News

Fall clean-up (Sept 25) & updates on trees in Frank Ryan and Elmhurst parks

Fall clean-up event
Come help clean up our neighbourhood. We will be cleaning our parks, greenspaces, and surrounding areas. Meet us at Frank Ryan Field House on Saturday, September 25, 2021 from 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM to get supplies and choose an area to clean. Latex gloves and garbage bags will be provided. In the event of rain, we will reschedule to Sunday, September 26, 2021.

You can add this event to your calendar by subscribing to our Google Calendar or to our Facebook Page. Regular updates are also shared with the local community Facebook Group – a good place to chat and meet your neighbours.

Update – Evergreen tree proposal at Frank Ryan
The City has reviewed our request for evergreen trees to be added to Frank Ryan Park to help shield the rink from the north wind. Upon consideration of other park usage and operations, the City is planning to add two White Pine trees northwest of the rink. Because of the equipment used during the annual rink installation, particularly the need for a boom truck to install the lights, it will not be possible to get trees installed directly north of the rink. Two hackberry trees will also be planted between the gazebo and the basketball court. Two replacement trees will be planted along Stuart Kettles St. parking lot, one hackberry and one honey locus. The work is scheduled to take place this fall. If you have any comments on this work plan or have ideas for additional planting in QTN please let us know at nature.qtn@gmail.com.

Update – Removal of Dead Wood in Elmhurst Forest
Removal of dead wood took place throughout the summer and the work is nearing completion. The City has informed us that they plan on substituting the former gatepost at the Elmhurst entrance with large rocks once they have completed the tree removal and clean-up. On your next walk, look for the snags that were left standing from the latest tree cutting event. They will help provide a variety of habitats for the Elmhurst wildlife (new and older snag photos provided).

Additional Information to keep QTN clean!

Lincoln Fields Plan Delayed Again

We all know that Lincoln Fields mall and the surrounding areas will undergo major changes, especially as we get closer to the opening of the new LRT station in 2025. Revitalization could be positive or negative, and the difference is good planning. An integrated plan has been one focus of QTNca advocacy for three years now.

City Planning promised to develop what is called a Secondary Plan to provide guidance for development in this area. It was supposed to follow soon after the Official Plan. This week we learned that it will be delayed until 2023, after the next civic election.

Meanwhile, the Official Plan, to be adopted this fall, will facilitate intensification around the LRT stations and along Carling Avenue, with more flexible permissions for developers, higher towers, and requirements for residential densities of 200 units per hectare near stations. Developers will be able to make proposals without a more detailed City plan or an integrated approach to planning. When we name community issues, we are told those will be addressed in the secondary plan – but that is now delayed and major redevelopment proposals will be approved in the meantime. That means we will see more piece-meal development without serious consideration of context.

Lincoln Fields is an important strategic area for QTN residents and for the west end of Ottawa. Its strategic importance is comparable to Le Breton Flats because of its location, access to basic services, and connections between neighborhoods and also to the river valley. The Lincoln Fields LRT station will be a major facility, given the new plans for connections to Barrhaven. And while intensification is pushed for every lot within QTN, in the name of needed housing, a large, vacant parking lot close to a station is allowed to stagnate as an urban wasteland. This is short-sighted.

The lack of vision for what Lincoln Fields area could be is disturbing. Intensification requires confidence in City Planning. It is difficult to have that confidence when such short-sighted and reactive approaches to development are allowed to continue. QTNca is now working with other neighborhood associations to find alternative ways to put forward a vision for what Lincoln Fields could be.

If you have questions or suggestions, please send a message to qtncommunity@gmail.com.

Kathy Vandergrift

We have lures to build your own Gypsy moth trap

As we observe the Gypsy moth outbreak in QTN, we were pleased to see so many residents protecting the local canopy. As the life cycle of the Gypsy moth changes from caterpillar to moth we have obtained and are offering lures so you can build your own trap.

If you are interested in a lure, please contact nature.qtn@gmail.com

For more information about the lure and Gypsy moth visit: