Hi everyone! We’re baaaack.
We had our portraits taken for the new Term of Council yesterday. It doesn’t feel like it’s been four years since the last portrait!
Remembrance Day is next week. Thanks to the efforts of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 641 Barrhaven, banners commemorating local veterans have been installed on streetlight posts along Malvern Drive outside the Walter Baker Sports Centre. The banners will be displayed until after Remembrance Day.
Additional banner spots may be purchased for future years. Please visit the Legion branch’s website↗ for more details.
Poppy boxes are also in place at grocery stores in the community and at the Legion branch at 3500 Fallowfield. The Legion is seeking volunteers to fill a few remaining poppy shifts at grocery stores. Please email Poppy.Campaign@RCL641.ca if you or someone you know is interested!
Gratitude and looking ahead
New term of Council starts November 15.
It’s great to be back to a regular work routine, including putting the newsletter together. The last few months made me miss doing my job more than anything!
Continuing to serve and represent Barrhaven East is the greatest privilege and honour of my life. I’m grateful for your trust, support, and continued engagement.
Through constructive feedback I received from some residents over the last few months, I know there is still room for me to be an even better Councillor, such as implementing and following a rigid and regular door-knocking schedule during the term and scaling up the community events I host and co-host.
We're ordering furniture for the outer public-facing half of what will be my ward office, next to my current small ward boardroom at the Walter Baker Centre. One of the hurdles to how accessible I am has been the fact no ward office was provisioned when this ward was created in 2022. Walter Baker is just outside the ward, but I do not want to kick out any group that currently use the three community buildings in my ward for their programming.
Hopefully, my next update will be to welcome you to the ward office!
Amazon
Construction resumed. Noise By-law exemption denied.
Construction at Amazon YOW6 in the South Merivale Business Park has resumed as of about two weeks ago.
Per Broccolini (Amazon’s contractor), foundation piling will happen between now and the start of winter. Piles will be driven using vibration piling, which is supposedly quieter than traditional impact hammer piling and better in the site’s soil type. Some hammering will still be needed to situate and finish each pile.
Once piling is complete, the concrete slab will be poured, followed by the steel structure. Amazon previously suggested an operational date in 2028, but they recently changed that to “to be announced when ready.”
Several residents have flagged equipment and piling noise from the site outside permitted work hours (7:00 am to 10:00 pm) on various days the last two weeks. By-law substantiated those claims last week and a charge under the Noise By-law is pending. Future charges will result in a higher fine and/or a court summons.
Late last week, Broccolini applied for a Noise By-law exemption to permit construction and equipment operations to start earlier at 6:00 am until the end of the year. Given past and ongoing concerns raised by neighbouring residents and the fact the Noise By-law has already been violated, I have denied the noise exemption. Noise By-law exemptions must be renewed every 11 days, so I initially did consider approving the first one to see how it goes, but ultimately decided against it.
There are also continuing conversations with the NCC and Amazon about a dedicated private roadway connecting the site with Fallowfield Road to mitigate truck (and possibly employee) traffic impacts on Leikin, Longfields, Merivale, and Woodroffe. Ultimately, that will be a decision of Amazon and the NCC, but I will keep pushing on the item.
I am still committed to hosting a public information meeting in the spring, in which Amazon has thus far agreed to participate. Details of the meeting will be shared well in advance once arrangements are finalised.
In the meantime, please continue letting me know if there are issues. Some items, such as Noise By-law violations, can also be reported directly to the City through 3-1-1↗ for quicker action. Further project updates will be shared as they become available.
3400 Woodroffe Avenue
Agenda item 7.6 at tomorrow’s Planning and Housing Committee. See May 12 newsletter for previous update.
Tomorrow, the Planning and Housing Committee will be considering Phoenix Homes’s rezoning application↗ for 3400 Woodroffe Avenue, a vacant lot just south of Woodroffe/Paul Métivier.
The developer is seeking approval to permit a higher residential density similar to that of Bonita Private off Mountshannon Drive. The proposed development includes 160 units (108 stacked townhomes, 32 back-to-back townhomes, and 20 traditional townhomes), with 207 resident and 15 visitor parking spaces. The current zoning permits rural estate lots similar to those in Hearts Desire.
Although the rezoning checks every box in the context of the Official Plan and provincial planning legislation (the latter of which has been progressively loosened since 2022), residents have raised reasonable concerns about traffic and parking on Woodroffe, Paul Métivier, and other nearby streets, as well as potential impact to private wells in Hearts Desire.
There are ongoing safety concerns for all modes of traffic passing through Woodroffe/Cresthaven-Paul Métivier ever since the signals were removed in 2015. The intersection has been the subject of annual traffic counts, in which it routinely scores in the high 80s out of 100, but a score of 100 or greater is needed for signalisation or a roundabout.
Unfortunately, changes to provincial planning legislation means the City can no longer attach intersection improvements as a condition of approval, unless the developer agrees to it. The development will inevitably contribute to additional vehicle and pedestrian traffic at the intersection, but that still means improvements will be reactive. One possibility I’m exploring is redirecting 3400 Woodroffe’s development charges to the intersection, but I’m waiting for staff’s input on whether that is even legal.
On parking, while I feel the 207 resident parking spaces is enough, neighbours are understandably uneasy about the total of 15 visitor spaces provided on site. Like the intersection, reactive action is the only option here. Street parking will be monitored and enforced as appropriate by by-law, with further action like parking restrictions if required.
Lastly, Hearts Desire residents have legitimate concerns about potential impact to groundwater, as the neighbourhood relies on private wells. I’m encouraged by the groundwater impact assessment’s results (maximum excavation depth does not reach the aquifer) and the developer’s agreement to fund a baseline water sampling at adjacent properties, but I will request a larger sampling area through a motion at committee.
On stormwater, the developer has added catch basins to the western property line to ensure no collected/redirected stormwater will flow through neighbouring private properties when rainfall totals below the 100-year level. As required by legislation, all other stormwater will be collected/kept on site and directed to stormwater mains under Woodroffe Avenue.
It’s imperative that the future property manager be informed of their responsibility to inspect and maintain catch basins on property to ensure their functionality and that the grading cannot be modified as to not affect planned post-development drainage patterns.
The proposed development meeting the intention of the Official Plan and planning legislation plus the completed hydrogeology study means a refusal by the City will not be upheld at the Ontario Land Tribunal.
I have three motions planned for the item tomorrow, two related to water and one related to traffic:
Expand the baseline water monitoring sampling area
Increase the underground stormwater storage tank capacity
Redirect development charges to intersection improvements (pending advice from City staff)
Given everything noted above and the current legislative context, I will vote in favour of the rezoning if the motions are successful.
Bite-sized items
Sorted alphabetically. New items and items updated since last newsletter marked with an asterisk (yes, everything is new or updated this week).
*Airport – Runway 14/32 (north-south) is closed until November 13 for stormwater pipe renewal and runway edge lighting/signage replacement. All departing and arriving flights will use runway 07/25 during the closure, which may mean more planes flying over Barrhaven East.
*Beatrice/Queensbury (bus stop 3345) shelter – Concrete pad extension complete. Shelter installation expected this week.
*Claridge Drive – Minor resurfacing and sidewalk rebuilt between Strandherd and Oakfield has been postponed to spring 2027 due to contractor disqualification.
*Clarke Bellinger storm ponds – Construction to decommission the structures around the stormwater ponds has begun, as part of a project to convert the ponds into a passive facility. See Ottawa.ca/CBstormwater↗ for project details.
*Development application, 3400 Woodroffe↗ – Rezoning application to be considered at Planning and Housing Committee this Wednesday, November 4 (agenda item 7.6). See details above.
*Election signs – Deadline for election sign removal was Thursday, October 29 at 11:59 pm, whether the campaign was successful or not. Residents may contact individual campaigns↗ or report remaining election signs to 3-1-1↗.
*Fieldgate/Grouse (north) – Work to connect streetlight to new power source expected to be complete this week.
*Henfield Avenue street parking – A resident-led petition banning street parking at all times on the odd-numbered side of Henfield from Scova to 9 Henfield was successful after receiving enough signatures. Signage will be installed by early-December.
*Ottawa Farmers’ Market (Barrhaven) – The weekly market has concluded for 2026 and will return in May 2027.
*Prince of Wales/Waterbridge – A new left turning arrow was installed and activated last week for northbound traffic. Prince of Wales/Crestway will receive the same change next year.
*Remembrance Day – Annual Barrhaven Remembrance Day ceremony to be held at John McCrae Secondary School (103 Malvern Drive) on November 11 starting at 10:30 am. Parking available at Walter Baker Sports Centre. Please note this is an outdoor event. Poppies are available at grocery stores across the community and at the Legion.
*Santa Claus parade – The Barrhaven Santa Claus parade is scheduled for November 29 at 5:30 pm. Like previous years, the parade will begin at Strandherd/Beatrice and head west to end at the Strandherd Park and Ride. Road closures will be shared closer to the date.
*Speed humps/cushions – Installation complete on Cresthaven (between Crestway and Waterbridge) and Grovehurst (whole street). Temporary signage will be removed after permanent signage is installed, expected to be this month.
*Strandherd/Cresthaven streetlighting – City staff are aware of several streetlights at the intersection not working. A component that controls them is in transit.
*Streetlighting – Replacement posts for damaged streetlights at Prince of Wales/Fairpark, Via Amalfi/Via Verona, and Windhurst/Stonepointe are awaiting installation. Repairs to the base are needed at all three locations.
*Waste collection – Wednesday, November 11 is Remembrance Day, but no changes to waste collection day next week.
*Winter recreation – Browse activities at Register.Ottawa.ca↗ starting today. Aquatics registration opens November 17 at 9:00 pm, for all other activities on November 19 at 9:00 pm.
Enjoy the week ahead!
-Wilson