t its March meeting, the OSCA Board passed a motion to obtain legal advice concerning an anticipated request by Patty's Pub to the City of Ottawa to construct and operate a patio seating up to 90 people.
Readers may recall that a two step approval process is involved here. As a first step, the Pub received a licence last summer from the provincial Alcohol and Gaming Commission to operate such a patio on the vacant lot just north of its current location. OSCA appeared at the Commission's hearing to oppose the application.
However, given that an existing City by-law prohibits patios within 30 metres of residential areas, the Pub now requires a variance from the City. In presenting this motion on behalf of OSWATCH, the Board's land use issues committee, Michael Jenkin noted that a significant number of residents oppose the patio for noise and nuisance reasons, the very factors set out in the City by-law; that the size of the proposed patio is larger by a factor of three to any other such establishment in Old Ottawa South or the Glebe; and that construction of such a patio would set a dangerous precedent for our neighborhood.
The saga of Old Ottawa South's two chip wagons continues. The one at Belmont and Bank is on a property not zoned for a take-out restaurant and the City has ordered the vehicle and property owners to relocate the vehicle, once the snow has disappeared.
The wagon at the corner of Bank and Sunnyside faces a similar problem of operating contrary to city zoning. In this case the property owner has applied for a re-zoning to permit the operation of this business. OSCA's position is to support such a zoning amendment only if it is confined to the existing footprint of the vehicle. Otherwise, we plan to oppose the application on the grounds that such a busy corner can not support a take-out restaurant potentially covering the whole of the parking lot. We are awaiting word on when the City will consider this application.
City official Rob Orchin gave an update to the Board on the counterflow bike lane on Cameron Avenue. Nearby residents have been complaining of a considerable increase in vehicles proceeding along Cameron the wrong way because of confusing signage concerning the bike lane. Mr. Orchin noted that one time monitoring of the street following a change in the signage at Bank Street indicated no vehicles proceeding the wrong way.
The City intends to conduct 'hose counts', once spring arrives. Then, based on this data, officials will seek the views of OSCA and nearby residents before proposing any changes to City Council in June. Options under consideration include additional signage, pavement markings, removing the counterflow bike lane, adding a small, temporary median, or changing the street to permit two way traffic.
The City asked OSCA for its comments on draft terms of reference for conducting an environmental assessment of the proposed Alta Vista Transportation Corridor. This corridor would run from Walkley Road and Conroy Avenue northwest to the Riverview Hospital and then proceed to cross the Rideau River over a newly constructed bridge to eventually join Nicholas Street. Note the use of the term 'transportation corridor' as opposed to 'parkway'. It is not certain at this stage whether the corridor will be used solely for public transportation, for vehicles or some combination.
The proposal presents an interesting challenge for our community. On the one hand, construction of such a corridor might ease traffic congestion for us, at least in the short term, by siphoning off vehicles that might otherwise use Bank, Main or Bronson. On the other, we need to maintain solid relationships with our sister community associations in the inner city on a variety of issues affecting us in the long term. For this reason our brief to the City on the terms of reference for the environmental assessment argued for among other things the inclusion of OSCA in any formal advisory group set up during the assessment process. Brian Tansey, chair of our external relations committee, has the lead role on this issue.
Thanks to the efforts of OSCA Board member Michael Lynch, Old Ottawa South hosted an informative session on property assessment for tax purposes, led by two officials from the Ontario Property Assessment Corporation (OPAC).
This organization came into being in late 1998 when the Ontario Government transferred responsibility for assessing property to this non-profit Corporation. It administers a uniform, province-wide property assessment system based on current value assessment. Its motto - "Experience and technology you can trust".
Trust was not the operative word of many of the participants at the session, most of whom appeared to be facing significant increases to their property assessments. (Old Ottawa South residents in general face property assessment increases well above the City average.) The OPAC officials described the sophisticated statistical tool used to develop property assessments, a tool that relies on estimating current values based on sale prices and property characteristics of sold properties.
While asking us to trust this technology, the OPAC officials explained that it was 'confidential'. It appears that the legislation setting up OPAC provides for potential competition by 2004 - that is, municipalities will be able to buy their tax assessment services from OPAC or any other supplier. According to its officials, OPAC would be at a competitive disadvantage if it were to make its technology public. It's an interesting dilemma: improved service through competition but at the cost of reduced transparency!
For those residents wanting reconsideration of their assessments, there is a two step process. The first is a simple request to OPAC. This must be done by December 31, 2001 and be based on providing "all the relevant facts". The second step is a formal appeal to the Assessment Review Board. The deadline here is April 2, 2001 but there is a fee of $50.
For more information about your property assessments, you can contact OPAC by phone at 1-800-263-3237 or by e-mail at ao03@opac.on.ca.