one side of the street and Corpus Christi and the Mutchmor field on the other.

The city is currently finalizing designs on safety improvements to this block, which will include speed bumps and a raised crosswalk and pedestrian crossover between Mutchmor and the field (where there is currently a painted crosswalk).

Designs should be completed in April, with construction beginning in the summer or fall and completed before the end of the year. Thank you to everyone who provided input, either through last year’s survey or by contacting our office directly. There was significant support for these measures, so it’s great they’ll be implemented in the coming year.

Integrated Road Renewal

In early April, city crews carried out some field investigations including geotechnical drilling, CCTV of sewers, catch basin inspections and land surveying around Oakland Avenue, Wilton Lane, Wilton Crescent, Woodlawn Avenue, Monk Street and Brown’s Inlet. Sewers and watermains in the area are approximately 100 years old and will need to be replaced in the coming years.

This is just preliminary work in preparation for future construction. There will be times when parking will be restricted for a day or two. When this happens, no-parking signs will be put up at least 24 hours in advance. The affected streets will be receiving a flyer from the city with more information.

Reconstruction of these roads is tentatively scheduled to begin in spring 2023. The work will include full road, curbs and sidewalk reconstruction. There will be full public consultations later this year before any designs are finalized. We will keep the community up to date on consultations.

Temporary Traffic Calming

Every year, the city rolls out temporary traffic calming measures. There is a limited budget for these measures, but we have invested a lot in the Glebe in the last few years to stem the effects of cut-through traffic and to adhere to the new 30 km/hr speed limit. We will be seeing more centre-line flex stakes, more red-and-white “30” speed-limit signs painted on streets, additional bike lane delineation, new planters and speed humps on some streets. After consulting with some residents and city staff, we are re-aligning some flex stakes that caused issues last year for a few people accessing their driveways.

Finally, we will be implementing a residential speed limit for Dow’s Lake, converting all the residential streets to 30 km/h to match the rest of the ward. This speed limit has been shown to drastically reduce the severity of injuries when accidents do occur.

Bronson Consultation

Speaking of traffic speeds, we’ll be holding a public consultation on Wednesday, May 4 to discuss the redesign of Bronson Avenue. Bronson will need to be reconstructed in a few years, so we want to make sure the street is designed to best suit the needs of residents. For more information, visit our website at www.shawnmenard.com/BronsonAvenueConsultation.

Shawn Menard is City Councillor for Capital Ward. He can be reached directly at Shawn.Menard@ottawa.ca.