Transcript: Infrastructure Projects Advance Amid Debate - Comité de l’infrastructure et des travaux publics - 30 mars 2026 | Summary 560

Infrastructure Projects Advance Amid Debate - Comité de l’infrastructure et des travaux publics - 30 mars 2026

sound check. Loud and clear. Thank you, counselor. Audio test. Audio test. Good morning everybody. We'll uh commence in about 30 seconds. Get a little more volume in there if that's okay. Thank you, good sir. Thank you. Testing. Testing. Thanks. Good morning everybody. We'll get everyone to take their seats. Great. Thank you. Uh before we proceed today, a little housekeeping matters. We do have quite the number of delegations signed up. I believe it was 71 between two of the items today. So, it's going to be a full day. Uh that being said, we'll do the land acknowledgement as per usual at the beginning. So, if you are a delegation, that has been taken care of so we can get right into your times to be able to speak and provide your feedback if you're here as a delegation today. Also, please note uh we've all moved up nice and tight. This is something new we want to try today because it was kind of weird before lying out in the weeds. So, uh, we're here to be attentive and listen. And at this point, I'm going to go ahead and say, uh, of course, we're here on the unseated Anesnabi territory. Uh, the Anesnab Along nations lived here on this territory for a millennia. Their culture and presence is nurtured and continues to be nurtured on this land. The city of Ottawa honors the people and the land of Nabashab along nation. The city of Ottawa honors the First Nations, the Inuit, the Matei people, and their valuable past and present contributions to this land. At this point, I'll go ahead and get our committee coordinator to do roll call. Thank you. Councelor Bradley here. Councelor D. Ro here. Councelor Divine here. Counselor Dudes here. Councelor Gower here. Councelor Johnson here. Councelor Loe. Councelor Lulof. Good morning. Councelor Scowski here. Councelor Charer here. Vice Chair Kits here. Chair Tierney present. You have quum chair. Great. Thank you very much for that. First we'll do the agenda clearing. So uh we have the pewick minutes 24 February 26, 2026. Is this item carried? Carried. Great. Thank you very much. Uh we uh have some response to inquiries. We're not going to be lifting any of those today. There's been no request by members. Uh item number five, planning and development. We have 5.1, the road modifications for Manor Park integrated road, sewer, water project. Uh we have several delegations and we have some motions that we're just tidying up right now. Uh but we'll go into that one right away as soon as we clear the agenda. Uh item number 5.2, to the uh uh the Bank Street active transportation and transit priority feasibility study. We do have several delegations on that. We will not have a presentation today. We'll go directly into our delegations on that as well. And uh of course we have the uh item number 6.1 the large uh I'm going to clear this now just to save time because we've checked with the people that would want to speak to it and are in support and they've given their commitment that it's okay to go ahead and carry this the large quadricycle pilot project report. Um and uh pretty simple stuff. Does anybody see the need to add the large quadricycle report to the agenda today for to be held? Otherwise, is this item carried? Great. Thank you. And thank you, Jesse, for uh uh your feedback on that. Um we also uh have one that's a little further down. I'm going to clear this now to make life uh easier for people in conjunction with councelor Kavanaaugh. Uh we have the motion in regards to moved on behalf of councelor Kavanagh by councelor Troster about the road murals uh forgive me the um the murals and uh we've checked with the two delegations that are in support. They're quite carry uh quite fine if we carry this item. Is this item carried? Great. Thank you very much. And so we'll go right back to the beginning. Start right away. We've had a request uh by let's see here um Mr. Ellis. Oh, perfect. Uh Ellis Woodward to speak first. So, hi. Thank you very much for coming in today. Uh your chair is right over here. And for those that are new to the committee, you have five minutes to uh provide your feedback and uh and uh this clock will start the second you start speaking. So there you go. There today. Thank you for having me here and thanks to the city staff for um moving us up. Uh my name is Ellis. I'm here with my son Alfred. As you can imagine, he's an 8-year-old. He's very excited to get back to school as quickly as possible. Uh so, um this will help. Thank you. Uh so, good morning, counselors. Thank you for having us here today. My name is Ellis Westwood, and I'm here with my 9-year-old son. He's almost nine. Alfred, you can say hello. Hi. Alfred was born with a serious complex medical condition called Maran syndrome. Uh diagnosed when he was just a few weeks old. He's independent, resilient, and incredibly brave. Alfred uses a wheelchair for most mobility, although he can walk short distances wearing his leg braces. Perhaps I could ask us to go to the next slide. I could put a couple of pictures together just to illustrate uh his journey. Um, as parents, we've experienced many accessibility challenges and bar and barriers here in Ottawa, from malls to public spaces. When you experience these firsthand, it's really eye opening how inaccessible many spaces are. And we are grateful for the advocacy of the ability community over many years to address this. One of the few places that we found to be fully accessible is our neighborhood man park. Since he was very young, Alfred has used an adaptive tricycle, which you can see here. Uh you can see from the photos that without curbs or sidewalks, the streetscape is flat, safe for him to use. Uh, next slide, please. Here's another picture of one of the streets in our neighborhood. Can just see how accessible it is. There's no sidewalks that he could uh fall off on the side. They're constantly going up and down. The streets are very quiet. Uh, next slide, please. Uh, and like good good old bike owners, he takes care of his bike and washes it regularly. Um, next slide, please. Uh, when he was learning to walk, he Oh, that's his new bike. Sorry. Next slide, please. uh when he uh was learning to walk, he used a walker and used it on the side of the street without the barriers of curbs or constant slopes up or down for sideways or driveways. What we found to be most accessible on the next slide are flat public spaces that adaptive bikes and wheelchairs can use safely. I'd like to offer a few key points from our perspective on my final slide. First, as a family, we're obviously highly supportive of accessibility and safety across our city. On major roads with heavy traffic like buses and trucks, sidewalks are an important safety feature. However, on extremely quiet residential streets like Mana Parks, sidewalks simply do not um promote access and are unsafe. Wheelchairs, walkers, and tricycles are at risk of literally falling off sidewalks. and it's almost happened to us and landing on their sides. Ups and downs for curbs, for driveways, and the end makes steering difficult and hard to control. We almost had a serious accident with his trike falling off the sidewalk on birch on the sidewalk side. Looking back, we were just lucky that we were able to grab his steering, correct it on path. Otherwise, he would have just lurched off on the side into the road. Needless to say, we don't take birch anymore. Uh winter access is also more difficult with sidewalks in Mana Park. There's a separated sidewalk that's very short. It goes up a from the intersection towards Mana Park Public School. Um it's essentially not accessible in the winter. Like even around storms, it's icy. So we just take the road and it's fine. Uh but it like sidewalks just does not mean ease of access and accessibility whether it's in the winter or other times of the year. So thank you for having us here. Thanks for the chance to um to delegate and to talk. Thank you for listening and for hearing our perspective. And I understand this is not easy, but hopefully this helps. Are you done? Hey, you were reading your book the whole time. That's great. Thank you. Well, thank you for your delegate. Oh, sorry, Counc. Yes. Hi, just very quickly, um I just want to say hi to Alfie. Thank you for being here today. I hope you come back to city hall in the near future. You sound like a pretty engaged young man. Um I just had a question for dad. um only because I have a sister who also kind of went through the same trajectory your son um is going through. She's obviously now she's older than me. Um and uh her needs have sort of and I'm sure you've known this, right? They kind of just change over the years, but now um now she's full-on in a wheelchair. She is fullon in a wheelchair. Um she needs a motorized wheelchair. Sorry, Council Plant, if you could uh get to the question. Sorry about that. We have we have a long day today. I want to make sure people time. Thank you. Of course. So, I was just wondering if you uh is that the expectation that you will never need the sidewalks because he's in the bicycle condition right now? Um just wondering if you could kind of walk me through that what the expectations will be going forward as Alfie grows and hopefully becomes a city counselor one day. Um yes. Yeah. Thank you for the question. I mean I can just speak to my lived experience now when we are in our parenting journey. What I can say is there's a small little community of uh wheelchair users that meet uh uh on Montreal Road at the Tim Hortons and some of those members go for regular drives through the neighborhood. Uh and I've spoken to them and it's they said, "Hey, the man part is actually the safest, most enjoyable part of the trip because the street is open." Uh and uh so again, I I can speak to mine, but from what I've heard from other people whose needs are different, they feel similarly. Okay. Thank you very much and thanks Alfie. Thanks Alfie. And we just have one more counselor K. Uh thank you so much Jared. I just wanted to really thank the delegation uh for really demonstrating the multifaceted nature of of the issues that uh we are being confronted with in Manor Park. I think it's important and that's one of the things my office had uh tried to undertake during this process was to really ensure that uh many voices were heard and uh really demonstrating the multiaceted nature of of the challenges around infrastructure and the fact that uh you know from what I understand from the majority of residents uh there is a need uh to continue to examine uh the impact of of active transportation infrastructure and its implementation throughout the neighborhood. So, I really wanted to thank you and and your son for appearing today. Thank you so much, chair. Great. Thank you. And thanks, Alfie. Put your name on the ballot when you're over 18. It'd be great. Uh so, we'll go to our uh next delegation. Uh we have Rob uh Artell, I believe, is first in the list here. Do we have Rob online? Maybe I'll just look to the committee coordinators. Hey, sorry, I don't know if there was a bit of a lag there, but I'm here now. Yep. Great. And I'm not sure if you heard the preamble. We've done the land acknowledgement, so you have five minutes. The floor is yours. All right, great. Thank you. Good morning, chair and committee members. My name is Rob Batrell. I'm a resident of Orleans and a father of three young children. I'm here today to talk about the Manor Park sidewalks debacle on behalf of a consortium of concerned advocacy organizations spanning the city. As a parent who lives on a suburban street without sidewalks, I regularly see the friction that that causes for my family and our neighbors firsthand. Uh so I've spent the last few years as parents have in Manor Park navigating the carcentric lifestyle that our current street infrastructure enforces. I know exactly what it feels like to watch your kids share the road with vehicles going way too fast all a lot of the time, even around blind corners. I'm here today because we need to show up for each other. Debates like this that divide a neighborhood threaten to set a dangerous precedent for the entire city. When a community group challenges the official plan, trying to opt out of minimum safety and accessibility standards, it should be based on more than a desire to maintain the status quo. Next slide, please. Uh if the slides look familiar to you, it's probably because uh they come from a directly from a slide deck for the public information session held in Manor Park in 2025. These clearly delineate the importance of sidewalks and the reasons they were included in design plans for the renewal. Actually, the visuals from the entire presentation all come from this uh document that was prepared by the city and is shared on the engage Ottawa website. Uh so we are here today as organizations asking you to do what you said the city should be doing on this kind of renewal project. The city's official plan is clear on the question of why have sidewalks. The broad goal is to maintain or create safe, accessible pedestrian networks linking homes to schools, local amenities, and transit. Next slide, please. The official plan presents abstract goals for pedestrian connectivity. For a parent, this is the difference between letting a child walk to a friend's house or school independently or feeling compelled to drive them three blocks because the trip feels like Fury Road. Next slide, please. When the road is being torn up for other work, that's our one cost-effective chance to get this right. If the city skips putting these sidewalks in now, you're all voting to lock in known safety deficiencies for decades. In addition to being inequitable, that's fiscally and operationally irresponsible. Next slide, please. Uh the unique aspects of the neighborhood are rarely examined in the context of who they exclude. People who suffer silently without resources to vocalize the impact on them. Character doesn't help a senior with a walker or a neighbor with a visual impairment navigate a street shared with cars. Sidewalks provide an essential safety buffer for these vulnerable residents, and they shouldn't be a luxury dictated by a community's aesthetic preference. Next slide, please. Sidewalks should be the primary way we all navigate our local communities. Prioritizing aesthetic concerns and unsafe car-centric street design shouldn't impede the goals laid out in the official plan. Sidewalks link homes to essential amenities like parks, schools, transit, and shops, fostering community, and simplifying access. Next slide, please. If we want to reduce congestion and meet our climate goals, we have to make walking the most logical choice for trips whenever possible. We do that by providing dedicated space to walk. When we separate pedestrians from car traffic, we are providing the infrastructure for a healthier and less car dependent lifestyle. Next slide, please. Uh, sidewalks increase pedestrian safety by physically separating them from drivers, reducing injuries and fatalities. Safer streets also encourage walking, which reduces car traffic. Perceived safety by longtime residents often relies not only on their own status quo, but quite literally on survivorship bias. We've always done it this way, logic, but city policies are built on known safety best practices and the statistical reality that physical separation saves lives and livelihoods. Next slide, please. So, I'm asking this committee, we are asking this committee to uphold the city's own policies. Don't allow communities to opt out of the evidence-based plans based on vibes. If the no sidewalks group succeeds in delaying or canceling these plans, you can be sure that other areas are going to be lining up to be excluded, probably for their own unique reasons. It's your duty to ensure that Manor Park and other neighborhoods across the city have safe access to local places that every resident deserves. On behalf of all the organizations listed here, we are asking you to stay committed to the city's goals and objectives. This is a diverse coalition of residents and community groups who want to see Ottawa become the city it says it is working towards. You shouldn't start walking back good policies in an official plan that's still so new the city is really just breaking it in. Infrastructure debt, the transportation master plan, and addressing the housing crisis are all related to this file and are all more impactful conversations requiring far tougher choices. So I along with the members of the organizations listed here support the official plan and its requirements for evidence-based road safety measures like sidewalks on residential streets. Thank you. Great. Thank you for your delegation today. Seeing no questions, uh we'll go to the next delegation, Christina Keys. Uh then we'll also have John Gorms on deck and Eugenie Waters. So we'll go right to Christina Keys. Great. Yeah, you can they'll show you where to have a seat right there. Not sure if you've been here before, but you have five. Oh, great. Well, welcome. This is your council chambers. And you have five minutes. The timer will start as soon as you start speaking. Thank you. Oh, we'll just get you to turn the microphone just a little. That's good. Thank you. I've been a Manor Parker since birth. My parents have lived on Lndale near the affected street since the 1970s and I lived two doors down with my children. I now live in the overlapping community of Cardinal Glenn and three years, 5 months and four days ago, my youngest son, Theo died. He was a wheelchair user. But I'm here today as a friend and a neighbor to Mark Lindenburgg who also uses a wheelchair. Mark is an Ottawa writer, editor, and translator. And he couldn't be here today, but we both want his story told. Mark says, "As a resident of Mana Park and a wheelchair user, I followed this debate over sidewalks with a mix of disbelief and deep frustration. The opposition has characterized the addition of sidewalks as a threat to the community's character and charm. But charm should never cost come at the cost of accessibility, inclusion, walkability, and safety of the whole community. Sidewalks are not an aesthetic choice. They are a lifeline. I depend on them daily. Without sidewalks, especially during Ottawa's winter, my ability to safely navigate the neighborhood is sharply limited. I'm not alone. We all benefit from a safe, continuous sidewalk network. Opponents argue sidewalks will destroy the look and feel of Manor Park area. Their lawn sign slogan, don't pave paradise, is ironic given the already excessively wide paved ashalt streets in Manor Park. The slogan is also not fact-based. The proposal would narrow the space for cars to create the dedicated pedestrian space and the total amount of paved service will only be 4 to 6 in more. Walkability and charm are also not mutually exclusive. The infrastructure can enhance both. Studies consistently show that walkable communities are quieter, safer, healthier, and more desirable. Sidewalks increase property values, foster so stronger social cohesion, inviting neighbors outside and connecting us to one another. That's what's make a city city livable. Attending the city information session last summer, I heard cheering and jeering, interruptions and outright condescension, especially when voices like mine tried to express support for accessibility and urban renewal. I've rarely encountered such an entitled tone from fellow citizens. Decisions about infrastructure are engineering policy and procedural matters, especially when they touch on fundamental issues like accessibility safely and equitable public space. It sets a terrible precedent if a vocal group of Manor Park residents can defer sidewalks on their streets to study what we already know sidewalks are necessary now for the upcoming already approved densification and to make our neighborhood more connected, more inclusive, and safer for anyone. Let's not let one group squander this important opportunity to benefit generations to come out of fear of change or misplaced nostalgia. Sidewalks may seem like an unnecessary thing for some, but to many of us, they are the difference between independence and isolation. Now, in my own words, that was Mark. In my own words, I ask, why do people with disabilities like Mark have to keep struggling for inclusion when it's already in our policies? Why would these streets be exempt in order to study what we're already telling you now? We live here now. We need sidewalks now, not a different design. Now, as a privileged able-bodied manner parker, I fully support Mark's take on the condescension and entitlement of some of our neighbors. Today, you might hear from the same folks who spoke down to Mark at the public meeting. Those neighbors have been given a platform because of this process to broadcast their abbleist perspectives. Neighbors who watched me grow up welcomed me and my disabled son back to Ottawa came to his funeral and then posted signs on their lawn urging the community to keep lives like his more isolated and unsafe. That is what I experienced in Manor Park with a kid with a wheelchair, especially in winter. Their message is loud and clear. Mark and Theo are not welcome on these exclusive streets. Go live somewhere else. To those neighbors, I say sidewalks are not about you. And as the current individual residents, your attitudes have kept me silent until now. You are encouraging our counselors to set a precedent to silence and exclude others across the city. A precedent for other privileged communities to wage this unnecessary burden of a fight because you refuse to understand the role of sidewalks as lifelines between independence and isolation. counselors, you understand this, you know this, and you cannot order a study for what you already know. Thank you. Perfect timing, and thank you for your delegations uh today. See, no questions. Uh on to John. Oh, councelor Trer. Hi. I just wanted to thank you so much for coming today and for telling your son's story, and I'm so sorry for your loss. I was just wondering because we had a differing perspective from a parent of another child who had a has a mobility device and I'm I'm seeing a discrepancy here. So, I'm just wondering if you could speak to that because I understand sidewalks can sometimes be an impediment if they're not in good repair. That's why I didn't really talk about my own experience. I'm talking about Mark and other people like him. Uh because every individual has their own experience. I fully support that that's their experience. I totally understand. Um but that's one individual and we're making a decision here for 80 years before the before we'd have another chance to put in sidewalks. So the current individual residents shouldn't have an influence over a generational decision. It should be the larger procedural process that already you you all did that amazing work in voting for these policies. So that's been done and I don't see why individuals who currently live there should have such a say. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Council Bl. Yeah. Hi. Um sorry, I do quick question because I I do walk a lot in Manor Park, but I didn't grow up there like you do. Um the previous parent said that the road was wide enough for his child's um adaptive a bike. Presuming that road would still be wide then if we added the sidewalks. Correct. Is that your understanding of things? Well, the road will be narrower, but they're so wide already. It will be still very wide. They their their experience I don't believe will change. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Narrower road. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for your delegation today. Uh on to John Gorms, please. Thank you very much for uh having me uh for having us uh in the room today. I appreciate being a delegate and being able to speak. So, thank you very much. Uh and thank you to all the other delegates that have uh lined up and taken time out of the day to speak. I do recognize it's a pretty privileged debate that we're having today. Uh but I'm here to speak uh my concerns. I'm a very proud parent of my children who go to Manet Park Public School. Um, one of the other parents said the lived in experience. Uh, the first concern that we have as a parent of the school is the the sidewalks around the school. And if you're not familiar, uh, Thornwood Road is at the back of Man Park Public School and currently has a white painted line that's a pretend sidewalk. And on that pretend sidewalk, we pick up and drop off our children every day. and every day there's cars that go by there and it's just a constant safety issue. So my first concern is if this project does get denied, are we not going to receive the safety of sidewalks around the school for our children who are commuting to and from? Eastborne is another road that doesn't have sidewalks and the school is actually located on Braar Street and I believe in this proposal there is a sidewalk being implemented on Braar Street. So, you're telling me that if these sidewalks aren't implemented, then we're not going to have a sidewalk on the street that's the main street for accessibility to the front of the school. Uh, that's my first concern. Uh, my second concern and the last time I sat in this room was as a proud very proud resident of Vignet when we had many delegates that came to speak about the opposition about the mega shelter that was moved to our neighborhood. And we sat here, many delegates uh voiced their opposition of it um from both fact-based perspective and just opinions on the matter and why that mega shelter was uh not a good decision to be brought to our community. And at the end of those three days of delegation meetings, the city de voted in favor of moving the mega shelter and said that it was their policy to move it to Montreal Road. So, if I'm understanding this right, the city policy can tell us in Vanet that we can oppose something as as um problematic to the residents and the community as a mega emergency shelter. So, in Vanet, we don't get to say no to that. We just had to accept that that was the vote. And then in Manor Park, we're not even asking this proposal. It's it's there's several streets, a few streets that are getting sidewalks. You're making it seem like the whole neighborhood is being paved over. So for a few streets that are supposed to be getting sidewalks, the Mana Park residents who are opposed can say no to it. Is that actually what we're here for? Because I see a clear double standard as a proud resident of A. And in my line of work, I've had to help several many many families move move out of our neighborhood because of the policy decision that was uh decided to bring this mega shelter to our neighborhood. Sorry, I'm getting a little uh uh worked up and a little emotional here, but I'll I'll I'll leave you with this. I we trust in the city policy. We trust the direction that you're going in for all the reasons that these wonderful delegates are going to speak to today. Uh, but I really hope that these sidewalks are implemented because this is a safety concern for the children in the neighborhood and for residents who need to use them. Thank you so much. Great. Thank you, uh, John, for your delegation today. Uh, Eugenie Water. Great. We'll just get to we'll just switch up the mic. Perfect. Thank you. You're no stranger to this place. Five minutes. The floor is yours. Good morning. My name is Eugenie Waters. I am speaking on behalf of For Kids Ottawa Gatnau, a parentled network of volunteers who take climate action for our kids, grandkids, and future generations. I am a resident of Manor Park and was a member of the board of the Manor Park Community Association for over 5 years and chair of the environmental sustainability committee. Professionally, I am a community-based family physician. for our kids is strongly in support of the sidewalks proceeding as planned in Manor Park for a number of reasons. One, an exception in Manor Park opens the door for other neighborhoods to seek carveouts. This will erode the integrity of the city's guiding plans and policies that support healthier built environments and walkable 15-minute neighborhoods. These policies are essential to ensure Ottawa can reduce transportation related emissions and build a robust pedestrian network. Two, sidewalks make it safer for kids of all abilities to walk where they need to go and gain independence. Kids are shorter than adults and can be unpredictable. They make mistakes because they are learning. Sidewalks separate kids from moving cars and increase kids visibility to drivers. The proposed sidewalks will provide children now and for decades to come with continuous safe routes to Manor Park Public School, the park, and the community center. The fact that this is even up for debate is unconscionable. Three, safe routes with sidewalks can reduce how often parents need to drive their kids places, be it school, a playd date, or other activities, and reduces car dependency and air pollution while providing opportunities for physical activity. Only 39% of children and youth get enough exercise per day in Canada. Sidewalks allow kids to move more and spend less time in the back seat. Regarding spurious environmental concerns, mature tree preservation has been prioritized by the design team and forestry was consulted. The biggest risk to mature trees is digging up the streets to replace the pipes, which is happening anyway. The difference in total paved surface before and after road reconstruction is negligible. Worrying about GHD emissions from concrete for sidewalks is missing the forest for the trees. Replacing driving trips with walking trips has a much larger and longer term impact. Now, most importantly, children's needs have not been prioritized during this process. Like other equitydeserving groups whose needs have been minimized, kids can't spend all day at city hall. And it's their future risk at risk if we as adults don't work to mitigate the effects of climate change and make their city more sustainable, healthy, and safe. So, we arranged to capture their perspectives in advance. Thank you for taking the kids into consideration and voting to ensure these sidewalks are implemented. Thank you very much. You play play my video, please. Uh we have it on file. Y and we'll we'll be sure to it's circulated. It's in the folder right now because that would it it was my audio audio visual aid for the presentation. Oh, okay. How long is the video? It's 2 minutes. Perfect. Oh, you got it timed. You figured it out. You knew you you you game the system. That was good. This was prepared. Thank you. We'll just stop the timer there right now while we pull up the video. Hi, I'm Okay, we start the timer again. Talking about how to keep the neighbor sidewalk safe. Why cars like the one that just passed us here go on the road and if you're running on the road and the car might not see you. So, but they don't go on the sidewalk unless they're driving into the driveway. So, that's one big um cars so we don't get hit. What is your name? Cassia. Yeah. How old are you, Cassia? Four. Four. Soon I'm going to turn five. Do you like sidewalks? Yeah. Yeah. What do you like about sidewalks? Because they can keep us safe from cars. That's right. Do you guys like sidewalks? Yeah, of course. Duh. Why do you like sidewalks? Um because I can use my I can use it as a ramp for my scooter because it helps people not get run over by cars. Um same thing. I don't get random. Hi, I'm Max and I'm seven and I think we should have sidewalks because some people like me like to walk to school and I where I live I have sidewalks in my but in some areas they don't have sidewalks because I want other kids to be able to walk to school too. My name is Jackson. I'm four and I want me to walk um to school without getting hit by a car. That's fair. I guess that's fair. I guess it's a little violent. Bummer. What's that? Don't want to get crushed from cars. That why I like Great. Perfect time. Right down to 5 seconds. Thank you for your delegation today. Seeing no questions, on to our next delegate, Kyle Humphrey. Good morning everyone. I want to begin by clarifying that I am not a resident of Manor Park area. I don't live on Jeffrey Avenue or Braar Street. However, I am here today because the decision you make regarding the $ 122.9 million project radiates far beyond these few blocks. It sets a precedent for what we value as a city. When we hear that 52% of local survey respondents oppose these sidewalks because they want to preserve the look and feel of their street, we are facing a fundamental question. Does the neighborhood's aesthetic uh preference outweigh a human being's right to move freely? I'm here to argue that inclusivity must always come first. To many, a residential road without a sidewalk looks charming and open. But to a neighbor who is physically divergent, that road is a series of technical obstacles. Most streets are designed with c with a camber, a slope from the center down to the curb to facilitate drainage. When we deny a street a sidewalk, we force residents using wheelchairs, walkers, or scooters to navigate that slope. They aren't just moving forward. They are constantly fighting a sidew a sideways pull toward the gutter. Navigating a manual wheelchair on a slope road is physically exhausting and creates an unnecessary risk of tipping into traffic. By installing the proposed 1.8 m concrete sidewalks, we provide a mathematically level surface. We remove the the physical tax that the current road design imposes on every person with limited mobility. We also have to consider the reality of an Ottawa winter. Without sidewalks, the edge of the road becomes the storage space for snow cleared by city plows. For a physically divergent resident, a plowed snowbank isn't just an inconvenience. It is a wall that results in total isolation. The project reports highlight uh a $7,500 annual cost for mechanized snow clearing. This is one of the most vital investments in the budget. Properly cleared sidewalks provide a dedicated reliable route that is maintained to a standard. It ensures that a resident in a mobility device can reach a bus stop or a neighbor's home in in January just as easily as they can in July. Without this independent independence is a seasonal luxury, not a right. This project should serve as an example for all of Ottawa. When we prioritize the look and feel over infrastructure, we are inadvertently building gated communities for the able-bodied. A sidewalk is a is the primary tool for independence. It allows physically divergent ch children to gain the confidence to travel to a friend's house without a parent super constant supervision. It allows a senior to age in place with dignity, staying connected to their community. The city has already mitigated the look of the project by narrowing roads to 7.5 m to protect mature trees. The environmental and aesthetic concerns have been heard. Now is the time to hear the call for accessibility. An inclusive city is one that prioritizes the most vulnerable, ensuring that can't is removed from our vocabulary. In closing, I urge the community to approve the full sidewalk plan. I am not here for my own street. I'm here for the principle that every resident in Ottawa deserves a safe, level, and cleared path. Let's stop putting the feel of asphalt and grass ahead of safety of our people. Let's make Manor Park a model of what is truly accessible and independent. And excuse me, let's make Manor Park a model of what a truly accessible and independent neighborhood looks and feels like. Thank you. Thank you very much, Kyle. Uh, seeing no questions, onto our next delegation, Andrea Stewart. Hi there, everyone. Uh, thank you, chair and committee for having me. Uh, I'm going to keep my remarks short because um I think everyone's expressed themselves so well uh in terms of what's already been said. I am a a resident of Manor Park. My husband and I live on Hemlock Road, one of the few streets in Manor Park that does have a sidewalk. Our sidewalk is not great. And I think uh the state of the sidewalk is often used uh as um an an argument for not having sidewalks at all. But I'm glad to hear that the uh infrastructure committee has decided to refurbish the sidewalk on manner on on hemlock road and I'm looking forward to that being a much better walkable sidewalk because it is traveled a lot. I would say in the summer hundreds of people use the sidewalk in a day, certainly in a week. Um the main thing that I want to say is I am really dismayed that we're having this conversation that I am taking time from my workday that you are all um spending time on this that other people have come to spend time on this issue. There are so many important issues facing our city and there are so many things that we need to get done to argue over what is should be settled what is understood to be safe accessible and equal for citizens uh should not be up for debate. There should be no special status for neighborhoods when the official plan which there was unprecedented uh citizen involvement in providing feedback and ideas. Uh there is no reason why that guidance shouldn't be followed and special consideration for special neighborhoods should be taken. um we should be all uh following the same rules. And I think what John said and also Kyle uh talked about about what message it sends when some citizens are allowed to um have uh special considerations and others are not really really erodess the trust that we as citizens have in you, our elected officials and our city officials. So, I really ask you to consider what the, for lack of a better term, de democratic um uh implication is to not stay with the guidance of the master plan and to see this project through as it should be seen. Thank you very much. Great. Thank you for your delegation today. Thank you. Seeing there's no questions, thank you for coming out. The next is Elise Ko. Good morning all. My name is Aisha Kamo. I'm here today as a parent, as a longtime community volunteer, and a voice for many residents who haven't had the opportunity or felt safe enough to speak up in this debate. After 11 years of living in Manner Park and countless hours volunteering in our community, I am here to express my deep concern about the ongoing sidewalk debate. As the mother of two young children, I have come to believe that a strong community is one that finds ways to meet the diverse needs of all of its residents. Every day, I make a deliberate choice. When I'm leaving my home, which has a sidewalk only on the south side, I cross the street to the walk on that sidewalk. I do this whether I'm walking with my children or heading out for a stroll alone. Why? Because I feel safer on a sidewalk. I find myself asking when we travel to other neighborhoods, don't most of us naturally use the sidewalk when they're available? Isn't there something instinctive about choosing that separated protected space? We all seek safety and comfort while walking, none more so than our neighbors who rely on walking as their primary way of getting around. Something important deserves emphasis here. Those who prefer to walk on the street will always have that option. The streets will remain. Um, but sidewalks provide a crucial alternative for young families, seniors with disability or mobility challenges, people using wheelchairs or walkers, and many residents who do not own cars. For those neighbors, every trip to catch a bus, visit a friend, or buy groceries currently means navigating roadways alongside vehicles. While some may feel comfortable with that arrangement, others do not. And their needs deserve equal consideration. Sidewalks simply give everyone a choice, allowing each resident to travel in the way that feels safest and most comfortable for them. Something else needs to be said here directly. The opposition of these sidewalks have been loud, organized, and I say this very respectfully. It has largely come from a very specific segment of our community. The long-term homeowners, many of them retired, many of them with cars, many of them with the time and resources to show up and make their voices heard. And that's their right. But their comfort with status quo is not a reason to deny safety infrastructure to the residents who need it most. The tenants in this neighborhood, many of them are lower income with children, many with disabilities. They did not organize a letter writing or a lawn sign campaign. They're too busy working, too busy caring for their families. Their silence should not be mistaken for consent. Now, I want to address the process directly because this is also a question of good governance. This council voted in favor of the city's official plan and the transportation master plan. These plans contain an explicit policy. When roads are being reconstructed, sidewalks are installed. The policy exists because it saves money, it minimizes disruption, and it reflects the city's own commitment to walkability and accessible infrastructure. Today, because of coordinated pressure from a local minority, we are being asked to override that policy on these streets. The contract is in place. The road is already being excavated. I mean, we've been living with the mud and, you know, road closures for months and months. Adding sidewalks now costs a fraction of that standalone project would cost in five years. Deferring this is this not is not a compromise. This is a decision to spend more public money later to deliver less safety. Now we are not asking for anything special. We are asking for what the city already promised. We are asking for what the city's own planners, engineers, and public health experts have said is the right thing to do. So, please approve these sidewalks as planned, not for me, but for those neighbors who are not in this room today, who are counting on this council to represent them, too. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Uh, see, councelor Blond. Hi. Thank you so much for your delegation. Um, as you know, I'm the council for so I have a lot of parents who commute with their children to Bua, which is on my side of each, or they commute with their children to Manor Park Public School, and they've been reaching out like crazy. So, I was wondering if you could maybe just address that dynamic a bit. Um, you know, it's not like the Manor Park residents are just the Manor Park residents and then it's only sort of the self-contained community. There are people who do commute within the two neighborhoods. I was wondering if you could just address that briefly. Correct. I in fact have two children at leis and uh I know um because of my involvement with the with the community. Yes. Um we do we do bike to the school um when the weather is nice um in the in the non icy non-s snowy months. Um, my children are getting old enough that they are asking if they can walk to school and I do not feel comfortable allowing them to walk to school on their own. Um, because simply there is not a continuous sidewalk connection from Manor Park to Deba, right? Yes. Hammllock has a really nice stretch of um of sidewalk which is great but until they get to hemlock and if you don't live in these streets despite being a small residential street with that low traffic is what it's considered um there are a lot of people even locals do not drive according to road conditions do not drive according to speed limit do not drive knowing there are children on the street playing out. My children are playing outside all the time, winter or summer, and every now and then we have a scare because somebody rips around the corner really fast, right? You know, this this is a big issue. We need sidewalks to make children and families feel safer. And most of these people who are opposing to to the sidewalks are not in the same demographic. And frankly, be to be honest, they they're not going to be here in the next 20 25 years when the next next generation of families move in and are having kids and are looking for safety. They're going to raise their voices to ask for sidewalks. Great. And what are we going to do? Thank you for that. Uh, councelor Plant, does that answer your question? It does. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Chair. We'll move on to the next delegation, Henry Lou. Thank you. Uh, sorry. All right. Thank you for letting me speak with you today in support of sidewalks. My name is Henry Louu, a resident of Manor Park. Several months ago, I received a physical letter from my counselor to attend a public information session on Manor Park road renewals. What I expected was a presentation and nice community engagement. What I got instead was staff being interrupted very frequently, being told to eat their mics, and lots of opposition to the project, including by the president of the Manor Park Community Association, which when I looked through the association's past meeting minutes, showed that there were board members that were actually in support of sidewalks, showing that the opposition to sidewalks is not universal and is much less to the wider community. Nonetheless, the staff did finish their presentation and I came away agreeing with their view. They created a final road design that is uniquely tailored and perfectly fit for the current and future needs of Manor Park residents. This is confirmed by the thorough staff report that was provided. I hope that the council can recognize that substantial staff time, effort, and outreach has already been given to hearing such concerns. While this may look like great community engagement, it is excessive and it seeks to undermine all the resources and consultations that went into the official city plan. I wonder what the point is if the local counselor who voted for and says he supported these policies preferred to disengage with these policies and instead indulge in those who decide to deny and defer these sidewalks by individuals whose hobby it is to oppose projects. Maybe to that end I'll end with this. In my mind, pavement invokes dark, dirty back alleys full of loading zones and garbage strewn about. Sidewalks invoke quiet, calm places with gardens, trees, and people. Personally, I would love to walk down freshly laid sidewalk with my family than on the pavement that exists today. So I ask that you please proceed with the project as proposed by staff. Thank you very much for your time. Great. Thank you for your delegation. Seeing no questions. Next up we have Sandra Regular. Hello. It says Sandy. Is it okay to say Sandy? Sorry. Sandy is fine. Sandra is kind of the official name. So it's all good. I'm a Timothy, so I get it. But Sandy, you got five minutes. The floor is yours. Perfect. Thank you so much. Um so I have been a resident of uh Manor Park for 24 years now um as a renter. Um for 17 of those years I ran a home daycare. So I was one of those people pushing through the neighborhoods with strollers in hand, walking to and from the school every single day. My all three of my children um were now a little older um went to Nanner Park as well. So, I would have five children in tow walking to and from the school every day. Um, having to walk on the road where there are no sidewalks. Um, dealing with cars racing through the neighborhood, using it as a throughway to get to the parkway. um on many occasions yelling at people to tell them to slow down uh because of safety the safety aspect. Never had an issue with the children running off or anything. However, it was a huge safety aspect dealing with the speeding through the neighborhood, having to be on the road with the cars. Winters were a whole other story. Uh the roads not properly cleared go down to about one and a half car width. So walking through the neighborhood with a big triple stroller, I was yelled at on a regular basis. I was pushed off onto um driveways, told to get off the road as I'm trying to get my children to and from school. again, no safe space for me to walk the neighborhood. Um, then that leads to, I think it was 2018, um, my daughter, my youngest daughter, um, was diagnosed with, um, epilepsy. So, we had to walk her to and from school. I had to walk her to and from school every day. There was no safe space for her to walk. Um, we couldn't trust that she wouldn't have a seizure on the on the way to school. We didn't know enough about her diagnosis at that time. So, we would have to go to and from school every day walking her to ensure her safety. Again, no sidewalks available. And so many people have spoken about um accessibility for people in wheelchairs and walkers and things like that, but also I'd like you to take into account invisible disabilities such as epilepsy. When there's no safe place to walk sidewalks for people to um you know maneuver throughout the neighborhood, it does become a huge safety issue. Um, and so that is kind of my perspective on why sidewalks are actually very important. Take into account every consideration with people with disabilities, either physical disabilities that can be seen or invisible disabilities. Um, but also the kids in the neighborhood, keeping them safe, walking through the speeding through the neighborhood, using it as a throughway to get to the parkway. It's it is not safe. It never has been safe. And um I just wanted to basically give my perspective on this. Um, I no longer have my home daycare, but um, you know, for futures, for future, you know, people in the neighborhood, I think this is a very, very big safety issue. Thank you, Sandy, for your time today. Uh, seeing no questions, we'll move to the next delegation. Peter uh, Burpy. Oh, in real life, Peter is here. Great. You just turn on the microphone and as soon as you start speaking the five minute timer will start. Thank you very much. Uh thank you for for uh the opportunity to speak to the committee today. Uh my name is Peter Burpie and I've uh lived in Manor Park for for about 40 years. Uh I'm going to speak today uh to some of the uh people that are not able to uh to join us today uh that are have mobility challenges. You've heard from Ellis and Alfred who have expressed their concerns for the accessibility of proposed sidewalks for people with mobility challenges. They're not alone in this opinion. While not all these concerned neighbors can be here today, some of them have expressed their concerns directly to councelor King or via community list serve or they have spoken at public meetings. Uh Katie Mitchell uh mother of one of of a disability disabil disabled uh son lives on Kilberry and spoke about the challenges sidewalks would create for her 20-year-old son David who like Alfred uh drives an adaptive tricycle and when walking would not be able to walk with his career or family on the narrow surface of a sidewalk. Katie sent me a note last night. Her son David is now 21. Katie states, "I know that in our son's particular case, the lack of sidewalks and wide, flat, quiet streets of this part of Matter Park have significantly enhanced accessibility for both walking with a carer and using his adaptive tricycle. I also have a note from Don Logan, uh, a resident of Kilberry. Don's in her 90s and has lived on Kilberry since 1971. Don still walks regularly in the neighborhood and does not want sidewalks. Don states, uh, "There is absolutely no need for sidewalks. There are plenty of stop signs to control local traffic. There have been no accidents, and there is a walkway in the center of the community for children going to school." Another resident, Maryanne Vanderjack, a neighbor on Braar Street, states, "I used to push my mother in a wheelchair along concrete sidewalks. She felt every seam between the concrete slabs as the wheelchair bumped over them. She was unable to speak due to her stroke, but by the way she looked at me and shook her head, I knew she was not pleased with the constant bumping. Instead of using the sidewalk, I ended up pushing her along on the street. This would therefore support not having sidewalks on the quiet residential streets. Christina Kon uh another neighbor on Kilberry who has submitted a paper late, but I encourage you to uh to read her paper. I I do quote from that paper. Christina says curbs, pavement, seams, and the up and down profile due to the driveways due to driveways would be difficult for people in wheelchairs and walkers to navigate. These people you're hearing from these people you are hearing from in these quotations need to be listened to. They live on the streets directly impacted by the potential sidewalks. They do not need or want sidewalks. Sidewalks are not always safer or preferred for people with mobility challenges. And just let me speak briefly on on the the proposed sidewalk renewal project. The six six designated streets where sidewalks are proposed represent a fraction of the streets in the Manor Park residential area. How does six street segments represent a connected accessible network? They don't. This would create a disconnected network. Some streets with sidewalks, some streets missing sidewalks um and and sidewalks not being placed uh around the school. As one of the earlier speakers spoke of, sidewalks need to be installed around the school. Of the remaining streets in the residential area, 50% have already received sewer and water infrastructure renewal. It would be decades before they would receive sidewalks. The proposed proposed sidewalks would in fact create the disconnector network I mentioned above and would leave a bunch of orphan sidewalks for decades. What do you tell your kids? Walk on the sidewalk till it runs out. Then move to the other side of the street facing traffic. Then when you come to another sidewalk, cross the street and get back onto the sidewalk. Not a safe configuration. But look at it from the driver's perspective. Drivers would be faced with a myriad. 10 seconds. Uh configuration. Some with sidewalks and then around a corner, no sidewalks, then back onto a street with sidewalks. At a minimum, it would create confusion for drivers, but would also be unsafe for pedestrians. Confusion is not conducive to a safe driving. Thank you. Seeing no questions, we'll go to David McKinnus. Hello, counselor. Hello. My name is David McKinnus. I'm a Manor Park resident. I'm going to address two questions with you today. Have you been given a full picture of resident views about the proposed sidewalks in Manor Park? And have city officials fulfilled its duty of procedural fairness in handling this issue? Turning to the first question, you're most likely aware of Councelor King's worldwide electronic survey. It revealed 79% of that of those respondents, over 330 are opposed to sidewalks. As far as I know, officials have not disclosed to you other surveys undertaken in the neighborhood. These were sent to city officials. I did a survey along with a colleague of mine. We went doortodoor. were the only people who actually went to every single door in on the six designated streets. We couldn't get to everybody. We got to 76 households. 90% are opposed to sidewalks. A colleague of mine who lives in on Kilbury, Mark Patrick, he's here today. He undertook two surveys, one in March of 2025. 86% of residents, 190 plus residents are opposed. He did another survey in August of 25. 96% with 240 uh respondents express opposition to sidewalks and a further 97% of those indicated they felt safe or perfectly safe using streets, our streets. What has the city told you? They included an erroneous survey in the package sent to you. And I believe that councelor King might address this referring to a Novatek survey. It's the first we ever heard of it that show very different numbers. This needs to be looked at. Correcting this error for the record is essential. Look, we all understand that uh administrative mistakes can happen. But the bigger issue here is the adequacy of transparency. And this is not a one-off omission. I refer to you to document one in your package. It includes a summary of the public information session held in July of 2025. Some 150 people attended, standing room only, and an overwhelming majority of people expressed their opposition for unnecessary sidewalks. The city concluded that there was significant discussion with many re residents expressing opposition, but others spoke in favor and emphasizing their benefits in terms of safety and accessibility. For starters, city staff utterly minimized the extent of opposition in the document to you. Then the city attributed the safety accessibility benefits to those who want sidewalks and said nothing about the views expressed by those. the majority who opposed this document substantially misrepresents what occurred that day that day and I think this is a serious shortcoming about process. The second the question have duty have city officials fulfilled their duty of procedural fairness? We send our door-to-door uh survey to the city manager on December 6, 2024. She responded, "We are looking into whether there are potential alternatives that also achieve the above noted policies." This was repeated on December 11th, 2024. She said, "We are assessing whether potential alternatives can be utilized to meet the city's policies. Then on March 18th, she said of 2025, we continue to assess options. We have not seen, have you seen any expression of options, analysis or alternatives? This raises two issues. Making repeated unfulfilled pledges to residents raises questions about process integrity. With respect, this is the precedent that should be of concern to counselors around this table for any matter involving taxpayer consultations. Acknowledging that there are or could be quote alternatives in fact affirms the need to pause forging head on unnecessary sidewalks. Presenting this option as the city did in our emails their emails to us basically implies that local context merits consideration. There is a need to have a more complete picture and understanding of traffic traffic flows, traffic calming options and pedestrian priorities not only in the six streets but Manor Parkwide. Counselors, this is not an entitlement. You are being asked to decide on sidewalks without having accurate and complete information of community feedback of an understudied plan and without workable alternatives or proper evidence. Deferring sidewalks is the appropriate decision. Thank you. Perfect timing. You got me right there. Okay, great. Thank you, David. Uh Natalie Bell. Uh chair, I just had a quick question. Yeah, councelor Plant. Yeah, thank you. Um sorry. Hi. Yes, David. Nice to see you again. Um I was at that meeting in July. I just have a you you just quick quick question for you because you talked about procedural integrity. So, my understanding though of the official plan, and please correct me if I'm wrong, is that it's sort of like not smoking, right? We all agree that there's no smoking in restaurants or whatever because that is the policy and the procedure and the law in Ontario. Same now with the sidewalk. So, I I'm a little hesitant to kind of give you the floor about this because it it it seems like it's something that maybe I'm misunderstanding or you're misunderstanding, but sidewalks are now the policy in the official plan. It was approved at council. So, can you tell me where you say there's no procedural integrity in something we unanimously approved? Yes, thank you very much uh for the question. Um I'm referring uh to what the city officials sent to us and communicated to us and as I mentioned there were at least three occasions and uh we also had such information come from our counselor himself. So there's I was just being abbreviated, but on three occasions, officials expressly and I can send you these emails if you like. They expressly noted that they would look at alternatives and options. Full stop. So we took that on faith. And so by not seeing any information on those assessments and I ask you, have you seen and it may be not our place to ask for that, but as counselors, have you seen an assessment of those alternatives? If you have, I think the residents, both pro and con or favored and in in favor or not in favor of sidewalks, would be most interested to see it. If they haven't, then how is it that city officials can pledge in expressly that they're going to look at options and alternatives and not follow through? This is a procedural issue that I think is very material and it is material today about sidewalks. But I would really with respect say on any matter that comes before your committee if officials are saying one thing to residents and taxpayers and you're under the understanding that something is or isn't happening that don't follow through. I believe there's an issue here. Great. Thank you for that. Councelor Plot. Uh no that's all. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for your question. We'll move on to Natalie Bell. Hey, Natalie. How are you? You're no stranger to this place. You have five minutes. The floor is yours. So, I had uh my name is Natalie Bellic and I am a 30-year resident of Manor Park. I am the president of the association, but I'm here as an individual today because as somebody stated, the board is not 100% together on sidewalks. I'll be perfectly frank about that. Um, and I had a five-minute presentation written, but I feel compelled to respond to some of the comments that were made uh this morning about this sidewalk situation. So first of all, our interpretation uh and understanding of the official plan and the transportation master plan is that there isn't uh 100% mandate of having sidewalks everywhere and that the city can look and uh and look at the context of the neighborhood and see whether sidewalk installation is the best alternative. So it reads may look different based on surrounding context. So again, that's another reason why we should reflect a little bit further on whether these are needed. As far as vilifying the neighbors that are here presenting uh on the anti- sidewalk side of things, I I just take a little bit of offense to that because as a community association, we have been uh pounding to try and get certain sidewalks installed where they are actually needed and wanted. And Rson knows for seven years we've been trying to get the sidewalk on London Terrace completed uh because it just ends and it's on a busy road. It connects two parks. It's in a much denser section of Manor Park and the big win we got this year was that Rson was able to get it in the transportation master plan which means that it's going to be another 7 to 10 years before we see that sidewalk. We've also been advocating for a sidewalk around Manor Park School and around the park for the last two years. And you know, people have talked about kids walking to school. I think that's super age-based. This is a JK to six. Uh, and one of the reasons why there's so many traffic concerns around the school is because the catchment area is so huge and the buses get cancelled and then parents are mad and in a rush and dropping off and picking up their kids and causing huge issues around the Thornwood area. We want sidewalks there. We are not an anti-sidewalk advocacy group. We are a can the city spend their money where we really want and need the sidewalks. If we're talking about accessibility uh and connection, uh we have Hemlock Road and Birch and Sandridge that only have sidewalks on one side of the street. Yes, there are buses that go on both sides of the street. So, people who get off the bus are stranded on a concrete pad and have to deal with crossing uh Hemlockk, which is quite a busy road, uh to Sandridge and Birch, which are are less occupied. So, those are sidewalks that we'd like to see completed because those will truly address accessibility. Um, as as far as protecting the most vulnerable, I I can tell you and again, you know, we have written reports that we're going to submit, there are so many people with mobility issues that like and come to walk in those streets in Manor Park because they are so tranquil. None of the streets connect to an arterial road. Only Eastborne, my street goes from San Lauron to Birch. I live on the busiest street in the neighborhood and our road infrastructure was done in the last 10 or 15 years. So, we won't see a sidewalk there for another 75 years. So, again, the that road which could use a sidewalk isn't even, you know, on the on the table for that. Um the city staff was thinking that the sidewalk between Braar and San Lauron on Eastborne would be built by the developer when they imminently developed the Manor Park estates. But when they were told that, oh that's a plan in the developer uh timeline that's 25 years away, they were like, oh, we didn't know that. So again, we're trying to get a sidewalk there to link Manor Park East to the school more safely and the park. Um, I think that the pause and the deferral of this sidewalk project at this time needs to be made because you do really need to study where the city wants to prioritize spending their money. um if there's no money to build those other sidewalks and maintain them because we all know our sidewalks are kind of so so all throughout the city. We don't have high confidence that these sidewalks are going to be again well plowed and maintained. The cost of uh maintaining the new infrastructure, the narrower road and the side the snow banks is going to also increase the maintenance cost to the city. Great. Thank you for your delegation. We do have a question from councelor Johnson. Uh thank you. Uh thank you chair. Thank you for your delegation. I think um certainly many around this table would be sympathetic to the issue of sequencing across various sidewalk projects. I think we all have examples in our ward where we see similar frustrations. I guess what I'm struggling with is if the sidewalks were deleted in Manor Park and the money went back to the next road renewal project because you can't just take it and put it over on the TMP. What how does that advance your sidewalk sequencing issue? I I I'm I'm struggling with the equivalency here. I do believe that we could on a go forward basis talk about the sequencing of projects and how the money is allocated to try and get those most urgent projects built first perhaps. I wouldn't want to presume such a thing. It would be quite an analysis. But to suspend a project that's already seen a deferral increases cost over overall for the project and and ultimately introduces you know perhaps another 12 months of of uncertainty while in fact it won't be able to be equivalent to some of those other projects that are so important to you. So, I I don't understand why, and maybe you could explain it to me, like if we were to delete the sidewalk here and it goes back to the next road renewal project in any one of our wards, how will you get your TMP projects faster? And again, I'm I'm sure there's a lot, trust me, there could be the whole board of questions here, and I'm sure this will go to staff, but if you can answer the counselor's question. I think what's frustrating is that by plunking in these sidewalks and just saying, "Oh, it's so much less expensive to build them as you do the road work." And nobody's arguing that that's true. It just sort of lets the city kind of tick off a box that says, "Oh, you know, we're being more accessible. We're being more uh connected." But in truth, how those roads work and where they are isn't going to connect the rest of the neighborhood. There is a path already that runs right through the neighborhood that's pedestrian only. Uh that is the connector in the neighborhood. It was planned and built when when it was built in the 50s. So do do we think it's going to advance the rest of the sidewalks quicker? No. We've been told like one pot of money is not the same as the other. However, we we're trying to make the city hear that it's not okay to defer all those projects. We have to find the money for those really needed sidewalks and not focus on ones that really are not going to add anything to the life experience in the hood. Thank you. Thank you. And is that pathway winter maintained? So that's a good question and it hasn't been for some time because I think at one point people were frustrated that bicycles went through it. So they they put some you know uh fencing to make it zigzag. Uh, but that is actually something that we would like to um to reinstate and and have it plowed now. So, to remove those fences. So, I haven't talked to councelor King's office about that, but yes, that that's that's uh in the in the works. Great. Thank you for that. Thank you, counselor. Uh, next up, Richard Van Djett. Is he online? I don't believe I don't believe he's online. Yes. Is he online? Oh, perfect. I am. I am on mine. Great. You have five minutes. The floor is yours. Okay. Thank you. Thank you members of the committee for allowing me to Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay. Well, thank you very much for allowing me to submit my comments. I've been living in Manor Park for 36 years and I've always enjoyed it. Safe and quiet streets around which I've built a large community of friends within easy walking distance. I have epilepsy. I've never had a safety issue. Personally, as you will no doubt hear from or have heard, there's not once ever been a collision between a moving vehicle and a pedestrian at Manor Park during those 36 years. I'm a retired hematologist oncologist who has spent a lifetime of cancer treating malignancies at the Ottawa Hospital. Many of these malignancies were induced by environmental exposures as there is much data to demonstrate that. I'm a member of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment on the Steering Committee of the Environmentally Associated National Association of the Club of Rome. I'm on the Climate Action Network, which in Canada alone represents 186 organizations, national organizations, and I'm on the board of prevent cancer now. I have numerous publications in the Hill Science, the National Observer, and been solo author of articles in the globe as male. I'm also on the steering committee to develop a national institute for planetary health and a well-being society. The committee needs to know that sidewalks are not only environmentally unfriendly, but also act as a heat sink in the summer and thus increase GHD emissions. As a result, the materials used to build sidewalks are not only climate unfriendly, but also prone to breakdown, as is indicated on an easily searchable National Research Council study that can be found online. As most of you already know, our climate is warming rapidly at a very rapid pace which far exceeds any targets we have set. This results in more heat strokes, cardiac disease, dementia, lung cancer, fires, and increased exacerbations of asthma. Thus, anything that exacerbates this untenable situation for good health in a in a healthy economy and in this case means the committee should not put in sidewalks, curbs, if anything, will exacerbate drainage problems. The city does does not have the capacity to maintain these unwanted sidewalks, which will also lead to destruction of our productive tree canopy. Given the wealth of evidence against sidewalks presented by my colleagues and by me, which is over 90% of the residents have already voted against, any attempt by the the city to ram proposed sidewalks will be like trying to ram a square peg through a roll a round hole and above all would be viewed by all of those affected as a travesty of the democratic process. I urge you to take these comments very seriously and thus elect not to install the planned sidewalks for Manor Park as planned. Great. Uh, thank you, Richard, for your delegation today. Seeing no questions, I'll move on to Victoria Harris. Perfect. Okay. Thank you very much for allowing me to speak here today. My name is Victoria Harris and I've been a resident of Manor Park on Arundle Avenue at the corner of Farnum for 28 years. Arundle is one of the streets where they're proposing to put a sidewalk on half the street. I respectfully request that this committee defer a decision to install sidewalks and other speed reduction infrastructure on the five or six streets currently under construction for sewer replacement until a more thorough review of transportation needs could be completed. And if it is deemed necessary then to implement a sidewalk policy that it be done uh consistently and all at one time to ensure safety and priority should be given to putting them around the school. A rund is several blocks from the school and I too am here to provide a perspective on safety based on my own experience living and walking on the streets of Manor Park. raised my children and I've had three dogs over the past 28 years that I walk regularly throughout the neighborhood on the streets. I've never encountered or witnessed any close calls of pedestrian vehicle interaction. The streets are generally very quiet. When I am out with the dog, cars proceed uh with caution and slow down as they pass me. Delivery trucks, now more ubiquitous since COVID, wait patiently as my dog stops in the middle of the street to say hello to another dog. I walk two and three a breast with my friends, talking incessantly until one of us becomes aware of a car coming up behind us and waiting to get by. When I when I drive in my own vehicle, I find myself slowing instinctively as soon as I turn into the neighborhood. Why do I and other drivers behave this way? Because without sidewalks, pedestrians and vehicles are in a shared space and have to negotiate it together and modify their behavior accordingly. Studies undertaken in the Netherlands and the UK of shared space design, the concept that pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists safely occupy the same area without physical separation, show that these environments can be safer than traditional segregated roads. The primary safety mechanism is a mental speed bump effect where the lack of traditional traffic controls, signs, signals, curbs, and sidewalks creates uncertainty, forcing all road users to be more alert and negotiate movement through eye contact and social cues. Vehicles don't own the roads in Manor Park. And it is immediately apparent that people, dogs, kids, strollers, wheelchairs, scooters, all of them that are on the street, and there are a lot of them. We have a lot of pedestrian traffic at any given time. They might do something unpredictable. So, the vehicles proceed with more caution. They are unsure what they will do, what the pedestrians will do, and they demonstrate self-regulating traffic behavior, lowering speeds, increasing yielding, waiting patiently for me and my dog to stop their interactions, and they adjust their risk to take on more personal accountability. This is how we have managed safely for the past 80 years in Manor Park and how we continue to manage for the next 80 years. These urban cookie cutter infrastructure designs are not required in Manor Park and given the city's current recommendation to proceed with a partial implementation of them. I ask you to defer this until a thorough study and review is completed or if the city are determined to impose the recommendations that it be done all at one time. If a sidewalk exists, and this is something Peter raised, for half the length of the street, we will lose the shared space that keeps us safe. Drivers will own the road and they will not pay heed to pedestrians who are now relegated to a sidewalk. So what happens when vehicles proceed further on a rund? They come from San Lauron down a rund and then the sidewalk ends right at my house at Farnum. Drivers will think that they own the road and they will think they can proceed safely at speed down the rest of the street. This is dangerous and it will remain dangerous for many years to come. As has been mentioned, there is no sewer work planned on a rund west of Farn having been completed only 15 years ago. So, please do not purs permit the installation of half a solution. Sidewalks on half of four streets representing only about a third of the neighborhood to a problem that hasn't been clearly identified. Thank you. Right on time. Thank you for that. Seeing uh there is no questions on this one. Thank you for your delegation today. Uh we'll now go to uh Julie Zang. And I believe uh there's a photo on file. So Julie, I just looking to see if you're online or if you're in person today. Great. And we've all seen the photo. It's on file. So you have five minutes. The floor is yours. Yeah, just push the button. Thank you. Oh, hello. Hi. Can I have my photo? Yeah, it's on the screen. Please proceed. Okay, great. Thank you so much. Good morning, everybody. Uh, this is a photo of my son. He is about two years old and that's about the time we moved to Manuel Park. Uh we really enjoyed the unique community vibe of the neighborhood and uh and I want to today just want to share my experience and address some of the opposition concerns respectfully. Uh I often push the stroller to local playgrounds and to the bus stop. Um, number one, uh, without sidewalks, I'm often need to swerve around parked cars and look look over my shoulders. Often the streets are narrower and more dangerous in the winter and in the rain. Uh, number two, I feel pressured to be on the move all the time. Look at the picture we have. I can calmly take a photo of him. I may be able to listen to music, enjoy a moment of calmness, pause, grab a sip of water, check my phone, maybe chat with a stranger, people walking with their dogs. It's a wonderful space uh to have connections. And thirdly, I take my son for walks. if that sidewalk isn't there, um, you know, it's, uh, if he's when he's older, I'm not going to feel the piece of mind to let him go out on his own to walk to school. Um, next, I just want to address some of the opposition's points. Uh, we really shouldn't be messing some of the sidewalk installation with other issues. uh they need to be addressed separately such as um the fact that uh the sidewalks are not maintained. Uh so just like potholes on the road if that's an issue that deserves its own light and we should advocate for more resources to improve them if that's the case. And secondly, uh recognizing the wheelchair users and the specific individual cases of wheelchair users um they have a unique uh um preference uh and that uh they may require they may still require the safety and protection from vehicles while needing perhaps a pavement uh for the wheels to travel comfortably. Um again that would perhaps I would put that in the lane of a bike. Uh so that is again a separate and individual case to be addressed differently. Um next uh sidewalks may if sidewalks may not be enjoyed by certain individual that does not invalidate the needs of other vulnerable populations. My family needs it and I know future families moving into the community are going to need it. Uh next, uh number four, sorry, lost track of the numbers. Um the streets are not going to be closed, so I would say feel free to continue using them uh if that's what they prefer. And next, number five, we have a sidewalk on our street and it's never taken away the beauty and the connectivity of the neighborhood. We have more people outside playing. I would say it connects us more by providing that calm space in the road and that we can just relax in and that is actually more beautiful. Number six, every project and plan has had uh a thorough consultation period such as the transportation master plan and that period is over. We cannot be debating the same issues in circles. That would not be efficient. Number seven, there are many other vehicles going around the streets such as uh people visiting your house or mail delivery vehicles. We cannot put full trust in vehicle operators um the way we have trust in the people we know in the neighborhood. Number eight, uh some of the concerns on costs and trees have already been discussed in the staffing report stating minimal impact. So just so uh to remind you of that. And next number nine, we cannot be using logic of perception to make important decisions. Uh just like it wouldn't be correct if I said I've never gotten sick, so I don't need to be vaccinated. or I would uh I'm not going to wear a seatelt because I've never been in a car accident. Lastly, and most importantly, I would say uh even the opposition said themselves they do want more sidewalks as well. What they really don't want is in front of their house. But what's important to know is we cannot be spending our time assessing individual cases of every street. Uh again, inefficient. and it's important to stay integral to the transportation master plan. So I urge you that the council to follow through firmly on the objective of TMP and the decision is to go ahead with no exceptions. Thank you. Thank you. We'll take the picture down so I can see the screen. See no questions. Thank you for your delegation today. Uh next up we have Brianna McKelie. Hi. Can you hear me? We can. Please proceed. My name is Dr. Dr. Brianna McKelie and I'm a pediatric intensive care physician. I'm here today firstly because I want to advocate for the importance of road safety. Unfortunately, in my 13 years in the ICU, I have cared for hundreds of children who have been in road traffic accidents, many of whom were pedestrians hit by vehicles and some of whom were hit outside their school. All of these accidents have severe consequences for the victims and their families. Sadly, including the possibility of not surviving. I have had dozens of patients die from these injuries. The safety of our children should be a community's number one priority. There will certainly be individual circumstances that have understandable concerns about sidewalks. But much like in medicine, as city councilors, you have to look at the overall evidence presented by experts. I'm not an urban planner, but from what I understand, there's ample evidence that sidewalks significantly reduce pedestrian accidents. Streets without sidewalks are twice as likely to have pedestrian driver crashes. I don't see any argument against sidewalks that could be more important than prioritizing our children's safety. I'm also here as a climate action advocate and part of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment who endorses sidewalks in this discussion today. The WHO has identified climate change as the number one threat to human health. I'm already seeing these consequences in my practice. Anything we can do to promote active transit and get cars off the road is a win for the environment. If we make an exception to this policy, the message to the community is that aesthetics are more important than child safety and walkable communities and policies are made to be broken. Thank you very much. Great. Thank you very much for your delegation today. Seeing no questions, we'll move on to Patrick Bickerton. Uh yes, good morning. Are you able to hear me? Okay. Yes, we can hear you. Please proceed. Thank you, chair. Uh my name is Pat Bickerton. I'm a resident of College Ward and delegating in support of staff's proposal to include sidewalks during the integrated road, sewer, and water work uh renewal in Manor Park neighborhood. As a parent, I can sympathize with some of the confir uh concerns raised by um citizens this morning about navigating poorly designed sidewalks in a stroller and have at times elected to push my uh stroller in a street that is flatter or more clear of snow. But I think this is mostly about poorly designed sidewalks with aggressive curb cut uh cuts and I and I would much rather um uh be be have infrastructure that separates me from car traffic. I'm very happy to hear that the proposed design reintroduces sidewalks to the plan, but I'm slightly concerned about the fragility of implementing the city's vision of uh included in the various policies such as the official plan, transportation master plan, strategic road safety action plan, and the accessibility policies. These are really good policies built built through many hundreds of hours of work from dedicated city staff, revised and updated following community consultations, debated and further revised at committee and council and then agreed to. What does it say about us that we're willing to compromise on these implementations uh on the implementation of these policies at the first sign of resistance? The population of Manor Park has been recently rising after years of decreases. I looked at the Canadian census uh data in 2001. The population um sorry uh since 2001, the population of Manor Park has been slightly declining year after year between uh up until 2016. But in 2021, there's been a sudden aggressive spike in um in higher populations, and it's the highest population that we've seen in the past 25 years. coupled with the recent upzoning of the majority of properties within Manor Park. Uh so most of the R1 uh homes are up upzone to N2 and N3 and R3 zoned are up zone to N4 and N5. Make no mistake, this is a growing community. Further to this, the demographics of the population are shifting and compared to 2001. Um, today there is presently a marketked increase in the population aged uh 60 to 75 and older and the proportion of young children and adults is rising. Over the next few years, I believe the proportions of families with young children will continue on this trend. I bring this up because Manor Park is not the only mature neighborhood in our city facing road, sewer, and waterwork renewal. Indeed, many of the outer urban neighborhoods, including where I live in College Ward, were built around the same time as Manor Park. These, make no mistake, these are beautiful neighborhoods with strong communities, older homes, mature tree canopies, and wide streets, and they are all up for infrastructure renewal. We must take the opportunity to correct errors of past planners who assumed that we could drive our kids everywhere and build neighborhoods that are safe for kids to navigate on their own. We already know that the best way to uh improve safety for vulnerable road users is to provide segregated infrastructure like sidewalks. We just have to do it. So, in closing, I'd like to reiterate my support for the sidewalks in this area and recommend that this committee uphold the direction and values uh in the in the various policies and master plans for current and future road renewals. Thank you very much. Great. Thank you for your delegation today. Seeing no questions, uh thank you for that. So, uh I want to thank uh committee and council members uh for your patience. So, I know you've uh held questions for staff, but before we do that, we actually have a series of motions. Typically, we get the vice chair to read them in, but this is such a personal issue with the will of the committee. We'll get councelor King to do the actual reading, but recorded on record, it'll be under Vice Chair Kit's name. Is that satisfactory? Great. Thank you. So, the first uh one that would be on the screen u we'll just get that up there. Um Councelor King, if you wish to proceed about your ward comments. Uh thank you so much chair. Whereas this report has direct imple implications on ward 13 Rita Rockliffe as referenced in the ward counselor comment section of the staff report. And whereas the ward counselor comment section was inadvertently omitted from the report before it was circulated. And whereas the background section of the report incorrectly referenced the survey as coming from the counselor's office rather than from the city. Therefore, be it resolved that the staff report be revised to add the text under the ward counselor comment section and be it further resolved that the staff report be revised as follows. The results of a city survey indicated 52% of respondents opposed the sidewalks, 40% are in support, and 8% did not express an opinion. A counselor survey shows higher opposition to the sidewalks particularly on the affected seats uh on the affected streets and uh my uh counselor comments are also attached. Uh I won't read them but they have been circulated to committee. Thank you so much. Thank you. And they're also put on the drive. So we'll go to uh motion number two. Uh councelor King again recorded by Vice Chair Kits on record. If you wish to proceed on advancing pedestrian connectivity for Manor Park Public Schools motion, we'll get that on the screen. And I'd like to thank uh councelor Dudas for uh moving uh this motion uh on my behalf. Whereas the city's transportation master plan, complete streets policy, and vision zero framework support safe, accessible, and connected pedestrian networks while allowing for contextsensitive application. And whereas integrated infrastructure renewal projects present an important opportunity to improve pedestrian infrastructure, but sideway but sidewalk install uh installation on individual streets does not always produce meaningful connectivity in the short term when evaluated in isolation. And whereas effective transportation planning to address pedestrian missing links requires sidewalks to be assessed in relation to nearby intersections, crossings, schools, transit routes, and existing or planning or planned pedestrian infrastructure. And whereas the Manor Park neighborhood is experiencing evolving transportation pressures, including the future reopening of Hemlock Road connecting to Wateridge Village, redevelopment along St. Lauron Boulevard and continued growth within Manor Park Estates. And and whereas Manor Park Public School has a long-standing need for safer pedestrian access with existing conditions including a painted walking path, constrained sidewalks, and congestion during school drop off and pickup periods. And whereas the city's transportation master plan identifies pedestrian improvements in the vicinity of Eastborne Avenue and Manor Park Public School, but these improvements are currently unfunded and scheduled beyond the existing 5-year capital horizon. And whereas the current Manor Park integrated renewal project has allocated $180,000 for sidewalk construction streets, that would not significantly improve pedestrian connectivity at this time. And whereas redirecting resources and construction to priority pedestrian connections could improve safety for school children and accelerate delivery of meaningful network improvements. Whereas the review of sidewalk placement within Manor Park integrated renewal project highlighted that the proposed sidewalk segments do not directly improve pedestrian connectivity at this time and prompted consideration of how pedestrian infrastructure investments could better address key neighborhood connections. Therefore, be it resolved that staff be directed to review opportunities to reallocate funding from within the current project where feasible or identify additional funding sources to accelerate pedestrian connectivity improvements serving Manor Park School. And be it further resolved that staff prioritize improvements that strengthen connections between the school surrounding neighborhood streets and transit routes, including but not limited to Eastborne Avenue, Thornwood Road adjacent to Manor Park Public School and the Braar Eastorn area. And be it further resolved that staff identify potential funding s sources within the current project where feasible or from other available sources to advance these pedestrian connectivity improvements sooner than currently planned and provide this information to the ward counselor with a summary circulated to committee members. And be it further resolved that staff also outline any design or timing adjustments required to accelerate these pedestrian safety improvements with a view to advancing implementation as early as feasible. Great. Thank you. And forgive me and thanks for noticing it was councelor Dudass that did that on your behalf as part of the record. The clerks have just slapped me so I'm good. Uh moving on to item number three, the motion. And let's see who's moving this one here. Uh it's in the record as vice chair kits. Uh but uh councelor king please proceed. Uh thank you again so much chair. Whereas the manner park official plan amendment approved in 2021 and the resulting secondary plan could introduce a scale of intensification that will significantly alter traffic and pedestrian patterns throughout the community. And whereas the reopening of Hemlock Road to Wateridge Village, the potential reconstruction of Beachwood Avenue, proposed intersection modifications at Eastborne, uh, Premier and Ava, and the buildout of the Manor Park secondary plan represents a convergence of transportation changes that require coordinated analysis before further infrastructure decisions are made. And whereas both the ward counselor and the Manor Park Community Association recommended at the time of the OPA approval in 2021 that the city undertake comprehensive transportation planning for the community and that recommendation had not been acted upon. And whereas the internal streets of Manor Park function primarily as low volume local access roads with limited connectivity between major corridors and therefore do not experience the same level of through traffic pressures. And whereas current and anticipated traffic increases are concentrated along key arterial and collector corridors including Hemlock Road, St. La Boulevard, Sand Ridge Road and Birch Avenue where high where higher traffic volumes and speeds create greater need for targeted pedestrian focused design and permanent trafficcoming measures. And whereas city planning frameworks, including the transportation master plan, do not provide a neighborhood specific cumulative assessment of transportation impacts within Manor Park. And therefore, be it resolved that staff be directed to develop a scoped work plan and resource estimate for a neighborhood level transportation assessment for the Manor Park community encompassing traffic projections, pedestrian and cycling demand, cumitive impacts of all planned transportation changes, and a prioritized pedestrian infrastructure investment plan. And be it further resolved that staff advise committee whether this study can be resourced within existing budgets or require a dedicated funding allocation. And be it further resolved that staff report back to the public works and infrastructure committee no later than Q4 2026 with recommendations to inform future transportation and pedestrian infrastructure planning decisions within Manor Park. Great. And uh last but not least uh we'll get this on the screen here again on the record it would be vice chair kits but councelor king uh sidewalk motion for integrated infrastructure renewal project. Once again thank you chair. Whereas the Manor Park integrated infrastructure renewal project for Braar Street, Finter Street and Kilbury Road is under construction with contract timelines requiring final sidewalk decisions to be confirmed by midappril to proceed with construction scheduling. And whereas feedback received through the project review pro process raised concerns regarding the functional value and placement of sidewalks within the broader pedestrian network. And whereas sidewalks should be prioritized based on their ability to meaningfully improve connectivity to key destinations such as the Manor Park public school transit corridors and major intersections. And whereas the Manor Park Official Plan Amendment 2021 together with the reopening of Hemlock Road to Wateridge Village, the potential reconstruction of Beachwood Avenue, proposed intersection modifications, and ongoing neighborhood growth represent a convergence of transportation changes that will significantly alter traffic and pedestrian patterns and require a coordinated network-based and holistic approach to pedestrian connectivity planning. And whereas previous recommendations to undertake comprehensive transportation plannings planning for the Manor Park community have not yet been implemented. And whereas this direction is sightsp specific and does not alter the city's complete street policy transportation master plan, our broader objectives to expand pedestrian infrastructure across Ottawa. And whereas delaying direction on sidewalk placement could impact the construction timeline as the contractor must finalize plans and coordinate construction activities to be to meet contract obligations. Therefore, be it resolved that as part of the roadway modification approval, RMA, staff be directed to defer the construction of all proposed sidewalks within the Manor Park integrated infrastructure renewal project to be reconsidered through a coordinated network-based and holistic approach to pedestrian connectivity planning, including in conjunction with future infrastructure works such as intersection improvements and traffic calming measures. And be it further resolved that the project proceed with roadway and curb construction consistent with this direction to maintain the planned construction schedule. And be it further resolved that this direction is sightspecific and shall not be interpreted as a precedent for sidewalk deferral or removal in other neighborhoods or projects. And be it further resolved that staff consider prioritizing any available funding associated with deferred sidewalk works towards future pedestrian connectivity improvements within the ward in alignment with identified network priorities. And be it further resolved that sidewalks on these streets may be reconsidered following completion of a broader assessment of pedestrian connectivity needs within Manor Park, including connections to Manor Park public school transit routes and surrounding streets. Great. Uh thank you very much for that. Uh just before uh we go to questions of staff, I just want to uh make sure we have a good timeline here. So, we'll go to committee members first as usual and then council members if they have questions as well. And I want to thank committee members for their professionalism. This is a tough one uh obviously and it's very nuanced. Uh myself, I even met I'll save mine for the wrap-up, but I met with councelor King and he really does have a wild challenge right now near the schools and I think we've heard due to some provincial changes how uh more challenging is around schools in our neighborhoods, which frankly may drive a discussion about prioritization of sidewalks just in general, which I think we all can agree on. Uh I'll start right out of the gate. Uh councelor Johnson. Thank you, Chair. So, I just wanted to understand the implications of the second motion. Um, it's it it's suggesting reallocating funds from or potentially reallocating funds. I I don't know what it commits staff to. So, can you can you help me to understand the financial implications for that motion and also how it would impact the timelines of the project, please? I believe I'm looking at Jennifer, but councelor King since you were technically the mover of it even though not on paper, if you wanted to comment as well, feel free. Well, we definitely wanted to ask uh staff to examine the question that that you're asking because um uh throughout this process, one of the things that we found was that there are two buckets of money and uh we wanted to ensure uh that we examined all options uh to expedite especially uh the implementation of sidewalk infrastructure around Manor Park Public School. We heard that very clearly uh from the community association and many other residents right at the outset of this process. Uh so what we are trying to uh determine is where uh resources might be made available to expedite that work around Manor Park public school. Thank you chair. Great. Uh did you want to hear from staff as well? Oh great. Thank you. Uh thank you for the question chair. Um so they're actually uh the integrated renewal project is being funded uh or that project is funding the sidewalk construction and and the funding for that um is derived from tax uh dollars as well as uh rate dollars uh for our transportation master plan projects. Those are funded through uh a combination of development charges and tax dollars. So there's different funding sources in those different buckets of of projects. And so uh typically what would happen is when uh a project is completed in the uh the integrated project is completed that project uh if there's any funds remaining uh the project would be closed and those funds would return to source and would go on to fund uh other projects uh that are in the integrated project uh pro uh project list. Uh so I don't know uh Karina if uh has anything additional to add to that but that's the the general process. Thank you Jennifer. Thank you for the question. No uh I basically when we finish a integrated job any funding goes back to source. We do not reallocate to other needs within the project. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. That's the normal perspective. But what I'm asking is the implication of the motion. So we here we have a counselor that is directing you to investigate the reallocation of funds across programs and you know a counselor is absolutely free to bring whatever motion they like on the floor. That is not for debate today. My question is whether or not this will allow for um moving ac across programs in a way that we're not usually seeing and what that will mean for a president because I I I I can't imagine that this isn't a small symbol of how we can reallocate funds. My concern then for my second part of the question is the timeline of the project. Are we investigating this as a standalone where we reallocate or does it then bring up a whole host of questions overall that then has to come back to committee and council for decision? So with regards to the timing piece, I think the construction is is happening now and so if the sidewalks do not proceed that money's would not be spent and so there would be an opportunity to look at um you know what happens to that dollars. Um, I mean, I cannot say having never been in a situation where we've looked at doing this before, uh, how that would work from a finance perspective. And, uh, um, you know, I think that the key thing to keep in mind is that there are those different uh, sources of funding. So, certainly some of that money um, the the rate money in particular, I don't think we would be able to move to a standalone sidewalk project. the tax component. Um, that would be something we would have to look into. Right. Okay, that's fine. So, so still to be determined. I guess I'm wondering in that sense, I'm uncomfortable with the idea of creating an exception here when there's a larger implication for how we fund our projects. As I said before, I believe that every counselor has a situation where we have a school that requires better connectivity or a bus shelter or other things. And certainly, if it's a matter of trying to advance the TMP projects faster, that to me is what we need to be talking about today. The suggestion that we can advance a TMP project faster by undoing policy elsewhere appears to create new risks. So, as is staff looking at this question of of prioritization or sequencing of projects from the TMP across other opportunities or how has this discussion furthered your understanding of some of the situations that counselors find themselves in like council Johnson just before they go to that I I want to give you some intel just because as chair I'm kind of privy to some of the conversations taking place with some counselors now uh looking at the implications of Bill 60. you'll be hearing from staff if you haven't already about some of the projects that are actually in there as well that we'll see most likely cancellation of many of those great projects. So I think overall I think we need to have that complete discussion. I agree with you and it's uh it's unfortunate that our own policies that we set put us into this trap. So I think as we get closer because there will have to be some motions that come forward to this committee in regards to bill 60 the 170 plus project. I even found some out that I was like, where did this come from? Um, we're going to have that as a debate. Absolutely. Uh, and I can see where you're going on that. Uh, you know, looking at the one-offs versus a precedent setter. That's your concern. So, um, maybe staff wanted to to respond. Uh, I actually see Kel because I was I was speaking with him about one of them where I said, "Where'd this project come from?" So through the chair just to um answer directly your question about money. Uh as I read the motions they are asking staff to go away and explore. None of that provides financial direction. So they would require a report back to this committee in terms of uh the outcome of that analysis and what could be done if any and through what funding sources. So that would have to come back. What you if you pass these motions, you are directing staff to do the work, not uh redirecting the money. It does have an implication, however, on this uh summer's work and whether or not the sidewalks get installed right now. And and how long has the uh has the current project been in the works? Chair, we awarded the project last year, so this is the second year of construction. And if we were to uh approve the motions on the floor, how much longer would we add to this particular project? We have a decision for our contractors this month to confirm whether or not the sidewalks uh are required or not. So, uh as long as we have a decision this month, we well this month we're in March, early April, uh there's no impact to the timeline of the construction project. Great questions. Uh Councelor King, did you Oh, uh forgive me. I just got to close this window that popped up here. Perfect. Councelor K. Uh, thank you so much, Chair. Um, and I do have a number of questions. I was just wondering, does staff determine uh when citywide policy should be adapted to reflect sight specific conditions such as low connectivity streets versus arterial corridors? Uh so staff implement the policies that are part of the official plan and the transportation master plan. So it's not at our discretion to say uh when those policies would be implemented or not implemented. So it would be accurate that uh the current policy doesn't allow flexibility to prioritize high priority streets and connections such as schools, parks or transit over lower prior priority or lower impact streets. Uh that's correct. The current policy speaks to uh whenever uh new projects are being built uh to include active transportation and complete street infrastructure so that we're not creating new deficiencies. It also speaks to when we're doing uh renewal projects where feasible within the scope of that project to include those complete street elements as well. uh with the intent of eventually uh creating a city where all roads have uh the the sidewalk facilities and cycling facilities that are called for in those documents. Is there any flexibility that exists within the current contract or scope to remove or adjust lower priority sidewalks as proposed? Thank you for the question. Uh the contract has the ability to build the curbs without the sidewalks or to add sidewalks after broader access and safety considerations factored into the decision to move forward with the current proposed plan. Uh as uh as previously noted, the the design is consistent with the policies in the official plan which speak to those broader requirements for uh creating accessible and connected pedestrian spaces over the fullness of time given the number of overlapping changes in the area. So we're aware of potential redevelopment uh that will flow from the OPA uh road changes and traffic patterns. Why has a comprehensive transportation or neighborhood study not been completed as requested uh by my office and the community in the context of the OPA discussions that were held in 2021. So as part of developing the active transportation project list for the transportation master plan, there was a very uh comprehensive analysis done of sidewalk needs throughout uh the entire city. uh looking at where development pressures are. Uh there was uh thousands of residents who provided input uh through online mapping to put pins on maps where there was demand for sidewalks. So through that exercise, staff did identify uh two sidewalk projects within Manor Park in proximity to the school uh which are both in uh the first phase of implementation. But of course, you're saying that that was within the scope of a citywide exercise versus a a neighborhood specific uh exercise uh which was explicitly asked for in 2021 uh based on the numerous impacts that are going to come to Manor Park uh which include uh intensification uh potentially through the OPA as well as the potential opening of hemlock um to Wateridge Village where we know 10,000 new residents will live, as well as the uh potential traffic circle uh that would be located uh to the east of uh the school. Uh the the work on the sidewalks on the school, future uh redevelopment on Hemlock in terms of an integrated uh project, as well as the potential of a full rebuild of Beachwood Avenue. Uh so what you're saying here is staff did not give any direct uh focus um or consideration uh to uh the neighborhood in terms of all of the um pressures uh that are emerging on that neighborhood. Notwithstanding the fact uh that uh those uh requests were made in written form uh to to staff in 2021. So as yes, as part of the the transportation master plan, it was a city-wide exercise looking at uh the various communities within the city, there was we have not done a dedicated uh sidewalk plan for the Mayor Park community. That's correct. Given anticipated intensification and increased traffic uh especially at the criticality that I just outlined for this neighborhood, why is there no coordinated neighborhoodwide transportation strategy guiding these types of investments? So I would say again our transportation master plan is the guiding document for those standalone sidewalk investments and that's where we do identify the priorities and and we have a list across the city. We know that the demands uh for that list are greater than than what we can implement within the horizon. And so we we go through a very rigorous process of prioritizing those improvements. Um and so that's how we end up with our standalone sidewalk list. Uh and then through the integrated projects and uh through development, that's where we implement uh sidewalks uh where opportunities arise at lower cost to be able to really build out that sidewalk network in developing communities to again meet those long-term needs. and fully acknowledge that as you uh you know that approach does lead to gaps when we do uh uh planning in and implementation in that way because we're taking advantage of construction projects that are already happening and so you you do end up with a discontinuous network in the short term. In the long term, our goal is to have a a completely connected network within those communities and to take advantage of those opportunities as they arrive to get us there uh more quickly. Does staff ever entertain undertaking broader studies to better align future infrastructure decisions at a neighborhood level with planned growth? Uh so yes uh through community design plans and secondary plans and maybe uh Marcia has uh some comments she can include on that. Yeah, through the chair I was going to mention the same thing and I would just say that um we work in this system because that is the policy context I think that we um the city has set under its official plan and um infrastructure transportation master plans. We we do know that the integration of all these plans needs to be uh continually looked at because it needs to be an iterative exercise as we start to see um growth occur and and how that you know how that has a knockoff effect on some of the other plans. So uh but we don't look at the specific neighborhood level um uh given the the policy framework we have today and the and the need that exists across the city. Well, I think that uh what we've uh determined here is that there is a a major deficiency in terms of not having a neighborhood level mechanism to examine uh how we properly implement especially active transportation infrastructure uh within uh the scope of uh uh fast evolving neighborhoods uh with uh challenges in terms of uh land use in terms of in terms of transportation. I think it's going to be very important uh that we at least have a tool to uh consider these types of changes that that are emerging. Uh my last uh question on this round is uh what is the standard process for incorporating counselor's feedback into an RMA report and was that process followed here? Uh so the standard process would be that we would uh circulate the uh executive summary and recommendations for the report uh and counselors would be invited to provide their feedback. Uh that was done in November of this year where the final report was circulated. Uh but fully acknowledge that we did not circle back uh more recently to incorporate the uh the counselor's comments. So uh my apologies for that. Well, a uh version of the report, a very early uh version was circulated to to my office, but of course um we knew that that uh that that report uh was in uh flux and was evolving. Uh so we weren't going to provide uh obviously inputs until we saw a final version of that report. I must say that I am very disappointed in the fact that that uh report wasn't circulated uh so that we could ensure uh that uh our offices uh inputs as well as the inputs from residents uh were integrated into the report. I'm very pleased that I have that opportunity to do that now through technical amendment. Uh but I must say that uh and we heard it today uh from uh some of the delegates uh that there is major disappointment in terms of uh the process there. Uh I think it it's important uh that all information uh is uh shared uh with counselor's offices so that we can provide uh meaningful input into the process. Uh but uh those are my questions for now. Thank you chair. I'll probably get back onto the list again. Great. Thank you. And uh I actually thought you were the only one but we have councelor Gower and then if nobody else has any we'll go back to yourself for wrap up. I think I want to thank you councelor King. You've really helped educate many of us that clearly are post sidewalk but you have a big challenge here. So we'll go to councelor Gower then we'll go back to councelor king. We'll wrap up and we'll vote. Okay. Thanks Sher. A couple timing questions. Can staff just clarify the two streets near the school. I believe that is Braar and Thornwood that are part of the TMP act of transportation. What's the likely time frame for when those would be upgraded with sidewalks? Yeah. Uh to the chair, uh those projects are both within the first phase of implementation, meaning sometime within the next seven to 10 years. We haven't pinned down the timing beyond that. And timing could fluctuate probably based on funding. It could be earlier if there's a pot of gold that we find. It could take longer if there's major changes to development charge. Like there's a lot of things that could cause that to move, but 7 to 10 is a best guess as of today. Right. That is correct. Okay. And then on the other streets um that are part of this integrated project, they are being upgraded with uh infrastructure based on the age of the streets and the pipes and sewer below them. um what what's the approximate age of that infrastructure that requires renewal now? Thank you for the question, chair. I'm looking at my notes. We have 74 year old pipe. Uh we have a water mane that has experienced a number of breaks. And the other issue that we are addressing with the underground infrastructure is the sewer separation. So we don't have a storm uh outlet. So we are separating the storm water that is going into our sewer pipes and putting a stone pipe. And so I can understand why this is not something you want to defer another year or two years or three years. There's some immediiacy. But also um once that renewal of the infrastructure, the pipes and sewer happens, is it likely another 75 years before that needs to be renewed again at least or how do you plan for future upgrades? That is correct. Okay. So this is how I'm thinking of it. Uh first of all um under the process the local counselor has staff require concurrence from the local counselor and that's I guess a safety valve or a way that a counselor can raise concerns if they need to and when that happens the decision then comes to committee and to counsel. So I I I think counselor the local counselor is following the process and identified concerns from the community and bring you forward. Um, but also this is not a a one-off project or a special case. It aligns with several city policies that we have. The official plan, the transportation master plan, the road safety action plan, and the city's accessibility policy. Each one of those have gone through uh years of consultation and research and advice from experts and advice from staff to put them in place. So, the the policy that has sidewalks included as part of integrated road renewal is is based on a foundation of some pretty solid policy there. Um, in new neighborhoods in our community in Stitzville, um, there's sidewalks installed, not in every street, but in in most streets, uh, because we know that's the right thing to do from accessibility reasons, uh, from equity reasons. And I think we've identified that when we have older streets, they should be brought up to the same standards as the best and and best practices for newer communities as well. And I guess the way I'm looking at it is um we could move ahead with a staff recommendation and we will have um new sidewalks on Aandelle, Farnum, Kilbury, Jeffrey, Finter and within 7 to 10 years we'll likely have sidewalks near the school as well on Braar and Thornwood or we can say no to the integrated sidewalk project now or defer it and we'll end up with sidewalks in 7 to 10 years on Rayar and Thornwood and we'll end up with sidewalks on the rest of the streets maybe in 75 years. Like we have an opportunity now where this can happen. The sequencing isn't ideal. It's not perfect. Uh it's a factor of of probably funding at the city level. But I think the right thing to do here, given the evidence that delegates have brought us this morning about safety of kids, safety of adults, accessibility concerns, the right thing to do is to uh move ahead with the integrated project sidewalks at this time. Thanks, Chair. Thank you, uh, Councelor Dei. Thank you, Chair. Um, I just wanted to I heard something from, um, from Tammy earlier in the debate, um, in a question. and I think she was responding from council Johnson. I just want to get clarity on that. Um, from the the King motion that spoke about the reallocation of funding. Um, Tammy, what I think I heard you say or it was a combination of yourself and Marcia talking um about how if that motion were to pass and if staff were to go away and analyze potentially the reallocation of funding um to the question that you were asked about whether or not that would delay the project, I think I heard you say something about that passing that motion would trigger a conversation where staff would have to ask something to the effect of whether or not those sidewalks were required. Um whether or is that uh a summary of what you had said in that question? Mr. Chair, uh our understanding of the motion is to look at options to reallocate. We we'd have to confirm if it's for all of the sidewalks or the the scope. There's a couple of different motions. Uh but essentially the source of funding for integrated jobs come from uh about 25% tax 75% rate and typically unused amounts uh is going back to source and in this case it's in the citywide uh integrated projects. Just uh to make sure um I'm I'm I'm getting the info I want here. Uh, as I understand it, that project could be proceeding, would be going forward. But by passing that motion, would that trigger um um some form of delay as you as you analyze whether or not to reallocate that could have that project advance, but without the sidewalks? Is that possibly what would be the outcome of it? Chair, thank you for the question. What we need to know today is if the project will proceed with sidewalks or not. Our contractor needs to know by midappril that was was um Miss Rose was referring early if we are going ahead with sidewalks or not. The funding discussion can be discussed after if the sidewalks are not moving forward and there is a request for reallocating that funding. it will have to be discussed with finance and uh evaluate what to do if possible. In other words, can I interpret that that if we were to pass that motion and if the contractors have to proceed by midappril um that we would have to consider refinancing those sidewalks at what staff has already indicated would be at a greater cost, therefore not guaranteeing that the sidewalks have happened at all. Is that basically correct? that that is correct. Um but my understanding of the motion is also that we are speaking to the sidewalks that are included in the project today. So if the motion is approved, we will not be building the sidewalks as part of the integrated job and a discussion around the funding and where that funding goes will happen after. Thank you. Um my other question is about the um the King motion on the holistic transportation study and I don't have the motion right in front of me. I'm just in front of my laptop. Um but the transportation study that that motion sought to have for that neighborhood um is that a study that is already in the queue or would that motion in the passing that motion trigger a study that is outside of normal process? uh through the chair. That motion would trigger a study that is outside of the the normal process and I believe it requires us to report back on a a scope uh for that project and uh resource implications which would be uh what we would do. Okay. So the passing of that motion doesn't um trigger the study. The passing of that motion triggers your analysis where you come back to us and talk to us about the possibility of the study. Is that correct? That is my understanding correct. All right. And is it normal um is it normal procedure that um we can bring a motion and well it is I've got my answer. Thank you very much. Thank you chair. Great. Most appreciated councelor Divine. Uh councelor Brockington. Thank you chair. Just a few highlevel thoughts that I want to add to this discussion today. I'm not really going to get into the Manor Park sidewalk matter but high level from where I'm uh looking at this. I've got seven integrated renewal projects on the go right now. My ward has seen a number prior to this year. And um the matters that my residents have been engaged in the most is not whether or not the water pipes need to be replaced. There really is no discussion on that matter. When water pipes are come to 70 or 80 years old, there's widespread unanimous agreement we need to replace those for the public good. But what people are most engaged in over the years is the physical changes that are proposed within their community. The permanent trafficcoming features, sidewalks, where the fire hydrants are going to be placed, the type of lighting, for example. And I've always supported the highlevel policy decisions that council has made with respect to when traffic calming is implemented on streets. we first did it uh uh roads at 40k, 30k, and now all residential streets qualify. But what I think has uh been beneficial with all of these projects, in my word, in the past, there's always been some flexibility on the final design uh based on community input. Staff have always said, "Well, we have to follow policy that council's approved." And I get that. I think that's the default. staff always have to approach these projects with. But how much flexibility is possible and what are we flexible on? What physical measures that we want to introduce to this project are we actually flexible on? And in some project managers there's been flexibility, others there hasn't. So regardless of what decision is made with respect to this case, it will have ramifications across the city. Is flexibility a good thing? Is it not? and what type of flexibility do we want to have going forward? So, that's where I'm coming from, someone that has seven projects on the go right now in my ward. We have a sidewalk question right now that staff is waiting for a decision in Manor Park before we proceed on on uh Apple, Dorham, and Arnum uh or sorry, Valmury and Normandy. So um that's just my comments today chair is at high level sidewalk should be a default high level traffic calming should be a default but to the question about flexibility how much and on what measures we have to solve that after today. Thank you. I agree completely. Uh oh uh we'll go to councelor Troster and then councelor Lulof. Hi thank you so much. So question to stack. My understanding is that we have an obligation to meet the requirements of the Accessibility for Ontarios with Disabilities Act. Correct. Correct. And our sidewalks considered part of that act or part of the recommendations of AODDA when it comes to road design? So my understanding is that if we provide a sidewalk or a pathway that needs to be uh designed in a way that meets those accessibility requirements but there is not a requirement to provide or not provide uh a sidewalk in a particular location. Okay. According now we did hear some questioning of the data about whether sidewalks promote accessibility. Just from staff's perspective, based on the body of research out there, uh what is your position on sidewalks when it comes to ensuring accessibility for people with mobility challenges? Uh chair, I think our opinion is that providing a sidewalk does improve accessibility on a street. Okay. Thank you. Um, I'm speaking as a counselor because I live in one of the older wards where we have a lot of infrastructure, sewer replacement, road renewal projects. Um, and often it's the only chance to get some of this infrastructure in, whether it's a sidewalk or a bike lane, although we generally have sidewalks downtown. And I'll say I faced opposition in my own neighborhood about a contra flow, a bike lane on a center town street, um, because it involved moving parking and some reduction of parking. And there were a lot of people going, "Well, I use the street now. I don't need the bike lane now. Why are we doing it?" And the way I defended it was I said, "This was extensively consulted on as part of the transportation master plan. This is part of a grid. You may not see the need now, but we have bike lanes that are coming in on Gladstone and potentially coming in on Kent in the future. This is an essential connection for kids to get to school. This is not just about your needs. It's about future needs." And they said, "Well, who can I argue about this?" And I said, "This is citywide policy." And I completely understand where Councelor King is coming from. and the compromise you're trying to reach. But even if you say in the motion that this doesn't create precedent, it does create precedent. Other residents are already hearing, well, Manor Park is seeking to opt out of this, can we also opt out of it? And I truly believe that accessibility standards are not optional. They are citywide. And at the end of the day, even though we feel a sense of ownership over the street that we live on, the current residents who live on the street don't own the road. the city owns a road and we have a responsibility to implement citywide accessibility and transportation standards. So, I understand the need for holistic traffic planning and I will absolutely support um the council's motion to take a more holistic uh look at the neighborhood. I think that makes total sense. But despite the language of the motion saying that it doesn't create a precedent, I do think this creates a dangerous precedent. Um, we consult extensively on these city citywide policies and I think it's incumbent on us to stick by them because they're important for the future of our city. Um, and I'll also note these issues are gendered. Um, it was the majority of people who came to advocate for sidewalks are women with young children. Um, I I couldn't help but notice the age split, too. This is about the future of our neighborhoods. It's about new people as well as current residents. Um, so even though I have utmost respect for councelor King, um, I can't support any motion to reallocate funding or to or to remove sidewalks from this project. Thank you. Great. Thank you, uh, Councelor Lulov. Sure. I'll just speak very, uh, briefly, uh, to this item. In principle, uh, I'm supportive of adding sidewalks as part of renewal projects, and I'm also a strong proponent of accessibility, and I think that that's well known. Um when we're already digging up a road, it makes sense to build infrastructure that supports pedestrians accessibility and safety uh at the same time. Uh from both the cost and planning perspective, uh doing it once and doing it properly is the right approach. But we've also heard and and I understand the frustration around sequencing. We've all seen cases where infrastructure is built only to be revisited later at a much higher cost. That's not good planning and it erodess trust. At the same time, these projects do not happen in a vacuum. They happen in communities. uh and the local context matters. Residents have different views on this especially and those views deserve to be heard clearly and accurately and I think that most of our inboxes have received those and we've heard quite a few uh views today. I've had extended conversations with councelor King on this file. I understand his concerns in particular the issues around consultation as well as the accuracy and completeness of the information provided to residents. Uh that's significant. We need to get these uh these right and if we expect communities to support changes like this, they need to feel like that process has been transparent and respectful. Councelor King works tirelessly for his community. I see it all the time and I trust uh that he's bringing forward the views and concerns uh of the residents that he represents and I do think that it's worth saying this. You know, who are we as members around this table to tell a counselor what is best for their residential streets when they are the ones having those conversations day in and day out with their residents? Um, so while I remain very supportive of sidewalks as part of this renewal work, I'll support councelor King today on this item. He knows his community best and I think that it's important that we respect him. Thanks. Great. Uh, thank you for that. Um, and um, uh, we'll go to Councelor King for wrap up unless anyone feels the need to discuss anything further. We'll go to the wrap-up. I'll add my commentary and then we have four motions. Two are very non-contentious. I've cleared with the clerks, so we could probably carry those two and we'll have votes on the other two. So, councelor King. Uh, thank you so much, Chair. And like everybody around this table, obviously, I support sidewalks. I support pedestrian safety, supporting sidewalks in questioning their placement here are not contradictory positions because this is definitely not about ideology. It's about getting the location, the sequencing, and the prioritization, and the timing right. What is before committee today is sight specific direction on specific streets. It is not precedent setting. That's it's definitely not because we are not here today to change citywide policy. Uh this set of motions before us reflects how that policy should be applied based on local conditions and demonstrated need. Before I speak to the substance of my motions, I want to register three disappointments that deserve to be on the record. First, I'm disappointed by how survey findings have been presented in the staff report. The city's own consultation produced 81 respondents. My office survey, which included flying every home in Manor Park, direct on the ground outreach, and eight months of sustained community engagement, produced 338 valid responses with 79% opposed to sidewalk installation. These are materially different consultations conducted at different scales through different methods and producing meaningfully different participation rates. Presenting them in a way that conflates or minimizes that distinction does a disservice to the public record and to the residents who took the time to participate. Second, I'm deeply disappointed by how the deferral process unfolded. My office agreed to a deferral specifically to allow time for additional transportation study. That was the explicit basis on which deferral was offered and accepted. That study was never undertaken. And then without the work being done, the deferral was withdrawn. Residents in my office were left in the position of having accepted a process that was not honored. This is not a minor administrative matter. It fundamentally affects how this file was managed and how trust with the community was maintained throughout. Third, I'm disappointed to learn that city staff do in fact prioritize sidewalk installation by rank, meaning not all sidewalks are treated equally and some streets would be dep prioritized relative to others based on established criteria. This is directly relevant information for a decision of this nature. Neither my office nor residents were informed of this fact at any point during the consultation process and learned of it through the report. Had that information been disclosed, it could have materially informed a discussion about whether these specific streets represent the highest and best use of available pedestrian infrastructure funding. That disclosure should have happened, and its absence is a gap in how this file was managed. Neighborhood infrastructure requires prioritization based on actual conditions. While we all support pedestrian safety, decisions should be based on demonstrating need, not just on timing or circumstance alone. The internal streets of Manor Park function primarily as low volume, low access roads with limited connectivity between major corridors. They do not experience the same level of through traffic pressures that generate the greatest pedestrian safety risks. In contrast, current and anticipated traffic increases are concentrated along key arterial and collector corridors, Hemlockk, St. uh Sand Ridge and Birch where higher volumes and speeds create a far greater need for targeted pedestrian focused design and permanent traffic calming measures. That is where the pressure is building and that is where investment will matter most and that pressure is not only going that pressure is only going to grow. Manor Park is a neighborhood on the cusp of more transportation change in the next 10 to 15 years than it's seen in the previous 50. The opening of Hemlock Road to Wateridge Village will introduce an entirely new traffic corridor into the heart of the community. A proposed traffic circle at the intersection of Ava Braar and Eastborne will fundamentally alter how residents navigate one of the neighborhood's most used junctions. And a contemplated full rebuild of Beachwood Avenue once in a generation could transform our traditional main street into a central active transportation spine. These are not distinct possibilities. These are coming. We are being asked to make permanent infrastructure decisions today without a clear understanding of how any of them will reshape pedestrian patterns and community needs. That is a sequencing problem and it is precisely why a comprehensive study must guide what we build, what where we build it and when. The community has consistently asked for sidewalks where they matter most to link the school and the park and the green space to transit with a goal of enhancing safety. The current approach risk overlooking those priorities entirely. The situation at Manor Park School is the clearest example is the clearest example today. There is only a painted line. No meaningful improvements is expected for another 5 to seven years. This is not acceptable. The current conditions are creating real conflict and safety concerns for children, parents, and staff every day. If we are serious about pedestrian safety in this neighborhood, that is where our focus should be and that's what my motion aims to address. There is currently no flexibility to bundle or align projects to better meet community needs. That is a gap. When the Manor Park OPA was approved in 2021, my office along with the community association called for comprehensive transportation planning to understand how intensification and planned transportation changes would interact. That analysis was never done. We have been making decisions in that vacuum ever since. Despite the frustrations this file has brought forward, I'm I'm in accord uh with uh councelor Brochington. I'm really encouraged that this has sparked a much needed conversation about how the policy is applied. A thoughtful review could give us stronger tools. uh whether that means incorporating a missing crosswalk into a project, connecting sidewalks to transit stops, or simply ensuring public funds are spent where the need is most clearly demonstrated. Every ward deserves that kind of thoughtful application of policy as a consequence of the deficiencies that I outlined. The miscommunication around deferral, the incomplete disclosure of sidewalk pri prioritization criteria, the conflation of two very different consultations, the absence of comprehensive transportation analysis this neighborhood was promised, and a staff recommendation that does not reflect where the pedestrian need is greatest in Manor Park. I have introduced four motions to address these deficiencies directly and of course I ask for your support on these motions. Thank you chair. Great. Uh thank you councelor and I'll just add some of my commentary as well and uh because I've worked so closely with you on this file. Um just so you know councelor Kings tried many times to help out on pedestrian fronts. St. Michael school is a prime example. We were all excited. We were going to put in some ASC's, make it safer on the street, and lo and behold, the provincial come in government came in and changed everything. And now we're back to plan plan A again, trying to figure out how to make it safer there. Um the the schools that you've mentioned within your uh discussions today, how many years have you been asking for safety around the schools? And it's very unfortunate that we're seeing uh We'll wait and see. I have some motions later on today. Councelor Johnson has some great motions too in relation to the school zones and trying to make them safer. Some of the data we're seeing which is not good. Uh this this is where I think councelor Brockington's correct too. we're really engaging in the discussion about prioritization. And I think there's too many times that we see um uh you know were things that we wish and I I remember former counselor deans and I always arguing about a warrant process for getting a crosswalk light put into place. Something you think would be simple, something that will make it safer for again pedestrians and we can't achieve certain targets. We can't seem to find funding envelopes for different things. When we ask the question about, well, it's integrated project work, that's one fund. Well, we got the TMP, that's another fund. Well, guess what? The public doesn't care what fund it's coming from. They just want to see safety and security in the areas that need it the most. And if this spurs on a conversation that allows us to be able to say, let's look at all the projects, forget what fund it's coming from. What does a counselor that represents the community truly want in their neighborhood? that it's going to be a quick win. Now, I'm not talking about going crazy and throwing out 300 things. I I think it will warrant a full discussion about what a counselor that is duly elected and is representing the people to find one or two cases per year instead of the constant no, it doesn't meet criteria that you guys laid out. You can see how we get ourselves in problems. And that's no disrespect to staff. We put that at your feet. But we also have the ability to represent the communities that that we are actually elected to do. Otherwise, counselors should not exist. I mean, literally, we could get replaced by AO one day and it would just be a policydriven bureaucracy. But the reality is we live and die by the sword. We get out there, we listen to the people and based on what they tell us. That's what we do is bring these items to the table. Otherwise, there would be no meetings. It would just be one policy at the start of the four years. End of story. The amount of times I've gone to bat for colleagues against staff. And it's no disrespect to staff. You're doing what we've requested of you to make minor modifications. Maybe add a turn signal to a mosque that requires it. A stop sign. How many stop signs did we start going through on a regular basis? These are all prime examples of how we should continuously collectively work together and understand the challenges we have within our own areas. Councelor King is the furthest thing from anti- sidewalk. uh what he is really driving home is the fact that we need it safer in segments that we need done. Now there's going to be a further discussion. We we had a great chat about a couple of the things that are in the transportation master plan that have been unearthed that I'm like wow I I don't know if that was even a priority. And you're going to hear this as you meet with staff as we discuss this and bring this back. If you're going to go, does a bicycle lane in a business park make sense or does a connector to a school make a lot more sense? Those are things I think councilor should have input on and if that drives this discussion, so be it. So on that uh I will be supporting uh my counselor's all four motions. Uh as mentioned, there are some that are less contentious. So we'll start with item number one. I don't see this as contentious. Staff, do you see this as contentious? This is the one about including word counselor comments. No, the staff have no concerns and once again we apologize. Thank you. Is this item carried? Next up on the screen, I'll ask for uh it to be on the screen and ask her staff's recommendation. Does this require a vote or not? Is this contentious? Yay and please. Yay and have been called. I'll get the committee coordinator to have that on the screen. And just if we can scroll down to therefore be it resolved. Okay. And this is about deferral of construction. So yays and nays have been called on this item. Committee coordinator. Councelor Lulof. Yes. Councelor Dudes, yes. Councelor Gower, no. Councelor Johnson, no. Councelor Divine, no. Councelor Bradley, no. Councelor Truster, no. Councelor Scowski, yes. Councelor D. Ro, no. Councelor Low, yes. Count vice chair kits. No. Chair tierney. Yes. Five yays. Seven ns. Great. We'll move on to the next one. If we can get it on the screen. Is this contentious or not? The days have been called by councelor Troster. Councelor Lulof. Yes. Councelor Dudas, yes. Councelor Gower, no. Councelor Johnson, no. Councelor Divine, no. Councelor Bradley, no. Councelor Chster, no. Councelor Scowski, yes. Councelor D. Ro, no. Councelor Low, yes. Vice Chair Kitz, no. Chair Tierney. Yes. Five yays, seven nays. On to the next one. Do staff see this as contentious? Does it require a vote? It's not contentious. I would just say that um this is unusual for us to do a neighborhood level study, but it is something we could implement if it's passed. Anybody has been called by councelor Divine? Yay and nays. Councelor Lulof. Yes. Councelor Dudas, yes. Councelor Gower, yes. Councelor Johnson, yes. Councelor Divine, no. Councelor Bradley, yes. Councelor Troster, yes. Councelor Scowski, yes. Councelor D. Ro, we Councelor Lo, yes. Vice Chair Kits, yes. Chair Tney, yes. 11. Great. And was there another motion? Uh, forgive me. Was that it? Was there one that may be introduced? I think that uh by virtue of one of the motions uh passing that the other ones uh the other one might have been invalidated. Perfect. Thank you. So uh so yeah, that's right. So carry the report as amended. Thank you. Uh thank you for your patience everyone today. Uh we'll move on to the next item on the agenda. Lots of people as well. So hopefully we can exercise the same level of decorum. We'll jump right into the delegations for the first item. And just before we get our first delegation to go up, we'll just get comments to briefly provide comments on this first item on this item. I don't know who the staff member is that wanted to provide the comments. my apologies. Um, so, uh, thank you for this opportunity to provide some comments on the, uh, Bank Street Active Transportation and Transit Priority, uh, feasibility study. So, my name is Jennifer Armstrong. For those uh in the audience who uh may not know me, I'm the director for uh transportation planning at the city. I'm joined today by L le uh Grammal who's a senior project manager in the transportation environmental assessment branch and she was the file lead for the project. And uh we also have uh two representatives from Parsons here today. Uh Ron Clark and Mark Baker. Uh Parsons was the consultant uh who assisted us on this project. So, uh, council directed staff to undertake this feasibility to really look at options to improve walking and cycling conditions on Bank Street and to improve the efficiency and reliability of transit. And, uh, I I would have to say that this project ended up being really, really challenging. Um, if you take the functions, take a look at the functions that that Bank Street offers today, uh, it's a critically important transit corridor. Uh we've got bus routes on it are that are some of the most heavily used in the city. Uh it's a main street corridor. It has shops and businesses along it. It's got a high amount of pedestrian activity. It has uh on street parking which we've heard from businesses is really important to them to be able to attract uh customers. Uh at the same time it's an arterial road so it's provides access into the downtown. Uh it's a truck route which means that we have to uh design it in a way that will accommodate heavy vehicles. Uh we we know that cyclists would like to see dedicated cycling infrastructure on Bank Street to be able to to cycle more comfortably and and have a more safer cycling environment on the road. And not least, uh Bank Street's a major event destination. Uh events at Landown uh Park uh attract significant uh uh amounts of of activity along the corridor. And so any solution that we put forward really has to be able to to work under all sorts of different events uh scenarios that are offered at lands down. So we have this corridor and it it it it plays all of these different roles uh but the space is very very limited and so at the end of the day we have to make choices about what functions we want to prioritize on that corridor. How is that space going to be used? And so staff uh they looked at a number of different options uh for the corridor. Uh we carried out modeling exercises. Uh we we looked at the policies in the transportation master plan and the official plan. We looked at the mandate for the project that was uh uh uh directed to us by council. We listened to residents and and counselors who are asking for a more reliable transit system. And so the recommendations that you will see in the staff report uh speak to giving greater priority to transit on Bank Street while still respecting and and balancing all of these other functions of the corridor which are also critically important. Uh one of the key recommendations is a pilot project um which would uh uh pilot time of day bus lanes uh for a period of uh approximately a year. I know there's been some concerns over the length of that pilot that we've heard. I think uh you know we're open to uh some discussions around that. Uh we want to make sure that the pilot is long enough that uh we can collect meaningful data that we give a chance for for uh people to react and and uh u take advantage of the the new uh measures that are in place. Um the the cost of that pilot is uh estimated at $250,000. Uh the total project as a whole also includes uh some uh targeted cycling and pedestrian improvements which would add about another million half dollars plus or minus to the the overall price tag for the project. Um I know um from all of the comments that we've received on the project that uh that many in the audience today may be disappointed with the recommendations that we're putting forward. We've certainly heard uh an interest among many residents in uh in providing greater transit priority along Bank Street and also to provide more priority for pedestrians and for cyclists. We've also heard concerns that maybe we're going too far and that uh you know we're we're we're prioritizing transit at the risk of of compromising a vibrant main street environment along the road. And so uh you know we we've heard all of this feedback. We've we've really tried to take that into consideration as we've developed the recommendations that you have in front of you today. And I think the pilot is our our way to to test uh what our modeling suggests will perform well, but to also to see how those bus lanes work under real world conditions to uh see what opportunities there might be to refine and and uh u adjust the recommendations that we're putting forward before coming back with um uh recommendations for uh a more permanent installation, a phased installation. I mean all of that will depend on what the results of the pilot uh produce. Uh so uh that is is uh basically all I wanted to say other than to just thank all of the many uh people who did participate in the project. I think we received something like 3,200 comments from the public um from from residents, from businesses, from interest groups. And so I just really thank you for that participation and uh we are looking forward to uh listening to the delegations. Thank you. Great. Thank you very much for that and thanks to staff. Great work. So um I think uh we're going to go right into it unless the clerks tell me something different. Is there any motions before the delegations? No, we'll do it the other way. Good. So we'll go right to the delegations and we'll start with number one of many. So Derek, I believe you're in the house. There you are, sir. You're no stranger to this place. I don't see any presentation. Thank you. You have five minutes. The floor is yours. Last summer, the city of Ottawa launched the street seats program. With little consultation and minimal time to plan, they converted three stretches of road into community spaces with tables, benches, and public art. The spaces were quickly put together and made to be easily changed or moved. And the sky didn't fall. In fact, we at the Centertown Community Association loved it. The success of Street Seats was not in its contents, but in its execution. When everything at the City of Ottawa is studied to death and takes multiple years to do, Street Seats was a breath of fresh air. The city of Ottawa is full of great ideas, knowledgeable planners, and bold elected officials. But I'm sure we can all agree it takes forever to do anything. Councelor Bernard, you've been waiting on the delayed bike share study which was expected in 2025. Councelor Kits, I can only imagine how frustrated you are with the slow pace of the Brian Coburn extension. And councelor Johnson, I don't have to tell you that the baseline BRT was preliminarily approved in 2016. Buslan's own bank are suffering the same fate as almost all Ottawa projects. Stuck in red tape and the administrative abyss. Originally identified in 2021, the Bank Street Transit Study is now not set to deliver bus lanes until mid 2027. This proposal is nearly the same as the proposal from September 2025. We spent 6 months sitting on our hands. But forget 6 months. Six total years for a project that demands minim minimal infrastructure changes is simply too long. 247 sections may have to wait, but we urge you to fasttrack the implementation of the standard bus lanes. This project can and should be completed before the election in the fall. OC Transport is in crisis and this is our chance to deliver better bus service at a low cost. Ottawa can't afford to wait and the sooner we get bus lanes into the glee, the sooner we can expand into center town. Thank you. Short and sweet. I appreciate that. Seeing no questions, uh, we'll move along to our next delegation today, June Creeman. Is June in the house? Hey, there you are, June. Good to see you today. Great. You have five minutes. The floor is yours. Uh, thank you. Thank you, uh, counselors. Um, I'm here on behalf of the Gleeb Community Association. It doesn't say that, but I'm the official representative. So the study you're considering today is about the Gleeds Main Street and it's a subject we've had many many conversations about and I'm going to cut to the chase here and say that we do not object to the recommendations of this study. We have a few comments but we do not object. I also want to say that the media characterizations of this um project as a battle between business and residents is is just not true. I haven't ever met a resident who didn't appreciate the businesses in the Glee and I've never met a business that didn't appreciate residents. We all want a main street that serves all stakeholders, residents and businesses, people who live nearby, people coming from further field and people just passing through. We need to respect the needs of walkers, cyclists, transit users and drivers, including those who need to park or do deliveries. and the complexities cannot be reduced to parking versus bike lanes. In terms of the transit priority measures, as mentioned, we have no objections. We think a pilot project to assess the impacts is critical and we would hope to be involved in the assessment. We also call for public education about the change and stepped up enforcement. But our main comments relate to the active transportation half of the study. We support the recommendations, but in our view, more needs to be done. And our comments are based on our own active transportation study, which we got a grant for and hired a professional consultants to do and a member survey that we did in November that had over 286 people in a week. So in terms of cycling infrastructure, we strongly support uh recommendation four, which is the study alternate north south cycle routes parallel to Bank Street. But to make sure that this is followed up on, we ask that the study be funded in the next budget. Um, we also ask for an addition to the plan to provide another option for cyclists heading north um and perhaps heading to the Okconor cycle lanes or the Flor Street Bridge or the Queen Elizabeth Drive. We'd like a safe cycling route through Landtown. This is not big or expensive. It's basically way finding and could be implemented immediately. For pedestrians, we support the pavement marking and raised intersection measures outlined, but they do not go far enough. In our conversations with residents, pedestrian safety is actually the number one concern. So, we would like additional pedestrian measures at traffic signals. So, specifically, head start crossing and extended crossing times. This doesn't cost anything. This could slow traffic a bit but is essential to safety as it's very heavily Bank Street as you know is very heavily used by pedestrians. We also see the need for an additional pedestrian crossing in the long stretch between Glee and Strath Kona avenues. Ideally a pedestrian connection between Central Park east and west to create a linear park space. Um the GCA represents people who live close to Bank Street in the Glee. We use Bank Street every day. all year round at all hours of the day and we know it better than anyone. We understand that there are multiple perspectives and that it's impossible to please all stakeholders but overall in our view this study is a good first step to improving active transportation and transit on Bank Street. Thank you. Thank you June and question from councelor Manard. Thank you uh very much chair. Uh I'm not going to ask a lot of questions because I think there's 42 delegations today. But just just to Jun, I wanted to thank you very much for the collaboration throughout this to a couple of your points. Um the piece around the lands down connectivity up to Okconor uh in particular. Um we'll have a direction on that later on today. Kind of like a motion that staff have have said they're they're supportive of that the the vice chair will will read in to address that specific point on the um on the pedestrian crossings. And because I I I gathered that was the biggest part of the survey that you folks did. Um more time to cross uh across bank across Bank Street um at the at the avenues. Uh I suspect is what you're looking for. And and you're looking for automatic like the you know in some areas we have the 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and certain intersections there have the same thing where it's automatic pedestrian walkway but not all of them. Is that what you're referring to? Or it it's it's all those things like not having to have a big button all the time to get a crossing. A little bit more time where it's just a pedestrian signal before the hand comes up, but some of them need to be um longer, too. It's not just across Bank Street Exhibition Way. You have to be there and ready to run almost to get across that street in time. So, it's just simple adjustments that could make the pedestrian experience uh a bit more comfortable for anyone who's a bit slower moving. makes a lot of sense and is uh cheap to implement as you say. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Our next delegate is AJ Ramachandran. Hello. Uh I'm AJ from Better Transit Ottawa. We're a group fighting uh for a useful, reliable, and sustainable transit network. In the past two transit committees, I've been showing off some of the data tools we've been working on that show the severity of our bus reliability crisis and bus shortage. We've been working on tools to track data on cancellations, delayed buses, and how buses move around the city. Our site is updated in real time and keeps historical data so that anyone can see the status of our transit system. To start off, I want to show off this cancellation graph here. This graph shows the number of cancellations per day over time in red since January. The yellow shows the number of trips that have been removed from the schedule since January due to the bus shortage. As we can see, we have a significant bus cancellation problem with 300 to 600 trips undelivered every day. And what we have on the table here today is a bus lane project which is going to directly address this bus shortage. Staff have told us that they cannot order any more buses. So the only way out of this is using the buses that we already have as efficiently as possible. And bus lanes are exactly how we do this. Bus lanes get a bus moving quickly in a reliable amount of time so they so that they can move on to their next scheduled trip. If there's a delay on a trip on Bank Street, it causes cascading delays and cancellations all throughout the network because there isn't enough time to start the next trip on time. Next slide, please. And we have a way to visualize these cascading effects. Um, can you go to the next slide? Okay. Well, uh, basically we have this thing called the block explorer. A block is basically the scheduled trip an actual bus will take throughout the day. Uh, and it's not here, I guess, but, um, one block is the block 618 that ran a number of trips throughout the day on March 20th. Uh, one of those trips is red, which means the trip was cancelled. And so, the 6 Greenborough at 1735 was canled because the trip before it finished 20 minutes late. Bus lanes directly address this problem and ensure that buses finish their trip in a consistent amount of time and avoid buses being cancelled. But here is the problem. The bus lane proposal uh this bus lane proposal isn't set to take effect until summer 2027. We have a bus shortage now and we have a study complete and still the plan is to wait 1 and 1/2 years to do anything. It does not take one and a half years to put up a sign. During events, temporary signs can be put up in hours. If not all this proposal can be completed by the summer, at least the peak hour bus lane portion needs to be pushed up so it can actually help our bus crisis while we need it. But there's another problem here. So if you look at the 20-minute late trip, you'll see that it's actually a six in the northbound direction during the afternoon. So that means a trip in the peak direction is now cancelled because of delays in the so-called non- peak direction. And this proposal does nothing to address the northbound direction in the afternoon, even though it has far more delays in the southbound direction. Um can you go to the next slide? So here we have a graph here uh taken from the study documents. We can see that the GPS travel time of buses traveling northbound uh at different hours of the day and the yellow highlighted section is the times with northbound bus lanes. And as you can see the afternoon needs bus lanes far more but gets nothing. Um the GPS travel times are actually higher than the morning. As we saw in the previous slide, a bus delayed in one direction causes cascading delays in the other direction. So if there are bus lanes only in the peak direction, the buses in the peak direction will still be canceled or delayed because of the non- peak direction buses. Bus lanes in northbound direction are absolutely critical. Overall, it's really exciting to finally see this proposal getting close to being implemented. However, I urge council to ensure that this proposal is fasttracked as much as possible to give riders the relief they deserve during our bus reliability crisis. Thanks for listening. Thank you, AJ. Uh, I'm not seeing any questions for you. Our next delegate is Sad Khan. Uh, hello. Um, hi. Uh I'm Sad Khan uh a bus user who travels along Bank Street every week. As a former Glee resident uh I know and care deeply about Bank Street uh and Glee. Uh I welcome the proposal uh for bus lanes on Bank Street to improve uh transit reliability. However, uh this plan as it stands is unfortunately too little and too late. and I echo the calls of over 100 residents at the open house last fall. This plan needs to go bolder. Traveling along Bank Street is a frustrating experience. I find myself constantly stuck in traffic. As a result, bus trips through Bank Street often take longer than expected. I have been late to works work and events on more than one occasion. As a result, I would bet my next paycheck that I'm not alone in this. As you all are aware, Bank Street is one of Ottawa's busiest transit corridors. The wrership is more than double that of Elgen, Bronson, and Maine. Tens of thousands of riders travel along Bank Street every week, including seniors, shoppers, and shift workers. They travel in both directions all day long and not just during peak hours. A 3-hour one directional bus lane does not serve them at all. Weekend and event day riders are also left behind. Bank Street is also a key link for transit to Lancetown for events such as Red Blacks games, concerts, and a 613 flea market. The city's own staff report shows that delays during major events reach 18 minutes, more than three times the regular trip time. Yet, the current proposal excludes weekends and events contradicting the city's own findings. As a Colton University alumnus, I also want to speak for the hundreds, if not thousands of students who travel along Bank Street to get to campus. Many of them even live in the Glee. They do not travel on a 9-to-f5 schedule, and the 3-hour bus lane does not serve them at all. This 3-hour bus lanes would not only fail riders, but create problems for drivers as well. Changing lane uh lane rules throughout the day would create confusion amongst drivers and reduce compliance. a part-time lane risk making the very problem it is meant to solve worse. Toronto implemented 247 dedicated bus lanes on Duffren Street and many transit riders have noticed faster travel times ever since. Ottawa should do the same on Bank Street. 24/7 bus lanes in both directions. This pilot should begin in the summer of 2026, not summer of 2027. It shouldn't take a year just to paint and put up signage. Every month of delay is years of wasted time and traffic for the tens of thousands of riders who depend on this corridor and unreliable service drives people away from the system. In fact, the fair revenue in 2025 came in $20 million below budget because the wrership fell short. Routes six and seven are among the most frequent roots in Ottawa. Yet, they face some of the worst delays in the city. That is unacceptable. Bank Street is exactly where the city should be acting first and acting fast. Waiting until 2027 to even begin a pilot doesn't make any sense given the crisis we are already in. Dedicated bus lanes also reduce operating cost. Buses consume less fuel when they spend less time idling in traffic and accelerating to merge and match traffic speeds. With the ongoing war in the Middle East driving driving up fuel cost and OC transport already facing a $52 million deficit, reducing fuel consumption through dedicated bus lanes is a smart investment. Bank Street deserves better and so do the tens of thousands of people who depend on it every week. Transit reliability is shaping up to be a key issue in the 2026 election and we will be watching. I urge the committee to implement 24/7 bus lanes in both directions and to begin this pilot in summer of 2026. Thank you. Right on time. Thank you, Sad. I'm not seeing any questions for you. The next delegate is Scott Mcench. Okay, we're not seeing Scott, so we're going to move to the next one. Marco Milusich. Hello. Uh, can I get going? Awesome. Hello counselors. My name is Marco Mushuvich and I'm here on behalf of Strong Towns Ottawa. Next slide, please. I'm sure I'm not the first person to tell you our transit system is falling apart. Bus cancellations are rising, delays are constant, people are understandably losing confidence and moving towards more expensive alternatives. We keep asking ourselves what we can do to fix this. And the answer is right before us today. OC Transbo GM Troy Charter mentioned it during the budget discussions. We need more buses and we need transit priority measures. I'm here to ask you today to amend this study to deliver a pilot that is ambitious enough to actually put us on a path to fixing our transit system. Next slide, please. As a busiest bus corridor, the six and the seven move over 100,000 people a week, many of those right through Bank Street itself. There are many businesses. Landown hosts a huge variety of events. Commuters use it for work and more. With so many different needs, we must make sure we're using the space as efficiently as possible. Bank Street will never compete with big box stores in the suburbs which have a plethora of parking options. People come here to experience the area, not for parking. Seeking to preserve as much on street parking as possible is not helping any of the users of Bank Street, even the small businesses. Next slide, please. As you can see here from the data the city has made available, the blue highlighted section of the graph is the time when the northbound lane is in effect. The orange highlight is the southbound lane. You'll notice the ridership for both directions is quite high outside of the hours their bus lanes are in effect, showing how many riders are forgotten. Next slide, please. Here you can see the weekend ridership. Still very high and yet no bus lanes at all to help these people get to where they're going on time. Next slide, please. Here's the northbound average delays. You'll notice the section highlighted in red when bus lanes are in effect is actually not the most delayed part of the day. Delays get worse after that time up until the evening, reaching the worst in the afternoon rush hour. when there are no bus lanes at all in the northbound direction. Next slide, please. Here's the southbound delays. You'll notice again the delays are just as significant starting from the morning all the way up until the evening. The commonality between these two is as soon as you start seeing any cars in the parking lane, the delays pile up. This is because even just one single car in the parking lane means that the bus now has to merge in and out of that lane. Next slide, please. Here's delays on the weekend. You can notice they're extremely bad in the middle of the day. And yet the city is proposing no bus lanes at all on the weekend. Next slide, please. Here's the parking utilization of the north part of the street. You'll notice that almost none of the parking even hits 50% utilization. Next slide, please. Glee South gets a bit more utilization, sitting at around 50% usage throughout the day and only getting to about 80% on Saturdays, Sundays, and weekday evenings when the parking is free. But should parking free hours really even count? How many people would take transit or go to events at Landown if they were also free? Next slide, please. Meanwhile, you'll see here the first two floors of the parking garage on Second Avenue, the one that the city has paid millions to build, sits almost fully empty, oftent times barely even cracking 30% usage. Next slide, please. Here you'll see the third and fourth floors, which also sit very empty almost all the time. Almost every single parking spot on Bank could be replaced with this single parking garage. Next slide, please. This garage is less than a 8-minute walk to almost all of Bank Street in this area. Most people walk up f up to 5 minutes just to get from their parked car in a Costco parking lot to the store. Next slide, please. The city ran a survey asking people what they want to see on Bank. With close to 3,000 responses, the vast majority of people chose parking as the least important aspect on Bank Street. Bus lanes were the highest. Next slide, please. We spent the last couple years walking up and down Bank Street talking to businesses, workers, transit riders, locals, shoppers, eventgoers, and more. We've interacted with hundreds of people from all different parts of the city, many even coming from outside of the city. Overwhelmingly, when we managed to have a conversation with people, we hear that they are supportive of bus lanes on Bank Street. We are asking you today to one, implement the pilot by the summer of 2026, not 2027. Two, include weekends and events as part of the pilot study. These are when the delays are the highest and the ridership is extremely strong during events. Three, operate the bus lanes in both directions. The city data shows that ridership is high in the both directions throughout the whole day. Four, expand the bus lane hours, ideally to 24/7, but at minimum 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. This is when ridership is the highest, parking usage is the lowest, and the delays are the largest for buses. Next slide, please. Finally, I'm going to leave you with my last slide. This is an excerpt from the staff report. In it, they say pretty much every single thing I have told you today. We need bus lanes for longer hours. We need them in both directions. We need them on weekends, and we especially need them during events. Please don't just listen to a group of very passionate citizens looking to make this city better, but listen to the actual experts whose jobs are working on this very thing. Thank you very much. Thank you, Marco. I am not seeing any questions for you. Thanks very much. Our next delegate is James Makavoy. Thank you. I'll open this by saying that I originally had more graphs to break down. Uh, but many people here have and will be speaking to so many facets of this project. I really only wanted to focus on three of these graphs because the city does continually call out the concerns of businesses and I think that those should be looked at. In a reasonable world, these graphs would be the end of this discussion. From the Gleeb BIA's report, retail market and gap analysis 2025. 14% of Glee customers drive to the Glee. 24% of people use transit or cycle. 94% of businesses surveyed think their customers drive as their primary mode. The arguments made by the BA BIA up to this point of the project process are a perfect illustration of real versus feel because they're requesting things that their own data says they don't need. They feel they need more parking when what they really need is more foot traffic. Slide two, please. Now, of course, I want to dig down on this graph why a majority of respondents said the biggest barrier to customers in the Glee is lack of parking. But I would point to the second biggest barrier being too many cars. A reasonable person would infer that cars are the biggest issue. And most people's default response to how do you get rid of cars would be park them, especially if that's a survey option. But I would say this doesn't change the fact that the belief that parking is necessary ignores what the data is telling them because people don't want more parking so much as they want less cars. The top two categories aren't separate issues. They're obviously linked. What this graph is showing us is that cars are something people don't want to see. They are a barrier even if there's signage in place to have the dedicated bus lane times. And I can agree with that view. Bus lanes would both reduce parking and reduce the cars that go through this corridor. More parking would exacerbate the issue. City staff have even noted that parking is a barrier to mobility on Bank Street. Quote, "An issue within the corridor is illegal stopping and parking blocking buses, bicycles, cars, and trucks in the curbside lane during the weekday morning and afternoon peak periods in the peak direction when on street parking restrictions are in place. It seems almost everyone agrees cars and how to get them away from Bank Street are an issue. We've been discussing a pilot project to have bus lanes on Bank Street two years longer than we should have been, almost exclusively because business interest groups can't or won't understand what their market data is telling them. In any statistical analysis, the biggest barrier to accurate interpretation is bias. Obviously, I'm coming at this from a protransit position. That would be my bias, which is why I spoke about the graph on the screen. It's important to analyze something that on the face of it seems to contradict what I believe. Slide three, please. Which begs the question, has has businesses analyzed their own biases? I find it instructive that the number of businesses who think their clients primarily drive overlays perfectly with business owners who drive themselves to their business. Their bias becomes plain here and in my view completely undercuts their argument. The business's own report notes the issue I've been talking about. Quote, "The analysis concluded that even in if on street parking were removed from Bank Street, there would still be parking available on side streets and in the parkades. However, the businesses who participated in the study perceived there to be an inadequate supply of parking. They perceived it. Perception isn't reality. It is the job of the committee and council to make decisions based on reality. It is absurd we even have to have this discussion. The numbers from the people who actually go to the glee make it clear what they want and need. It's time for you to actually listen to what people you represent are asking for instead of deferring to a minority interest group who ignores what the numbers are saying. Thank you. Thank you very much. And I'm not seeing any questions for you. Thank you. Thank you. Our next delegate is Tristano Faliche. Hi there. Go ahead. Good sense on the last name. Thank you. Hi. Uh hi folks. My name is Tristano. Um, longtime listener, first-time delegator, and I want to talk to you about how I experience Bank Street, which is from a work perspective. Um, I work for a point of sales company. I have clients all around Ottawa, including four uh on Bank in the Gleeb itself. So, I install computers and printers and tablets and all that good stuff. Um, and I keep tools with me in my car. I'm actually in uh I was in Kingston this morning and I'm in again now. Um, it's just not a job that I can do by public transit. Um, so all that said, you're probably going to hear from the business community today about somebody like me, somebody who needs their car to do work. And I'm here to tell you that I don't. The on street parking on Bank Street is of zero value to me. Whenever I have had to service my bank locations, I park on the side streets or in that Second Avenue parking garage. And I've never not found parking in that Second Avenue parking garage. Um, I've had a 100% success rate. I actually like parking in that garage a little bit more because it means in the summer my car is not scalding hot when I get into it. Uh and in the winter I don't have to brush off any snow. Um the only my main gripe with the parking garage is the pricing is not consistent with the demand which it should be. We should be lowering the price when there's a lot of parking available and increasing the price when it's not so available. Um, so yeah, that is my perspective. As somebody who uses their car for work, who experiences Bank Street through my car, um, the on street parking, I don't care what happens to it. You can get rid of all of it for transit for all I care. It makes no difference to me. And I also don't think it'll make a difference to my clients as well. Um, I think the clients that I have that are worth driving to are worth walking the 2 minutes from the garage to. Um, and one of my clients, it's a cafe. Nobody's going to come from Bar Haven to drink a coffee downtown. They're going to go to Starbucks. The people who support my clients live in the Glee. Um, that's that's pretty much all I wanted to say. The on street parking, I don't need it to do my work. Um, thank you. Thank you very much, Tristano. I'm not seeing any questions for you. Oh, thank you very much. Delegate is Daryl Cox. Thank you very much. Uh, okay. Loading the presentation. Well, good afternoon committee uh chair and committee members. My name is Daryl Cox. I'm the executive director of the Gleb BIA. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today on our concerns regarding the proposed street design in the bank street feasibility study. Next slide, please. The Glee business community supports improvements to transit and active transportation. These are important priorities for the city. However, we do not support the permanent removal of 17 on street parking spaces and the extension of peak period restrictions impacting another 146 spaces. Next slide, please. Bank Street in the Glee is not simply a destin transportation corridor. It is one of Ottawa's most important commercial districts and regional destination, attracting 22 million visitors in 2025 with 50% traveling from beyond 12 km. That level of draw depends in part on convenient access, including curbside parking. Next slide, please. Ottawa's geography and commuter patterns are unique with a significant portion of the population relying on driving to access the urban core. If parking is difficult or inconvenient, people will choose other destinations. Ensuring that the glee remains easy to reach is not a matter of convenience. It is a matter of economic necessity. Next slide, please. Bank Street is both a key transit and vehicle corridor. City data shows that 66% of morning trips and 61% of afternoon trips are by car compared to about 22% by transit. This reinforces the need for balance. Next slide, please. The staff report acknowledges that Bank Street is a thriving main street where curb curbside space supports business activity. However, the proposed plan removes 17 on street parking spaces and restricts 146 additional spaces during peak periods. The 17 spaces that would be removed by the four permanent bus lane only segments are all either high occupancy is indicated in red or optimal occupancy indicated in white and the removal will negatively impact parking accessibility in the core area of the Glee. Next slide, please. Curbside space is high turnover economic infrastructure. These 17 spaces can support up to $6,800 daily in daily spending or up to 2.5 million annually, not including further losses from the proposed peak period restrictions. This is not only about 17 vehicles. It is about hundreds of daily visits and the vitality of over 360 businesses. Next slide, please. Transit advocates will often speak to research that shows transit users spend more than car users. However, research shows different modes of uh of different modes support different types of spending. Car users take fewer trips but have higher spend per visit which is important for destination retail. Transit and walking customers take more frequent trips but have lower spend per visit which is important for local convenience. Successful main streets rely on a balance of both. The Glee is a destination main street reducing parking risk losing higher value trips. Next slide please. Most Glee businesses lack rear loading or private parking. The curb lane functions as their loading dock and front door. Reducing it makes deliveries harder and increases the likelihood of vehicle stopping and travel lanes. Next slide, please. Those who advocate for the removal of parking to add more bus lanes will point out that there is parking availability in the Second Avenue parking garage. Research shows, however, that on street parking plays a disproportionate role in supporting Main Street retail, particularly for short trips. Customers prefer curbside parking due to proximity, convenience, and safety. Next slide, please. We'll skip that slide, please. On street parking also provides a buffer between pedestrians and traffic. Its removal increases conflicts and create impacts for seniors, people with mobility challenges, and short trip customers. A main street must remain accessible to all. Next slide, please. Finally, there is a question of investment. The city has invested a sign significant amount in a 15-month pilot project which has yet uncertain and modest at best benefits. At a time of significant municipal funding pressures and an increase in community well-being and social issues in BAS, these funds could instead support programs like anchor core and priorities such as the mayor's pledge to end youth homelessness by 2030. This all investment should solve real problems, not create new ones. Next slide, please. This is not a marginal concern. More than 80 glee businesses have signed a petition opposing this uh proposal. While presented as a pilot, the impacts will be immediate and are not fully reflected in the staff report. Small business is a fragile ecosystem. Even small changes can be the tipping point between staying open and closing. This is not theoretical. We're already hearing it from our businesses. As members of council, you are the stewards of this economy and it the city and its economy responsible for protecting the small business community that accounts for approximately 98% of businesses in the region employing nearly half of all the local wheat workforce. We're asking for a balanced approach because at the end of the day, if access becomes too difficult, customers will not adapt. They will leave. If we get this wrong, we won't just lose parking spaces, we lose businesses, and once a small business is gone, it does not come back easily. Getting it right ensures Bank Street continues to thrive. Thank you. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much. I have to say everyone is doing really great on the time, so thank you. Uh, you have a question from councelor Bernard. Thanks very much. question. As I said, I'll try to keep questions pretty limited uh today, but uh thank you Darl for the presentation and u your advocacy on this. I wanted to uh just ask some questions about the the rest of the study because I think there's this view that there's so much opposing sides in this, but I think there's actually a lot more commonality with the the plan that's come up with. The BIA doesn't oppose things like the pedestrian safety enhancements crossing uh the street with like you know ladder marking twizzes or stuff that June Jun Kman was talking about with with timing I presume. Um you don't oppose those things? Not at all counselor. Thank you for bringing up if I had another 30 seconds I would have got to that point but uh unfortunately ran out of time. You don't oppose things like uh the extension of of a bike lane from the Bank Street Bridge uh safely to to you know to Homewood um as an example. You would you be correct supportive of that sort of initiative fully fully support recommendation number four and the investment into that. Correct. and the side street discussion around Percy O'Conor and enhancing um you know th those streets obviously something you'd be supportive of in terms of safe transportation um as part of uh part of the you know I guess vibrancy of the area. 100%. Thank you. That's great to hear. and um things like the some of the 247 bus lanes where we've looked at some areas where there's there's obviously some congestion but there's no there's no parking in some of those areas where you know Elmer near Elmer in front of the lands down changes those sort of areas where there's so much transit traffic and it makes sense to have uh you know transit bus there we see after red blacks games to where they park on the banks things like that there's no opposition there your support of those types of improvements to the council yes so I and I I appreciate that very much. I I understand um the perspective um of the the the 17 parking space is obviously a a bigger issue issue for uh for the BIA um and uh can appreciate you know the again the dialogue around those issues. I I just want to make it clear to you know to committee and I know you know this there's a lot of support for a lot of the other actions being talked about in this report. There are some segments that um you have concerns with. I think the report also mentions around the peak period times of having some flexibility about what the data shows where where is there actual concerns and you know is it 9:30 in the morning and beyond there or not for the pilot project uh which we'll get results from and then you know uh see the data that that comes out from it. So just wanted to say uh thanks for for delegating today and appreciate the the Thank you Council Bernard. Yeah, and just just a point, you know, while if we're talking about a 15-month pilot, as I mentioned, the the impacts for our business community is immediate on that, while it just might be 15 months, that's 15 months of potential revenue loss for our businesses. So, yeah, I'm going to ask the staff about the the length of time because I think sure, we want to see a a summer spring winter season, but 15 months strikes me as as quite long, so I I will ask staff about that. Thank you. Thank you, counselor. Yeah, thank you for that. And uh we're we're I think a lot of these questions will be addressed at the staff time. So if uh colleagues have questions of clarity, could we try to restrict that only because I want to be cognizant we have a lot of people. We got some students here today too which uh I want to hear from as well. So uh councelor Low and then councelor Plant. Thanks chair. Hi Daryl. Um in your slides you mentioned that uh what was it 80 businesses that had signed a petition of some sort correct opposing the design. Um what's uh two questions then uh what's that 80 out of how many? And then which stretch of Bank Street is that? So thank you for your question counselor. So that would be from Homewood to the Queensway and uh so that would we have roughly about 290 businesses in that stretch and um yeah certainly that was a very quick uh petition that we did. So, if we were to go door todoor, that was uh just through uh email. If we were to go door to door, uh certainly I know that number would jump significantly. Okay, cool. Uh thanks very much. Thank you. Uh committee member kits and then pla. Thank you, chair. Um I'm just wondering if there was any consultation with the BIA in the development of this pilot and if there was, if you could talk about how those conversations went a little bit. Thank you. Yes, thank you for the question. Yes, there was certainly uh significant I mean this is uh le this has been probably a year and a half. I think we were June 2024 when this first started. So yes, we've been involved from the get-go. Uh and thank you to the city for that opportunity and all the stakeholder and community consultation sessions and uh staff have been very uh forthcoming in in supporting us during that uh process. I will so if I can quickly though however um you know I I think if it wasn't for the role of the BIA in meeting specifically individually with the businesses I'm not sure if that role would have happened. I've seen that happen in other communities other cities when there has been transit changes uh at parking affecting parking. There has been more uh one-on-one consultation by the business by from the city with the business community. Thank you very much. And so um did you see some movement in terms of the con the concerns you were bringing forward to what we have in front of us today? Yes, 100%. So as we move forward with this and we found out about the uh specifically about uh you know we were aware for a while about the this the four permanent um bus lane uh segments but not about the extension of the peak period restrictions uh which was a a concern to us. So, um, then that's when we reached out to our members just to, uh, you know, further, uh, find out their concerns. And as you'll hear, we do have several, uh, members that will be delegating this afternoon that will speak to the immediate concern that they have, how it impacts them as a business owner on a daily basis. Um, so we will be hearing more from them that just give you some uh, uh, real personal insights. Okay, great. Thank you very much, Darl. Thank you, Councelor Plant. Hi, thank you. And kudos to the chairs, by the way, doing a great job. Okay. Uh, hi Darl. I'm not sure we've met before. Um, but I just wanted to know, uh, in all the research and the consulting you've done, did you talk to the BAS, uh, either in Vanet on or the BMDA? Um, I I know in Van I spoke with Natalie. I'm not sure of the outcomes of the parking studies there, but I know there has been precedent in the city, I believe, where uh you know, there have been studies that have gone forward that have uh either seen some changes or been um I believe Vanade had one a few years ago, but I unfortunately councilor, I'm not 100% uh aware of uh uh the outcome. Okay. So, just to recap, about a year and a half ago, we approved bus only lanes on and um and it's great. I'll be really honest with you, it's not to be honest, it's not enough. It's just during peak times. It's from 7 until 9 and then from 3 until 5. And there's there hasn't been I haven't heard a peak from any of the businesses. Um the buses are rolling better now. It's not perfect. I want to acknowledge that. I got ticketed for parking in the bus only lanes only a couple weeks ago. I had completely forgotten about it. So, um, you know, I would encourage you if you want, you can set a meeting with my office and we can have a chat with them because I know it's it's been it's been a success in my area. Thank you. I'll take you up for the opportunity. Thank you. Great. Thank you for coming out today. I see no further questions. Thank you very much. Absolutely. Um, there was a individual I'm just having a look at the name here. Scott Mcnash is now available online. So, we have Scott. Okay, great. Uh, you have five minutes. The floor is yours. All right. Uh, can you hear me? Okay, we can hear you. Okay. Uh, well, thanks for, uh, for giving me the opportunity to make a brief submission here. Uh, my name is Scott McC. I'm a lawyer here in the city and I live on Bank Street at the south end of the study area and like many other people that are talking to you this afternoon, I do think that the pilot is not enough. I think that if you're going to test the viability of lanes on Bank Street, I think going with 247 in both directions is the way to go. It's a it's a narrow right ofway. It is the busiest bus route in the city. Uh and I think it's important that we make transit as accessible and usable as we can for uh people. I think also because this is a pilot, I think it's important that it tests fully what's possible on Bank Street. And so if you're looking at, you know, how the space can be used 247 in each direction sets aside a set space for transit, for driving, and is a clean and simple solution. And what I'm going to talk about mostly is my experience as a municipal prosecutor. I was the in-house prosecutor for the city of Edmonton as a junior lawyer. And what I saw, like councelor Plant just said, is that many people endure parking infractions because the rules are ambiguous or difficult to determine quickly. And I think if we have a situation like this where depending on the side of the street, on the time of day, what's happening, we're going to have complicated signage and you're going to have increased enforcement difficulties. I think a 247 pilot in addition to being the best test of what's possible and in addition to being you know what would work best for transit users given the students who use it in opposite directions and such also has an ease of enforcement benefit. So if everyone knows the rules you know you cannot park street side on in the glee you're not going to have people that are thinking they can park and create enforcement difficulties. there'll still be enforcement problems. I mean, you're never going to have pure rule compliance, but I think you can remove the ambiguity by doing a cleaner test, which is the 247 bus lanes in each direction. And so, that's the main point I wanted to make and I don't need to burn through the rest of my time and I'm happy to answer any questions. Great. Uh, thank you for your delegation today. Seeing no questions, we'll go to the 10th delegation, uh, Astred McKinnith. Hello. Second, everything's going haywire. I got to check my settings. We're going to take a 5m minute recess. We lost our YouTube link. So, we'll come back on at 120. I a my apologies. Uh uh this this is Justin and I'm ready to give a delegation. We're on break for five minutes. We'll the chair will let you know when it's your turn. Okay. Sorry. Thank you. Test 12. All right, it's uh 22 after I give you a bonus two minutes. I see we have quorum back at the table. We're going to go back to our delegations. Astrid, I guess, is resolved the issues. So, we'll go right to Astrid. All right. Thank you. Uh yeah, so I'm a uh resident of Ottawa. I live off of Bank Street just past further south of Billings, but I visit uh the area affected a lot because uh uh to visit see the movies or uh my grandma lives off of Bank Street nearby there as well. And the all these times that I'm visiting Bank Street are not on these main hours. And I am someone who has not been involved in this kind of stuff before. And I'm getting involved now because learning about it and learning that a pilot program is in place to implement bus lanes and the pilot program isn't actually implementing the bus lanes. And I think that it's it's weird to call it a pilot program if it's not actually doing the thing that it promises to eventually maybe do. Um but I so I hope that either like one that it happens comes around sooner and that gets fasttracked or two it's something that's uh 247 uh both ways because I very rarely like I'm not visiting Bank Street for you know busy times of work. I'm visiting Bank Street pretty much at any other time for uh I have my partners that currently go to Carlton so I I go past there for different things because she goes to the library a lot. all these different reasons and none of them are on those m those peak hours. Um also it was mentioned before like the importance of there being a balance between these two things but when there's you know an event that happens at Landown and there are like a hundred people you know more more than the amount of people that every on street parking there is waiting for the bus off of Landown and one isn't coming. So much so that a friend of mine got tired of waiting for the bus and walked home instead along Bank Street all the way down to where Bank meets Walkley and the entire walk home didn't pass. A single bus did not pass him because that's how backed up everything was. So it was fast for him to walk all the way from lands down to Walkley uh then take the bus and I just find that ridiculous. And I hope that uh you guys will reconsider and hopefully implement either fasttrack this so we can see that any amount of buses is still better than none in terms of bus lanes or and or you know make it 247 so we can get some real implementation instead of something that's just going to like mentioned have a lot of people accidentally park when it's a bus lane to get ticketed. Um yeah and that's that's my time. Great. Thank you for your delegation today. Seeing no questions, we'll move to the next delegation. Justin West Lake Hughes. Oh, uh, counselors and chair, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Please proceed. Perfect. Hello, my name is Justin Hughes and thanks for the opportunity to speak today. Today, I'd like to delegate in favor of dedicated bus lanes on bank. I don't need to address the elephant in the room that we're facing serious transit challenges. And I I do get that there's been some progress on bus availability, but there are ongoing bus shortages that continue to cause frequent cancellations. This is especially true for Route 6 and 7 on Bank Street as the buses for higher frequency routes are often canceled and redirected towards less frequent neighborhood buses. Because of the shortage, it's important to get as much use out of our buses as possible. Dedicated lanes would allow buses to move consistently instead of needing to weave in and out of parked car traffic. These bus lanes would reduce travel time for riders and make it easier to get to Carlton, Landown, and the small businesses in the Gleeb or Old Ottawa South. It also lets bunn bus buses finish their routes more efficiently and minimize delays across the whole system. There's also financial benefits that come with bus lanes. We found out recently that OC Transpo is facing a $52 million deficit. As Ottawa is finding ways to manage the shortfall, we should operate our buses as efficiently as possible. Buson lanes allow buses to move continuously without the need to stop and accelerate around every parked car. This lowers fuel consumption and costs. And I will stress that it is very important for our city to save money with the high cost of gas right now. While I recognize that the proposed plan is a step forward, I don't think it goes far enough. The peak hour lanes could help some office commuters traveling downtown for work, but most of Bank Street will remain open to on street parking for most of the day. The more dedicated time and space buses have, the more reliable and cost effective the system becomes. Expanding bus lanes in both directions throughout the daytime could serve more riders, including students at Carlton University. There are existing birectional peak hour lanes on RTO Street, and they're a huge help in getting people in and out of downtown. Albert and Slater Street also currently have bus lanes from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and they're quite efficient for the STTO routes that use them. I've also heard that the city is considering a new transit priority signal on Bank Street, but I believe that we could do one better. The more transit priority signals we can get, the uh more accessible Bank Street is for transit. Thank you for your time and attention. I strongly support bus lanes on Bank Street. I hope the committee will do so as well. And I'm happy to take any questions. Great. Thank you for your delegation today, Justin. Seeing no questions, we'll move to next on the list, Gilbert Russell. Good afternoon, uh, councilors and chair. Uh, I'm Gilbert Russell. I appreciate being here. I'm a retailer here in the Glee and also have a store in Westboro. I'm also a retail consultant. I do writing and speaking on matters retail. And um, I'd like to draw your attention to what I think is a very critical deficiency in the report. If you look at the report, it tries to strike a balance. And I understand their challenge, but the balance that they struck kind of works because they've not put one of the elements, one of the challenges on the scale. If you look at it, it tells you exactly almost to the minute how much faster the buses will go. But when you look at the impacts, the economic impacts, none of that is there except saying, well, retailers are worried about losing parking. And when I spoke to one of the uh city's consultants, they said that wasn't part of the project, which surprised me because I thought the planning process, you know, required through the MCEA that there actually be an economic study. And if they had done that study, and they're doable, you you can know how where people park, you can know how many shops they go to, you can know how much they buy, and and work out an actual number on the impacts. Um, and but that wasn't done, and that was surprising. Now, I'm not an expert in municipal affairs, so maybe there's a loophole, but I certainly hope that the committee takes into account the economic effects of this uh program. And if you had followed those uh did that work, you would see not that this main we're a thriving mainstream, but rather they're one that is struggling. And you can see that struggle in the rotation of stores. You can see that in anti- uh storefronts. Come to our shops and see it particularly on event days and you'll see that we're not you know there aren't a lot of customers and unfortunately the reason that we're struggling are going to be exacerbated by this plan and namely that right now our customers are not shopping in the glee because of traffic problems and parking issues. And we know that firsthand because we have a store in West Bro as well. And we know that people are choosing not to shop here, but to shop elsewhere. Our West Bro store is the same roughly the same size, has the same staff, has the same inventory. And yet the Westboro store is doing 55% more in sales. And that's simply because people would rather not shop in the Glee. We have customers from Orleans that drive past the off-ramp to get to the Gleeb and keep driving down the Queensway to go to West Bro to shop. And we know that's because of traffic and and parking issues. And of course, this is going to get worse when Landown 2.0 comes on stream because it's going to bring in hundreds of thousands more people to the area. And so that's going to be even worse. But before we get to that point, we're going to have lands down construction. We're taking down a stadium. We're building a new stadium. We're building a new arena. All of that means a lot of heavy traffic up and down Bank Street. And maybe I missed it, but I'm surprised that the traffic study doesn't factor that in. Um, but that's going to have a huge impact. So, if you take away the 17 spots, if you take away the 70 uh spots during rush hour, that's going to hurt already fragile businesses. We are in tough economic times and that's enough to shake some of us and and and lose our business and go out of business. And the problem too then is that you get a vicious cycle starting, right? You you get left less shoppers, less foot traffic. other businesses that depend on that start suffering and then they close and then next thing you know um it becomes a safety issue because it become there more vagrants and tourists stop coming and this is a dynamic that played out on on RTO street and in the market right the city put the transit shelters in it killed RTO street and now the city is ready to invest $20 million to make to fix the market I would suggest it's better not to destroy a neighborhood then rather than wait and try to put money into fixing it later. So, what I'd like to see is for the committee to make an informed decision. And for that decision to be informed, they really need to ask, you need to ask staff to go back to the drawing board and calculate what the economic impacts are going to be and also use that modeling, but in input the traffic that will come from all the construction trucks and then hopefully whatever the decision at least will be informed by a full picture of the situation. Thank you and I'll take any questions. Great. Thank you. Oh. Oh, no. I'm here. I'm here. Oh, cancer plant. Yeah. Hi. So, hi. Thanks for being here. Just quick question. Did you um did you say you own on Bank Street and in Westboro? Correct. I Yes, I own both stores and both uh both buildings. Okay. Thank you for clarifying. Um, I was just going to say it's um, I suspect some of the reasons you're seeing a lot of that turnover and those vacant storefronts is a lot of things that are unrelated to what we're talking about today. I I have talked many times about things like a vacant storefront tax, the social disorder, etc. So, it's just an invitation for you to reach out to my office because I'm not sure the things you're talking about are going to be solved either with or without these bus only lanes. I think it's I think it's a larger social problem that we all need to collectively address. So that's my invitation to you and um yeah, thank you again for being here. Thanks chair. Yeah, thank you councelor. Great. Thank you for that. Seeing no further questions. Thank you, Jabar. Uh we'll go to Blair Brassard. Blair, great in person in real life. And then on deck, we'll have Angela Keller Herzog, Ryan Loy. Okay, Claire, you're up. Five minutes. The floor is yours. just this button here. Thank you, uh, Councilman, council people, Bonjour. My name is, uh, Blair Bashard. I'm the co-owner of Glee Central Pub, uh, located at 779 Bank Street. Uh, Darl, uh, I want to thank you for bringing a lot of facts to this. Um, I'm going to bring the passion. When I was asked to speak at this, I immediately get angry. I don't know why, but it overwhelms me. We are not The business community is not a special interest group. We are what makes the Gleeb special. It is us. It is the businesses. People don't go there to look at the flowers and to look at the trees and look at the beautiful houses. They go to buy things. They go to walk around. They go to look around. They get to go down the canal and do some skating and maybe grab a coffee, maybe grab a pint, maybe go to the hardware store, pick up some stuff at the metro, buy flowers for their loved ones. It's all part of the community. And part of that community is is getting to the glee, not getting through the glee. I'm I'm listening to people speak about time. The time it takes the time it takes to get there. Well, guess what? It takes time to get to something beautiful. And you're just going through it. This city is built in a weird way. We only have so many north south roots. That's the way it was built. Our forefathers decided to come here and pluck it with a river. The Quebec side, this is how they built it. This is what we have. So, let's not just try to fast pace and go through the glee one way or another. We've done everything we can as a business community. Those that know my location, we run buses to the Sins games. We have buses that sit there and we get in trouble for parking in those bus lanes or bus areas while we're trying to move people to Canada. They come here, they park in those parking spots and they sit there on those parking spots. They go to the Sens games and they come back. the community itself and when we ever we people come in and get to watch the Red Blocks and Athletico and the Rapids, the 67s, the the charge, they all are coming in to the into the Gleeb and the Gleeb is something very very special and that's the reason why people are going there. Now this proposal is asking us to gamble. Gamble our money. It's our money that you're asking to gamble. This is immediate. This is now. This is not maybe. This is 30 people that I employ. It's their money. I have two children that live in the neighborhood. I live in the neighborhood. My kids go to school in the neighborhood. I've been here for 20 years. I have the luxury of traveling all over this country as my other job. I get to see every other neighborhood there is. And the Gleeb is one of one. We're starting to play with things that we don't understand. We understand. I'm We're all about utilizing bus lanes and peak hours. That's not what we're talking about. The 247 will ruin it. We'll ruin the feel of it. We're we're talking about safety. And and we're not talking about maybe putting a sidewalk in or maybe not putting a sidewalk in. We have sidewalks now. We're asking to create a a bus lane or going flying by and without that barrier between those sidewalks. So, in closing, I'd just like to to say thank you very much and uh I look forward to listening to the all the rest of the debates. I didn't have much more prepared for that, but I'm prepared to take questions. Great. Thank you, Blair. Just looking to see if there's any questions. None today. Thank you for your delegation. We'll go to Angela Keller Herzog. Great. And maybe while we're waiting for Angela to come down, is Ryan Loey online or in person? Great. If you want to come down just to save some time and sit next to Angela. Angela, you have five minutes. The floor is yours. Thank you very much and um I did bring a PowerPoint presentation as as well. Yeah. Um so thank you for this opportunity. Um I come to you not in anger but I come to you as a delegate um wanting evidence-based policy wanting us to build a livable more healthy um green and resilient city. Next slide please. Um, and I also am a resident of the area and a resident of capt. So, most of you know cafes. We're an environmental network. Um, we have grown a lot in the last few years and we're now at a point where not always do all of our members agree with each other, which is interesting. Um but I come here delegating with also member support from the center town citizens association um from ecology Ottawa and also um we work closely and in this file I am so impressed by the work that Strongtowns Ottawa has done. Um I don't know how many of you counselors have had a chance to look at their um full case for this file but the research that has been done is so solid. It is incredible. Next slide, please. Um, so the overall caf's position is that view, we view this file as an opportunity for unclogging public transit. Everybody knows that we have a public transit problem. Lines 6,7 are are really high volume. They're important bus lanes. And again if we look at evidence-based policym this leads us to a position of supporting 247 dedicated bus lane concern is really a solved problem. The city already has built a 9.5 million parade that sits largely empty. The solution in part is smart curb management which we haven't heard anything about. Um I'm going to go faster but you have my in writing um presentation. So next slide please. So in terms of the overview I'm going to speak to three issues. The empty parade, the numbers and smart curb management. Next slide please. So in terms of the context um the city of Paris in the last six years has removed I think 24 or 25,000 parking spots. That is an incredible amount of change and it seems that here in the city of Ottawa we find it difficult to make even the smallest incremental change. Next slide please. So on issue one regarding the parking um under councelor David Chernochenko two terms ago we built a very large parade again from the pressure of the BIA and that largely sits empty. Next slide please. The red numbers indicate occupancy of under 50%. Next slide please. So issue number two in terms of what percentage is the on street parking. If we were to have just two dedicated bus lanes, we'd be losing around 70 7% um of our on street parking in the area. And again, there is no parking crisis. We have surplus parking. Next slide, please. So issue number three is in in our view for accommodating the very genuine needs of business, we need to have smart curb management. And there's a lot of other lessons from a lot of other streets which have businesses which have bus lanes in front of them or which who certainly don't have dedicated parking. So there's a lot of smart solutions that Ottawa could be looking at. Next slide, please. So, our recommendations are to support 24/7 dedicated bus lanes, to have to direct the displaced parking to the Glee garage, which we just built with taxpayers money, and three, to implement proven curb management solutions. Thank you very much. Right on time. Looks like you've done this before. Thank you for your delegation today. Uh, we'll go next to Ryan if you want to sit right in that seat there. And then we have Lynn Burton now. Is Lynn in the crowd or online? Online. Okay. Okay. Brian, five minutes. The floor is yours. Thank you. Hello. My name is Ryan Ly and I was going to thank you all for giving me the opportunity to speak about this Bank Street transportation study. While I appreciate the city is attempting to improve Bank Street, I believe the current proposal could be more ambitious regarding transit. Trust in the city's transit system is eroding. The buses on these streets are often delayed or even cancelled. Oftent times it is faster just to walk than to wait for a bus. If the bus does come, it's impeded by the traffic it has to share the street with. I myself had occasionally decided to get off the bus early to walk the rest of the journey to place like Lancetown. And unsurprisingly, I can find that sometimes I can beat the bus of my own two legs. With all these combinations of these issues, it is no wonder that people are frustrated. These people have places to be, a job to go to, classes to attend, errands to run. If these people can't move quickly, there are consequences. These people are dependent on transit to do the things that they need to do, and the city must not fail them. Adding bus lanes is a great solution to help restore some of that trust. The study even acknowledges their advantages. However, the proposal as it is will not be enough for the city to truly realize those advantages, nor would they help collect meaningful data to make informed decisions. For one, it's only studying the impacts of bus lanes during peak 3-hour periods for one direction at a time. However, we see in the report that riders travel in both directions throughout the day. The current proposal could help some of our 9 to5 workers, but it would also neglect those who need the service outside of those hours, such as shift workers, students, and elderly folk, people who are not likely to have a car, and therefore depend on our buses. Let's make sure our bus lanes help as many people as possible so that we can win them over. Secondly, it excludes weekends and event days, periods where transit usage is high. These will be great opportunities to demonstrate the attractiveness of transit as a transportation option. Again, including those hours would help win a lot of people's trust back. So, what would I suggest to improve this proposal? Personally, I would love to see these buses run bus lanes run 24/7, but at the very least, I suggest that they should run from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. to serve the busiest times of the day. These bus lanes should operate in both directions, and they should also run on weekends and event days. Adding these simple amendments would immediately yield results. There's also the cost effectiveness aspect of bus lanes. We heard mentions of finding efficiencies, but if you want to find an actual example of an efficiency that the city can find, dedicated bus lanes can be that example. Uh, no new infrastructure would not need to be built will need to be built, nor are we asking to um require exorbitant funding. The city can simply designate two lanes as bus lanes and put up some signs at a minimal cost. This can make a huge difference. Even though it is a pilot project, it should be set up for success. If you want people to believe in transit, again, these are the steps you need to take to guarantee satisfaction. I ask that these amendments be added to the proposal to improve the transit experience, especially since the six and seven are among the busiest routes of the city. It may sound like we're making bets, but I would argue that it is a small bet with a high payout. Thank you for your time. Great. Thank you very much, Ryan. Good to see you in the cafeteria, by the way. Uh, no questions. So, we'll go to our next delegation, uh, Lynn Burton, which is online. If Carrie Hodkins or Valeria Macintosh, I'm not sure if they're online or if they're in person, but if they're here, feel free to Yes. Please come up to the table and have a seat. Uh you'll be after our delegation that's available now. Lynn Burton. Lynn Okay. Well, I guess Lyn, we'll have to wait. We'll go uh we'll go to uh Carrie. Hi. Um my name is Carrie Hodins. Thank you for having me today. Um my husband and I have been uh small business owners in and around Ottawa for over 51 years now. We currently have two businesses in Old Ottawa South and I'm here to share a personal account of the impact of the nonsensical 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. parking restrictions on Bank Street we were subjected to in October of 2024. These restrictions have been extremely disruptive to our operations. Our midafter afternoon business just dried up. We are down approximately $500 per day and we have laid off two staff members and that's all due to the lack of customers during that time period. We're not the only ones. Uh thanks to our informal partnership with the Gleed BIA, we commissioned a professional survey to see if our neighbors were also suffering the same financial decreases. And that would be our business neighbors. Of the 42 respondents, 80% said they were significantly affected and 10 said 10% said they were slightly affected. This is realtime lived experience feedback. I'm hoping this provides you with concrete facts and information on how local businesses take a direct hit when parking is removed from our areas. I'd also like to speak to um the pilot project. I'm not sure what the evaluation piece looks like, but is it going to be oh our bad sorry so sorry. Do you give people their business back? Do you give us money that we've lost? So like there's a human side of the impact of the decision decisions that we're making and it it's difficult for us. It's not like we can just start over again. Um, I also have an issue with the language around south of Elmer Avenue. What does that mean? Does that mean to Mr. Transmission? Does that mean to Sunnyside? Does that mean to Riverdale? It could mean anything. And I think if we had a more accurate terminology, it would give us a better idea of what the impact is going to be because it's not only the glee then it's us as well. Um on a more personal level, people have talked about the accessibility. We live where the initial 247 is going to be. We actually frequent the stores and restaurants along that strip. My husband has mobility issues and I don't know. He needs the car to be able to get. He can't walk far. So, he we need access. There's no side street parking along that corridor that you're taking the 70 17 um spots away from. That's going to become the 24/7. And not only that, um everyone keeps on saying 17 parking spots. They're all in the same spot. It's all the same corridor. It's not one here. It's not one there. It's going to become this sort of like desert parking desert. It's like scorched earth. So, with that said, and a fellow mentioned this before, we had a very successful business down on Rita Street until they put in the bus enclosures. We fortunately were able to get out early enough. The bus enclosures then turned into 247 transit c U corridor and now we all know what's happening on RTO street and it's not pleasant and it's become a wasteland. So be careful for what you wish for. We're looking we can look to the past to see what the possible future is going to be because Rita Strait is like the perfect example of how something goes wrong fast and for a lot of people. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Oh, applause. Hi. Yeah, thank you. Um, I just wanted to sort of correct your mischaracterization of RTO street. Um, I live near it. Um, I'm the counselor for the area. I don't think it's a waste land. I'm not I'm not sure where you got that from. It's actually quite a thriving area. Yes, there's a lot of vulnerable people around it, but it's, you know, certainly not Chernobyl. Um, I was just wondering where you got that information from. Which information about being a wasteland? Correct. I because I travel down there. You travel down there. Yes. I go down I go down to Rita Street. I live in I live in the Glee. We go to the market. I go to Rita Street. The businesses that are now on Rita Street. A lot of the businesses that where you see the closed doors, they've come into Old Ottawa South because they couldn't survive there. Do you I also I also I actually also had a business for over 20 years in Vanet. So I'm I'm quite familiar with the areas. We had businesses down on the market. We've been around. We've seen it's 51 years we've seen it all and we've we've taken the brunt of a lot of decisions that have been made and we just put our big boots back on and carry on and try somewhere else and just hope that we succeed. But that's the life of a business person. So external forces affect us. No. And and I and I would never ever deny that external forces affect businesses. I actually think that's probably the number one thing that affects businesses. Um but I I'm just going to ask you to recalibrate your comments in the future because there are a lot of low-income people at 123 Augusta, 360 Murray, uh 160 Charlotte that do live around the RTO street. And I I would I would not characterize their their everyday life as a wasteland, but you know, go off. Thank you. Okay, counselor. Counselor, I'm going to remind you we don't allow debate with the people that come in to speak with us. I appreciate the passion, but I'll remind delegations and committee members, we do not allow that kind of debate to take place here today. So, please, I'd ask us to There was no offense taken. I understand. I work I worked at the Royal Ottawa and I've worked for Cornerstone, so I understand. Thank you. Thank you for your delegation today. Most appreciate it. Uh we'll continue on. We'll go back. We have uh someone that was able to get online now. Lynn, you're back online. You have five minutes. The floor is yours. Well, good morning, counselors, and thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Lynn Burton. I'm a longtime resident of Old Ottawa South and I have spent 20 years as as a small business owner in Old Ottawa South. I co-founded Boomerang Kids and Wagosh Shop for spoiled pets. I'm here today as someone who supports thoughtful city planning, but also as someone who has lived the reality of running a small business that depended on customer access. I want to start by saying I understand and appreciate what the city's trying to do here. Improving trans and flow, encouraging active transportation, and making our streets safer and efficient are all very important goals. While I recognize some studies suggest that increased transit flow, support local businesses, my own experience has been very different. For over two decades, my livelihood depended entirely on customers being able to access my stores. I would support any proposals that would improve the viability of our small leaf shops, but I can tell you with certainty when parking was reduced or lanes were restricted during periods, we felt it immediately. Those weren't small dips. Those were crickets. You could feel it in the store right away. Fewer people were coming in. Fewer purchases were being made and a noticeable drop in daily revenue. And for a small business owner, that's not just inconvenient. That is personal. That's how I paid my mortgage. I supported my family and I kept my doors open. I'm no longer a small business owner. But what concerns me with this proposal is not just the removal of 17 parking spots, but the cumulative effect of the extended no parking hours and additional hours per day, 5 days a week, removing access to all those opportunities is not insignificant. For many of the businesses along Bank Street in the Glee, those hours are active shopping times, particularly from 3 to 6 in the afternoon. I'm hoping the city will take time to engage with our business community to truly understand the impact this could have on to their livelihood, their families, and also the vibrancy of our traditional Main Street vibe. I support better transit, but I also know how fragile small businesses can be. It would be so wonderful if changes like this brought more foot traffic and supported local businesses, but that simply was not my experience. Thank you for your time. Great. Uh, thank you, Lyn. I'm glad we got you back online there. Thank you for your delegation today. Uh, we'll go back into the line. So, I'm just looking here. We have Leticia. Would that be clear? Oh, Valerie. Oh, Valerie Macintosh. Great. You just have to hit the microphone button. Five minutes. The floor is yours. Yeah, right in front of you. And also, is Leticia in person or online? We don't know. Okay. If we can figure out in the deck so we can start lining people up in advance, that'd be appreciated. Valer. Hi, my name is Valerie Macintosh. I own a business in Old Ottawa South. Um I've been there for owned that business on Bank Street for 23 years. I was relocated uh from bank uh from Sunnyside and Senica for the previous 11 years. Um parking is paramount to our businesses in Old Ottawa South. And first of all though, I'd just like to make mention of the fact that I was surprised and disappointed that the president of the Centertown Community Association was the one that initiated this 24/7 bus lane. I It just boggles my mind that somebody who doesn't even live in the community is able to come forward and make a proposition about our community, particularly since Centertown has their own problems. We do not have any on street parking bus lane problems in my opinion in old in the gleeb. We do have one in old Ottawa south whenever they implemented the no parking between 2:30 and 4:30 which was totally uh against everything that we had said two years ago whenever we were here trying to stop um the extension of the bus lanes in old Ottawa South to go north. That was my first issue. My second issue is more of an economic issue. It's the economy, stupid, uh, which is quoted from James Carville in the 1992 um, election in the United States. Um, the people the when I first when I was in high school, I got my first job across the street in the business across from where I am now. When I was in college, I got my second job right beside my first job and I continued that on while I was in college. small businesses employ um the majority of the people that work in old Ottawa South and uh the glee and it's teenagers. It's early 20s. We right now have um from 15 or 15 to 24 year olds have the largest demographic of uh not being able to find a job which is why would you not think of that? Why does that not qualify as being as important as bus lanes? Um, I sent you all a video. I Mark, who was fantastic, tried to help me send it to your individual accounts, which I was not able to do. So, I sent it to the person who organized this. Last Friday, my husband and I drove from the Cummings Bridge to Bank Street on RTO Street. It took us 24 minutes. Yeah. They have a they have a bus lane. That's I mean, it was working. It was fine, but the length of time was crazy. We landed on Bank Street at 40:01, made it down to Banken first by 40:04. I started my video at that point. My video went for 1 minute and 56 seconds and there was only one time we were impeded and that was at a red light at Bank and Fifth because somebody and then somebody was turning left onto Fifth Avenue. As you can see, and as you I hope you all will look at the video, there is nothing in that video that shows that there's too much traffic, that there's um any stoppage in traffic other than that a normal red light. Um I also wanted to make note of the fact that Yeah, forget the clock on the screen. You're down to one minute. Sorry, they started it a little late there. So, you have one minute remaining. Okay. So the whenever the city of Ottawa put in the bus bike lane on Bank Street in n in 2024, there was one business that's across from me. It's a bike shop. Their business dropped 70%. 70% immediately. It didn't take weeks or months. It was an immediate reaction to not being able to have their customers park in front of their shop. And the funny thing was this was a bus bike lane. And you know what we discovered? People that drive their bikes when their bikes don't work, they use their cars to get to the bike shop to get their bikes repaired. Great. Thank you for that. You do have questions, so we'll just go to councelor Troster. Yeah. First of all, as the council for Somerset Ward, I just want to be very clear. The president of the Centertown Community Association did not invent the idea of 24-hour bike lanes or bus lanes. And just to be clear, the fellow who spoke today is the head of the transportation committee at the CCA. Um, and certainly anything that happens on Bank Street in the Gleeb has an impact on uh, traffic in Centertown. So, I just want to be clear, but my question to you is, have you noticed a difference in your business when traffic is stuck during events at Landtown? Because I'll tell you, um, I live in Centertown, very close to the Gleman in Old Ottawa South, and I use all modes of transportation. I walk, I bike, I take the bus. Um, and I drive, but I have turned around many times because things are just at an absolute standstill on Bank. We just accept the fact that there's parking backed up on Bank Street. That's the price that you pay for being in business. It's not always just about us. We, when the Red Blacks first came back to Ottawa, there used to be special event uh sections of Bank Street that were restricted. So, you couldn't even park on Bank Street. I I mean that was just the price that we paid for having events at Landown. We have 613, we have uh the Red Blacks, the 67s. The city of Ottawa uses special event parking. I think a couple of years ago whenever they had the um the rave, it was the special event parking I think went almost all the way down Bank Street, so you couldn't park. It's just it it we're not it's not all about us all the time. But why would we give why would why would you force us to give it up whenever it's such a limited um restriction? I I just don't understand why you would insist that it be 24/7 let alone losing 17 parking spots when you can see clearly from my video there is actually there is absolutely no impediment to cars getting through the glee. I hope you all look at the video. Okay. Okay. Well, the concern is also about buses and about the the speed of buses and there have you done any um research or do you have any sense of how many people access your business by bus or by foot or by bike? I only wish we had the time to ask the people that come into the shop. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Great. Thank you. And I do believe there's going to be some questions when we get to staff related to business and and things related to statistics. I think there's actually a motion about that, too. So, uh, thank you for your delegation today. Thank you. The next two, we got Leticia and Siobhan online. So, we'll go to Leticia first. Okay. So, we'll go to Siobhan. Hi. Uh, thank you, counselors. Um, my name is Siobhan Kirkland and I'm a resident of the Gleeb. I live just off of Bank Street and very close to the empty 90% of the time Second Avenue uh parade. I chose the Gleeb because I live car-free. Um I walk and I take public transit everywhere and I thought this would be a very like walkable and transit friendly neighborhood and I do really love where I live. But unfortunately, the Bank Street transit corridor is frankly like a nightmare for pedestrians and people taking transit. We've heard from some business owners and honestly as a resident of the neighborhood who frequents businesses in the Gleeb and Old Ottawa South daily um by foot, it's it's very disappointing that those of us who don't drive to businesses apparently don't count as much as as those who do drive. Um even though these are the local businesses that I support daily. But we we've heard about balance and I think it's interesting because at the moment on Bank Street there's no balance. Um all all we have is like for the most part cars. Uh maybe a a little bit of of transit and pedestrians all crammed on to narrow sidewalks, but there's hardly any any balance. And in my opinion, you know, as other delegates have said, this plan is better than nothing. But in my op opinion, it doesn't go far enough. It doesn't go far enough on pedestrian safety measures as as the Glee Community Association spoke about. It's frankly quite scary often being a pedestrian in the Gleeb particularly on event days um when cars block intersections and turn um and it's a traffic nightmare. Um, so I would like to see some of the pedestrian measures that the Glee Community Association spoke about, such as crosswalks between uh, Central Park to make it a continuous park. It's insane to just have to run with your dogs into traffic to cross the street or with your kids. Um, so I would love to see a crosswalk there and and other measures. But on top of that, I think this plan doesn't go far enough in terms of implementing um you know the time. It's wild to me that weekends and events are excluded when events are already a traffic nightmare in the neighborhood. We heard business owners talk about how traffic is a concern and an impediment. Well, buses transport hundreds more people than a single occupancy vehicle can. And especially with lens down 2.0 0 coming increased traffic. You know, there isn't space for more vehicles. So, the idea of excluding events, which I think are by far the worst traffic situation, uh from this pilot is is wild to me. So, I would love to see it extended to events and weekends. Make sure you Sorry, I was I couldn't see the clock. Um, if there was one Okay. Yeah, there's a question from councelor Charles. Hi, Siobhan. Um, I just wanted to thank you for being here and to let you know I also have some questions about events because um I've been at Charge Games recently and seen what Bank Street looks like. It comes to an absolute standstill. So, I just wanted to thank you for flagging that. I'll have some questions for staff about that afterwards. Thanks so much. Yeah, it would be great to to see that looked into because it's a major issue. Great. Thank you for your delegation today. Next, we have online. Uh, thank you. We have Mike Astrobrook from Irene's Pub Online. Thank you. Good afternoon, chair, and members of the committee. Thanks for the time. My name is Michael Estster, and I'm the owner of Irene's Pub and Restaurant. My business has been part of the Bank Street community for over 40 years, and I myself was born and raised here in the Gleeb. Let me start by saying first clearly I support the vision of a pedestrian friendly and a bike friendly more importantly a transit. Safer crossings, better sidewalks, improved cycling connections, reliable public transit. These are all good things. Enhance the vibrancy of our neighborhood make it a more enjoyable place to live, work, and importantly. Michael, uh, just before you continue, I'll just stop the clock. If you can get close, it seems you're bobbing closer and further from your microphone. If you can get close to it, please so we could hear you. Thank you. On my head. Can you hear me better now? Much better. Please continue. Apologies for that. As I was saying, better sidewalks, improve cycling connections, reliable transit. These are all good things. They enhance the vibrancy of our neighborhood, and make it a more enjoyable place to live, work, and visit. At the core, this plan prioritizes transit efficiency at a tangible cost to small businesses. The permanent removal of 17 parking spaces represents 11 and a half% of on- street parking along the stretch of Bank Street. While the study cites the municipal lot and second avenue avenue supplementary side parking uh streets, customers are not analyzing total parking supply in the glee. They are deciding in real time whether they can can conveniently stop, park, and frequent a business. When access becomes a difficult barrier, customers don't circle the block. They simply go elsewhere. Ease of access is a critical factor, especially when competing with a big box store and delivery services like Amazon. Following the removal of two parking spaces directly out front of Irene's this past year, we have observed a tangible decline in business, specifically during our lunch hour. As a business owner, I regularly run errands that require a car on multiple occasions. I've intended to stop at Home Hardware, but have deferred those trips in favor of places like Canadian Tire simply due to the lack of available on street parking. Similarly, I choose to visit the LCBO on Isabella Street instead of uh the Lanszen location and not because of preference or proximity, but because parking there is consistently faster, more accessible, and reliable. My b my business works with dozens of suppliers each week, and convenient pop-in parking is essential to ensure timely deliveries and smooth operations. I can't imagine residents of our neighboring Clary and Regent Street being all too pleased while halfton trucks idle out front of their homes while we deliver the goods. Furthermore, we can't ignore demographics. My business is fortunate enough to enjoy the patronage of Gleb's diverse community. From young families to long residents and even occasional babies, the Gleeb is home to an aging population where longtime residents rely on nearby accessible parking to participate in the neighborhood. Not everyone can bike. Not everyone can walk long distances. And as our current winter weather drags into April, short trips with accessible approximate parking aren't just a luxury, they are a necessity for many in our community. There's the concern of broader density as well. Parking in the Gleeb is already highly constrained and heavily used, particularly during evenings, weekends, and events. I would highly recommend anyone of the committee members to come down when the canal is open and try and find a parking spot. The proposed expansion uh of Landown 2.0 will see an additional 770 residential units, not to mention the con, pardon me, the construction phase uh that that will bring as well. We cannot continue to add to density uh increase demand and simultaneously remove capacity without a clear viable and functioning alternative. This proposal is aspirational in that it assumes a level of reliability that and performance from OC transpo that simply does not currently exist. The most common complaint I hear around my bar outside of weather and bad goalending is the inefficiency of OC transpo at large. A recent report from Capital Current shows that some routes cancellations can reach as high as 15 to 20% on a typical day. In January alone, over 9,000 bus trips were canceled with key routes like the six and seven right here on Bank Street seeing a failure rate of almost 10%. Each day, OC Transport starts at a deficit of vehicles compared to its scheduled routes. I ask, how will dedicated bus lanes fix a shortage in vehicles? From where I sit, investing millions of dollars to make modest improvements on a transit system that is already fundamentally behind schedule doesn't improve transit. It doesn't restore confidence, and it certainly doesn't justify the trade-offs being proposed. This is not about resisting change or resisting functioning transit. This is about focusing funding on the real challenges our city's transit is facing. I support improvements of pedestrian infrastructure. I support better cycling connections. I support an effective and punctual public transit system. But before we reallocate road space, before we remove accessibility, and before we ask small businesses to shoulder the burdens, we need to fix the foundation. After that, redesign the street, not the other way around. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your delegation today. We'll move on to our next delegation. I believe you're in person. Daniel, can you hear me? All right. Yes, we can. Thank you, chair, members of council. My name is Daniel and as someone who both drives and takes the bus to Bank Street, I've seen firsthand how quickly one stopped or parked car can delay an entire bus full of people. I'm here to ask you to approve 247 bus lanes in both directions on Bank Street. I will also respectfully address some opposition concerns that I saw when asking around and reading news articles. First of all, we need to expand bus lane hours. With the current plan, it will inevitably lead to cars accidentally staying parked, being ticketed, blocking bus lanes, and hindering any benefit the current proposal has, and preventing the pilot from collecting meaningful data, which is the entire point of this. Bus lanes are about five times more efficient at moving people than car lanes, and having them means fewer cars on the road and less congestion for those who choose or need to drive. In addition, emergency vehicles can use the bus lanes to bypass traffic and get to the emergency more than 5 minutes faster along the stretch. Those are precious minutes that can be the difference between life or death. Emergencies can happen at all times, not just rush hour. Now, I want to address I want to address concerns about on street parking. To quote the Gleeb BIA retail market and gap analysis final report, even if on street parking were completely removed along Bank Street, there would still be parking available on side streets and in the parks. However, the businesses perceive there to be an inadequate supply of parking. The study demonstrates or points to that the perceived lack of parking is likely due to the underutilization and lack of awareness about the existing parking garages. This is confirmed by my own conversations with residents who live in the Gleeb and weren't even aware that there was a garage. A solution to this could be clear intuitive signs right in front of businesses pointing pointing to the available parking spots. Um, this should be implemented before parking is removed and leading to the already existing underutilized parking that is on that is not on this critical north south corridor. In any case, non-drivers are also more regular visitors of local shops and on average spend more money on a month-to-month basis. And specifically for the pub owners, think about how much more money you can spend on drinks if you don't have to drive home because you can rely on the bus. We cannot be using the logic of perception to make important decisions. Each business has about one or two parking spots right in front of them before it becomes just as convenient to park off the street. Even if these one or two parking spots are turning over every 30 minutes, which they're not, their economical impact is very minimal compared to the great economic benefits that bus lanes would bring and have been proved through numerous studies in other places. The convenient signs towards parking provide the convenience of on street parking and intuitively that it off that on street parking offers to the businesses along Banks Street. Vice chair of CUDA's board Dave Regi who has a bachelor degree in commerce and a master's degree in urban and rural planning has stated that every dollar invested in ch transit generates $2.40 in economic activity. I might add that the city's traffic and parking bylaw allows vehicles with a valid accessible parking permit to stop within a bus or bike lane to unload or load a person with a disability. And the side streets near are also available for loading and unloading. The city of Ottawa claims to be working towards a city that is more connected with reliable, safe, and accessible mobility options. a city that is green and resilient and a city with a diversified and prosperous economy, but then hindering the growth of the city by putting the most accessible, green, and safe transit mode behind stop cars most of the time and thus forcing it to be unreliable. If you vote no, you are choosing to keep bus riders stuck in traffic. You are delaying emergency vehicles and vital economic growth. And so, please vote to approve 24/7 bus lanes in both directions on Bank Street and start the pilot this summer. Thank you. Thank you for your delegation today. Most appreciated. Seeing no questions. Next up, Ian Boy. And after Ian, we have Noah. So, if Noah's in the room, if Noah can come hop down in the chair right over here next. And uh Ian, you're up. Thank you, chair, and members of the committee for this opportunity to speak today. My name is Ian Boyd and I'm an I'm the owner of Compact Music. I uh wore my suit today uh out of respect of this committee and uh the city of Ottawa. It's uh I hope it doesn't hurt my street cred. Uh one thing I can say with uh certainty uh rather over that over the 30 years I've uh seen how the street function should stay today, not just as a transportation corridor but as a main street economy. One thing I can say for certainty is this. Buses are early, they're on time, or they're late. In my experiences, when buses are delayed, it's not due to a single factor. It can be weather, construction, accidents, mechanical issues, staffing, service gaps, canceled trips, and as we've seen recently, sometimes buses simply don't arrive at all. So, while traffic plays a role, it is only one part of a big much bigger picture. What I want to focus on today is the economic impact on small businesses. Gibb is not just a local shopping street. It is a destination. I've serviced everybody uh sorry people from every one of your wards. I can assure you of that. I've personally served people from Chelsea, Wakefield, Elmer, Brockville, Cornwall, Hawkbury, Perth, Embram, M Orleans. Many of them I know by name. These customers are choosing to come to the glee and many of them depend on convenient parking to do so. And I can tell you directly they already find parking challenging. If we make it more difficult by removing 17 on street parking spaces along with the 146 that would be impacted by the current peak period parking restrictions. They will not come more often. They will come less office often or they will go somewhere else. So this is where the economic impact becomes very real. Small businesses operate on tight margins. When you reduce accessibility, you reduce customer visits, you reduce transaction volume, ultimately revenue. Even small changes can have significant consequences across the glee. The loss of customer access translate into lost transactions, thousands of them annually. The proposed removal of 17 spaces is not just a reduction in parking. It resumps represents a loss of economic activity. Based on a typical turnover and a conservative estimate of $40 per visit, these spaces support roughly $2.5 million in annual lost revenue for businesses. And there is a formula that I could tell you another time if you ask me. That is not theoretical. That is the difference between staying open and closing. I know of two businesses. one that's going to close the day after if it's implemented the day after and a second one that's considering it. I'm aware of businesses already questioning whether they can continue under these conditions. There's also a broader economic principle here, opportunity costs. The city is proposing to invest approximately 2.5 million in this project. Ottawa business community is seeing a rise in theft. My store was broken into. I think this money could be spent on policing or on anchor or something that be far beneficial not just to the stores but to the community at large. I also want to say that the Glee business are deeply invested in this city. We support festivals. We support local events. We support community initiatives. We help make Ottawa a vibrant place. At the end of the day, this comes down to balance. We're not opposed to transit improvements, but the current proposal shifts out of balance in a way that creates real economic risk for small business. So, I leave you with this. Removing parking may not solve the issues affecting transit reliability, but it will have a direct and measurable impact on small business. Many of us, that impact is not theoretical. It's a reality. And I do believe in the end the buses will be early, they'll be on time, or they'll be late. I respectfully ask you to consider the economic consequences for the small business community and vote against this proposal. And now I'm back to my jeans. Well, thank you very much, Ian. I appreciate you coming in today. Uh, no questions. So, we'll move to to Noah, a very sharply dressed individual here. Noah, if you want to come right up. No roll. And great, you have five minutes. The uh floor is yours. So, I want to talk about something that hasn't been talked about yet. And I want to talk about the uh actual bus stops. So, I propose we remove the Bank and Powell uh bus stop. The distance between bank and chamberlain and bank and glee without bank and powell in the middle is 350 m which is still on the lower end of what the transit cooperative research program and n national association of city transportation officials recommend for street like bank street which is 320 to 450 m and instead of bank and third bus stop moving it past the intersection like what's in the proposal we remove it Altogether they are ridiculously close together. The new distance between bank and glee and bank and fifth would be 380 m which is near the middle of what is recommended uh bus distance length. Uh let's save the riders time. Let's save the city money. Let's remove bank and third instead of moving it. And for the bus stops on the northbound route. Uh remove bank and Patterson stop. The distance between bank and Isabella and Bank and Ferris without Patterson is 400 meters, which is considered optimal for bus stop distance. Increasing bus stop spacing from 200 m to 400 m, like in this case, can improve bus run times by 6 to 10% according to the MBTA and remove bank and third northbound. The distance between bank and first and bank and fifth without bank and third in the middle is only 350 m. Removing these redundant bus stops will save people time, makes the rides itself more pleasant when it's not accelerating and stopping constantly, and will allow the bus to make full use of the new bus lanes. And regarding the bus lane, we have this narrow very high usage street and we want to leave empty cars on it. Instead of these 100 m 24/7 bus lane section, then some of it 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. bus only lane. Let's just make this 1.6 km stretch of bank a 24-hour bus lane. It's way too confusing for drivers. There's going to be so many people mistakenly parking or driving in the bus lane. It only takes one empty car to stop a 100 people on a bus. I've heard from business owners, traffic is preventing customers from coming in. And buses reduce traffic. When you make it more reliable, easier, faster, and less expensive for customers to get to your business, more customers are going to come. Studies show it increases business sales. According to the King Street pilot in Toronto, the new New York City select bus service study. Uh this is going to make the second and third highest used bus route operate more reliably, faster, more pleasant experience. Tens of thousands of people are going to have a noticeably better impact on their daily life. And it's going to make it easier for people in Ottawa to quickly go down arguably the most important road in Ottawa. These are the kind of projects that improve Ottawa and makes Ottawa a more exciting and livable place to live. I do not know why the city of Ottawa values one-third of cle business owners over tens of thousands of people that could benefit. Businesses don't vote, people do. The people of Ottawa do not want to wait another year for transportation down the most important street in Ottawa to improve. We should launch this pilot by June 28th to align with the summer service change. Let's stop studying the problem and start solving it for the 6,900 riders who are waiting on us today. So, the proposal itself is a half measure of a half measure of a half measure. Let's actually do something that will notice noticeably improve people's lives. I would I would even be willing to have have the pilot fully done right for half the time. Then um h half measure it, half measure it. Um so I propose removing these four redundant bus stops, make bank have a 24-hour bus lane, and have the pilot start this summer on June 28th. Uh thank you for your time. Great. Uh thank you very much for your delegation today. Seeing no questions uh we'll go to and forgive me and we'll go to uh to Tom which is online and then after Tom we're actually going to move one of the delegations I believe they've been notified Willow Willow's group uh to come down so we can make sure that you have the opportunity to get your presentation in. I students you know you're busy so we want to make sure we accommodate. So right now we'll go online to Tom. Hello. So, thank you for having me today. I'm here as a resident of Ottawa uh near Marville and Baseline who often rides my bike downtown to uh lands down or drives down for the games. And let me tell you, when I ride my bike, I have much easier time finding parking than riding than when driving with my friends to the game. So in February, I went with my friends to the Ottawa 67s game. And obviously there was no street parking at all. We had to freaking Google the garage, the uh the Glee parking just to find a spot. And then when we got there, it was like 80% empty. It's like the streets were totally packed. Firet trucks couldn't get through. We couldn't get through. It was slow going and a crawl. And it was extremely difficult to left turn anywhere. And then we get to the parking garage and it's 80% empty. It's like, what are we doing here? Why are we inconveniencing everybody for just a few parking spots? uh when we have extremely empty parking slots, it's like inconvenience everybody for just 17. I mean, it doesn't even take 17 people. It even one car is enough to park car holding an average of 1.5 PE customers is enough to slow down like thousands of people every hour, let alone even like 30 15 minutes like the critical time. It's like we have the parking and we have the uh and we have the demand, but we choose to just throttle our arteries and just clog it with parking that contributes the same as all our more efficient parking. It it just doesn't make sense. It's like uh it's common sense and in money it's like moneyball. What? Facts, not feelings. The fact is we've done our research and we know that the vast majority of customers in Glee on bank at Landdown do not drive and of those 20% who do drive like only 7% of that 20% is represented by these parking spots. So it's like only 7% of your customers are going to be impacted and of those 7% over 60% are still willing to park at Glee parking the parking garage and walk. So you are risking 3% of your customers by not allowing these those parking customers, but you are permitting like two to three times more traffic by bus and cars. It's it uh and not only to you on Gleeb and Bank and Landstown, but also to Centertown to Reedo for people who want to ride the bike along the Reo Canal on the left shore and who have to cross Bank Street just to get the lands down and to the other side of the of Reo Canal. It's like you are impacting everybody for 3% of your customer base and you cannot tell me that 3% of your customer base is not is paying as much as 97% of everybody else and then once we actually double the lane capacity to be another like 183%. Unless you're freaking I don't know selling to Monsam Musa who crashed the gold economy in Egypt by giving out tons of gold. It it just doesn't make sense. Like you mentioned that you have customers impacted, but then you mentioned that you don't actually know how your customers get there. Like we've we've asked we've asked your customers how they're getting to Gleeb and the vast majority say that they're walking, cycling, and and freaking taking the taxi. Okay? Come to me once you actually have the numbers of what your customers are, who your customers are, and what they are actually using. Cuz it's like, why are you basing this on feelings and not facts? You guys are business owners. You should be worshiping the mighty dollar. Where are those dollars coming from? 30 seconds. Uh 30 30 seconds there. Tom, I appreciate your question. I think you're saying the same things over and over. I think your point is very uh very very made at this point. We have a counselor with a question. Councelor Lulaf, I like you, Tom. You're very passionate. Big fan. Um why do you think people are not using uh that parking garage? Like if it's if it's always no marketing. We we rolled up to Landown and we saw the streets clogged with cars and then it's like where's the parking? Where's the parking? It's only on street parking. I assume there's only on street parking because we see the land lot is full and there's no signs to glee parking. I had to go on Google Maps to Google that hey this is such a trafficked area. It should probably have some high density parking. And lo and behold, we show up at Greek Glee parking garage. It cost our our car for full of five boys who are going to the 67s game five bucks. Five bucks to park for two hours. That's less than the cost of one beer. Bro, it's so incredibly cheap to park in the high density parking lot. And we're just throwing all of this away to freaking park on the road and clog up everybody. Nobody drives to Glee because of all the people clogging up the roads, but they shouldn't. There's literally tons of parking just over there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Tom. You're a legend. You're a legend, Tom. Thanks for Thanks for that. I appreciate your customers. Ask. I won't be offended. Appreciate you. Thank you. Excellent delegation. Thanks for coming out today, Tom. Uh really appreciate that. Uh next up, our next delegation. Uh I'll allow Willow to introduce the gang here. Uh uh I've seen this presentation. Councelor Manard also got to see it uh and actually be part of the judging. And I I'll tell you uh this is the future folks. These folks actually use a well balanced approach. They looked at data and I was so impressed uh when I mentioned to councelor Manard. I said these people should come out and speak at committee and get acknowledged for the great work that they put in. They're actually winners. So Willow, maybe you want to introduce your group. Uh we'll give a little extra latitude on time. more than 5 minutes uh because you do have a presentation that goes along with it. Sure. Yeah. So, we are Carlton students in the public affairs and policy management uh program and I'll let uh Sam introduce the topic. Good afternoon. Uh I want to start off by thanking you for allowing us to present on this topic. Uh I alongside my teammates and several other individuals here today representing the Carlton public affairs and policy management case competition which explored the issues involving transportation transportation on Bank Street. As many of us know, Bank Street is one of the busiest streets in Ottawa. Many here likely used it to get here today on buses and cars struck in traffic. In our short presentation, we'd like to discuss our experiences exploring this issue. All right, if you could uh skip the trans uh again again. All right, so uh doing our research, we found that most people commute to Bank Street by car. Uh next slide, please. Um however, this clashes with what people uh citizen value. The city found the consider bus lanes to be the most important feature of Bank Street. Next slide, please. Uh looking at why people don't use them, the study found that 70 70% of people drive out of convenience. They want to see more reliable, frequent, and faster services. Next slide. Um it makes sense when we uh take a look at OC transport data that says that bus 6 and 7 are delayed 40% of the time. Prioritizing public transportation, especially buses, seems like the most strategic plan. They have the capacity to take between 57 to 110 people who otherwise would individually drive to their destination causing traffic. This also aligns with the city target to have 50% of trips made by sustainable mode of transportation by 2046. In brief, addressing public transportation's issue would help resolve call flow. I will now let El present our first option. Thank you. Next slide, please. We wanted to introduce an immediate option that recognized the necessity of parking in supporting business activity while also improving clarity and creating better efficiency to get where you need to go on bank. This would would center around a dynamic pricing model on streets modulating prices depending on the time of day and capacity incentivizing alternative parking options that are also cheaper. This model would include the introduction of maps installed on on street parking meters displaying local alternatives, including parking garages and side streets, as well as their prices and estimated walking times. This would improve traffic flow, convenience, and reduce confusion. Kelly, if you want to thank you, please continue and disregard the the counter on the clock. This would improve traffic flow, reduce confusion from commuters who either do not use digital maps or are tourists who are unfamiliar with the area. Most importantly, this would benefit business owners who could display this information in store or online to improve ease of access with customers and save them some money on the way. Next, I have Willow to introduce our second option. So, throughout the case competition, I'd like to emphasize that one key option was discussed by almost every single team. This option focuses on reducing congestion, bus delays, and prioritizing transit efficiency by having 24-hour curbside bus lanes. Buses weaving in and out of traffic due to curbside parking presents a danger to vehicles and can often create delays uh due to that con congestion. Um in addition, um bus lines seven and six are busy uh with some overlapping and close stops on Bank Street. Many use these buses as means to get through bank and also onto bank. So dedicated bus lanes would allow for better efficiency and accessibility. This in addition um the bus lanes can be used uh for emergency vehicles giving them an advantageous route through the corridor uh without as much disruption. Um okay I think that's the right slide. Can I get the next slide? Oh, all right. We had skipped one. That's okay. Um, in regards to concerns for businesses and residential access, designated drop off and pickup zones and times would allow for better access to the street for ride sharing, business access, and accessibility. And as others have mentioned, there are existing lots drivers can access that need better signage. According to a survey by Strongtowns, 87% of respondents would walk 5 minutes or more to reach a stop on Bank Street. Um, I'll now let Matteo explain his alternative option. All right. So, for third and final proposition, we're taking into account that Ottawa is actually outpacing the whole nation's population growth rate. So, we must confront the fact that given the limited space that there is on Bank Street for transport infrastructure that even if we prioritize cars or we for bus lanes, in the end, we need to make a trade-off. I I suggest as a final amendment to look at a more Spanish model in which we introduce a street car line on Bank Street from Sparks all the way to Billings Bridge and pedestrianize the rest of the street. This would not only accommodate the current needs of commuters going through Bank every day as 20 to 30,000 people can be transported by a tra by a by a by a street car line uh going 10 to 25 km per hour. but also as a study by Yoshida and Al in the pedestrian season of streets in Spain have proven that there are increased sales volumes in serviceoriented um businesses after pedestrianization as a whole. Uh Ottawa is one of the fastest growing cities in Canada. The decisions made on this issue will have a long lasting impact on commuters using both public and private transportation. alongside the rest of my team. Uh we appreciate you for listening to our proposal and uh thank you. You can see why we are all so impressed. And I see councelor Lulaf first on the board because he has a direct connection to you guys and then we'll go to councelor Menard. Councelor Lulof. Thank you, Chair. What a pleasure uh to listen to you today. uh wonderful work that you've done on this. Uh um you've got two former uh Arthur Kroger College graduates sitting on this council, myself and uh and councelor Skolski. Uh incredibly uh proud of the work uh that you're doing here. Please uh keep up the great work with your studies and just know that the program that you're taking will allow you to do pretty much anything that you want to do in public affairs and uh just keep up the great work. Thank you very much. Yeah, thank you Councilman. Thank you very much. chair and thank you for for attending the the case competition along with councelor Dudass uh councelor Skolski uh councelor kits um I'm just uh so happy and pleased to to see you again and congratulations on winning the case competition it was incredible the teams that that were competing um we saw the finalists as the judging panel but there was a whole bunch of other teams that had great ideas uh sprinkled throughout that day and what an amazing thing that Carlton puts on also a graduate of public administration uh from from Carlton um similar to to councelor Lulaf uh and councelor Skolski um but in the the public admin uh uh masters program and uh I want to ask you folks just in terms of the ideas that you've you've put forward the effect on students at at Carlton specifically Carlton obviously the seven like heavily utilized bus through through the campus but what what are your views on um how this the proposal that staff have put forward would affect Carlton students positively, negatively, what are your views on uh the pilot project being proposed and the potential changes after the pilot project? All right. So, when it comes to Carlton students, there actually have been studies in which students which spend more time, you know, less on commutes and more actually investing in their studying or leisure to reduce their stress actually perform a lot better when it comes to examinations. So we have to look at it at how students invest their time. I come from all the way from Canada. My commute is 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours in the winter, 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes in the summer. This is not a sustainable uh method of transportation because in the end all that time I could spend studying or even just working on myself, applying to jobs and making sure I can get through life, I am spending it on transportation with nothing better to do than to doom scroll on my phone. There needs to be a prioritization of not only the money that goes into our city, but also the time of its citizens. If anyone else wants to add to that, thank you. Yeah, I'd also like to add the perspective of someone who drives. Um, I actively try and avoid bank when I can because of that congestion and I believe that as someone who also takes the bus, sometimes takes the six and the seven. Um, it would be much easier to have the bus line and it would reduce a lot of that congestion and also the dangers of that weaving in and out for both cars and then it also makes things faster for the buses. I don't know if anyone else wants to add. Well, thanks again for the the wonderful presentation and the work that you put into this and uh it's I'm so appreciative that you were able to stay with us for the day and to be able to present it and for the chair chair to move you up to to this delegate spot. So, thank you chair. Great. Thank you and thank you again. Uh good luck on your on your studies. Thank you very much. Yeah, thank you chair for accommodating our time request. Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you. Um, so we'll go ahead to uh back into our list. Uh, I believe we're up to Henry Lou. Would that be correct, Henry? Yes. Thank you. Great. And then we after Henry Obia, Lisa, and then Anthony Keracado. So, just so you know, if you're in the room, please come on up. Henry, you have five minutes. The floor is yours. Thank you for letting me speak with you today on the Bank Street car parking feasibility study. My name is Henry Louu and as the clock struck 12 this new year, I knew the buses were going to be full and extremely slow. If only it could be blamed on the snow and not on the hundreds of vehicles and parked cars suffocating the bank street. Going home by bus will be an ordeal just as has always been going back home from flea markets, hackathons at Carlton, the restaurants on Gleeb and not just on New Year's but any day of the week at basically any time. My sister also works near the Gleeb and gets off at 6 northbound. But I also knew in this instance it was somehow faster to walk 40 minutes down to the O train to Parliament, catch the 12 and then go seven the opposite direction to my destination. It is a sick sense of pride knowing that it's a sick sense of pride being actually able to do that. And it's also sick to realize that the only thing holding those buses back were parked cars. Had the lane been a bus lane, it would have been so easy to go home. Not only that, bus lanes would also benefit the businesses in Gleeb as having consistent, fast, and reliable public transport options will bring more people to their stores. The city efficiencies can also be found as you can use fewer buses to maintain the same frequency of uh of buses on the corridor. Which brings me to the recommendations in the report. The report mentions a balanced approach. This balance being parking mentioned nearly 100 times and active transportation and transit priority mentioned only a dozen times. This is not balanced. The cycling was not considered for a good portion of it due to parked cars. uh sidewalks couldn't be widened because you know parked cars and bus lanes for permanent bus lanes uh I guess we need to give space for private vehicles. I understand that the technicality of transit priority this technicality means prioritize car parking above all else. There is no balanced approach here. What we are left in this plan is a confusing complicated mess of go no go red no red park no park crumbling patchwork of road design that is neither active nor a priority. I feel I have been deceived. This current plan the bank street active transportation and transit priority feasibility study has transformed into the bank street car parking feasibility study. It is a deception, a transformer, like a robot in disguise. But unfortunately, this plan does not transform into a cool bipedal robot. This transforms into a trifecta of confused drivers, increased congestion, and worse businesses along the corridor. I do not have the solution, but what I can say is that I asked the committee to consider more active transportation and transit priority in the final plan. Thank you very much for your time. Great. Thank you very much, Henry, for your presentation today. Uh, seeing no questions. Our next delegation is Alisa and is Anthony Caracado here by chance. Great. So, you you're no stranger here. So, Lisa first and then Anthony will be next in line. There you go. You just hit the microphone button and you have five minutes. The floor is yours. Hello, I'm Alysia. I'm a resident of Bayward and I have a young family. I am the customer that these business owners keep talking about and I don't drive even though I live all the way out in Bayboard. I only take transit to Bank Street and I often go out of my way to go there because of the interesting vibe on the street. I have non-traditional travel patterns because I h my partner works from home and I am unemployed and so I'm often doing errands and meeting obligations that don't meet the normal work times and so for me having all day best lanes is kind of critical to actually have this be something that affects me at all. Um, and in addition to that, I feel that bus lanes would also make a significant improvement to how safe it feels to walk on the street and make it a lot easier for even people who drive to have u more predictable travel because there's less turning movements. And I feel like a lot of this discussion has sort of come down to parking versus everyone else. Um, parking limits the ability for us to have sidewalks, bike lanes. It slows down deliveries and it slows down people commuting both by car and by bus. And especially so to the people who work on these streets who are almost certainly commuting by bus. And therefore, I feel it's not worth spending so much time pursuing parking when it occupies such a limited amount of what the street is useful for. This is an urban downtown street that has um a large mix of uses. Um, and if we were to only limit that too to the bus lanes only being uh peak period and made that compromise to allow parking off peak, then we'd have a situation very similar to the 12 on RTO street, which I don't know if you've ever taken it, but is one of, if not the least reliable bus in the city, even though it has bus lanes on part of Montreal Road and also on RTO street. Um, often times what we find is that when people are driving on Bank Street, it it seems like a very large amount of people, but most of those people are through traffic and they're not actually driving to a destination Bank Street. And if they are, they're going to be parking on a side street. Who actually wants to like park on Bank Street? That's really obnoxious. Um, and like for my perception, if I'm coming all the way from Bayward and I'm taking transit, I have the option of driving, but why would I when it sucks? Uh, I don't want to do that anyways. And I feel putting your energy into having a comprehensive all day bus lane system, even as just a pilot and neglecting all of the other things you could do with the street, would be a huge improvement to everyone's lives, including people who drive, including people who walk, including people who cycle. And it only negatively affects people who park on the street, which is already a minority of people and would be very easy to adapt. Um, I kind of fear that we will lack a sense of leadership and have um hot feet essentially because of the concerns of business owners who have a lot of fear rather than fact with this. and we'll either push this back further or make compromises like making it only one direction or only in a peak period that will end up not really moving the needle. Um I'm someone who cares about transit. I want to be able to use it for the rest of my life and rely on it. But the more and more time I live in the city, the more and more I realize that that's not going to work out unless things like this go through. um peak period only bus lanes or a compromise like that would be too significant of a compromise to actually meaningfully improve the service on Bank Street with the six and the seven. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Looking at the board, there's no questions. So, we'll move to our next delegation. Anthony Keracado. You're familiar with this, Anthony. And then uh Angela, I guess there's a small delegation of people. They're sharing time. Are they in the crowd today? Okay, you guys come on down and sit up here next to Anthony. So, you're all prepared so we can keep things moving. Anthony, you have five minutes. The floor is yours. Thank you, chair. Good morning, or I guess it's now afternoon. Counselors, thank you for the opportunity to provide some feedback on this study. My name is Anthony Keracado. I'm a former candidate in Capitol Ward, a former citizen transit commissioner and an active member of my community in the Gleeb. I live on Fifth Avenue and work on Parliament Hill. And so I travel up and down Bank Street at least twice a day. I felt the need to come here today to provide you with some perspective from someone who knows this corridor very well and travels during the peak periods being considered in this study. Some days I walk, if the weather's unpleasant, I take the bus. If I leave at the same time my partner's leaving the house, we'll take the car. In the summer months, I ride my bike, I take a scooter, you name it. The question that should drive any public policy decision should always start with, "What is the problem?" The study seeks to improve active transportation on Bank Street between Highway 17 and the Reto Canal, but fails to identify any significant problems with the status quo. In fact, the study recognizes on page 15 that for automobiles, and I quote, "Modeling of existing conditions indicates that all signalized intersections within the Bank Street corridor currently operate under capacity with an acceptable level of service for transit riders. The study recognizes that the routes six and seven are the second and third busiest routes in the city. With this in mind, peak travel times are only between 4 and 8 minutes, and I would say more like four as an a regular uh bus rider. On weekends, it increases from 5 to 10 minutes. Travel times are longest during major events at Landdown when they skyrocket to 18 minutes, which this study does nothing to resolve. As someone who travels through this corridor at least twice a day, I would suggest these figures are quite accurate and reflect the status quo. Which is why I urge you to address the longest travel times rather than the shortest. Going back to my original question, what is the problem remains a mystery to me. Instead, it appears this study is trying to find a solution looking for a problem. The recommendations proposed by staff in this report are costly and unnecessary. And it is my hope that this committee and council are willing to pivot and focus your attention on areas in the city that do require these transit investments. If staff are committed to improving bus times along this corridor on Bank Street, which is an objective that I support, I would like to see a plan that addresses bus cancellations and proposes additional frequency of routes 6 and 7. It makes no sense to close off available lanes to all road users to give priority to buses that run every 15 to 34 minutes or not at all. Furthermore, buses don't operate 24 hours a day, and so it makes even less sense to implement permanent 24-hour bus lanes in certain segments. Transit riders like me will not be better served with buson lanes if the real problem is that buses are not running frequently enough to meet the demand. focus on the problem which is bus frequency and reliability and let's discuss increasing the number of buses that are going to use these bus only lanes before closing off lanes to all road users. Certainly this study does not identify a problem worth spending $600,000 on plus $100,000 annually in lost revenue from the reduction of parking spaces that businesses in the Glee rely on. Governing is about setting priorities, making decisions, and solving problems in the best interest of all residents. Concentrate on the real transit problems facing our city. Reject this pilot project, which is a solution looking for a problem. Thank you. Great. Uh, councelor Lul question. Thank you very much. Uh, we've heard a lot of a lot of people talking about the pilot uh pilot project on on Bank Street. uh as somebody who lives on it, can you talk a little bit about the private the pilot project and how it's working? Well, I think we already have a pilot project which is during peak times when the curbside lanes are already closed. Um that's in the morning. I think this plan proposes to extend it by an hour in the morning. Um, but if you look at the number six and seven routes during the 7 to 8 a.m. period, there's only three buses at the moment, which is why I keep focusing on bus frequency and reliability as opposed to just closing off lanes to all road users. And then in the afternoon, I think it extends the uh time by 30 minutes. So ultimately, we already have this going on and it's not just a pilot pilot. um for some of the plan. There are actual permanent changes being suggested. Um so I I hope uh councilors will look a little more closely into the frequency and reliability of transit as opposed to just blocking off lanes um to allow buses to flow every once in a while. Yeah, that's fair. I appreciate that very much. Um so just like you spend a lot of time on the street. Um, I'm wondering uh whether or not the length of uh of of the proposed uh priority uh to you uh makes uh makes sense. Uh doesn't Bank Street go down to two lanes again once it hits Ptoria. Yeah, that's another puzzling part. I didn't really get into the details in my presentation, but um for sure like it's it's like I said, it's admirable and desirable in fact to have faster bus times from lands down to the 417. But we all know or those of us at least who take the six and seven know that as soon as you get under the underpass and you get to Gladstone, it goes down to two lanes and then you're right back in the same mess. So unless you're going to do bus only lanes for the entire Bank Street, which I don't think is being proposed, it makes little sense to um just close it for what about 15 intersections and save one to two minutes maybe. Again, I think this investment, the 600,000 plus 100 annually in the lost revenue can go towards increasing bus uh the number of buses that go down that route before we start closing off lanes. Okay. I appreciate you coming out. We've heard heard a lot of debate on uh on both sides of the issue today. I appreciate your insights. Thanks. Thank you, Vice Chair Kits. Thank you, Chair. Yeah, thanks for coming, Anthony. your perspective is a little bit different. So to just characterize what you're saying to make sure I'm understanding correctly, there there is instances on Bank Street where uh bus only lanes could be useful, but it's during events, not the peak periods. That's Yeah, that's right. Cuz right now, like I said, it takes me about 4 minutes to get from Fifth Avenue, where I get on the bus, to the 417, and then it slows right down. Even then though, I get to Parliament Hill in about 8 or 10 minutes most days. So, it's not really a problem, which is why I'm asking you all to focus on the real problems, not a problem looking for a solution. But where there is a real problem is during major events um at Landown where the report recognizes you can get up to 18 minutes and I would think sometimes it's a lot longer than 18 minutes. And so again before going after the shortest times um which are to me not a problem because we're already clipping along. We should focus that energy and money on the longest times which is during major events at Landown where you might sit in traffic for 15 plus 20 minutes and then it would also create an incentive I think to take transit to those major events because it would be the fastest route and people would probably want to get there and get away from there as quickly as possible if you did have bus only lanes during those major events. And I'm sure you could partner with OEG and get the data about ticket sales and when those events are happening. Um I think you can actually make good use of your investment here. Okay. I'll have some uh questions to staff on that. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Thanks very much, Chair. Thanks, Anthony, for for coming out and uh and working through some of this. Um I I want to dig into a couple of pieces you mentioned. So the the 24/7 bus lanes that'll be in front of Lanstown and at Elmer um not the area you live obviously but you know where the bus stop is at Landown that's frequently used on both sides the LCBO and you've got the other side uh heading uh southbound um those are proposed for 24/7. any issue with those or you want to make sure I think in front of Land Sound it makes sense but um it just creates a backlog right if then you got to weave in and out if you're in a car but I think uh if I got the plan right it's also around Fourth Avenue and Fifth Avenue and those ones I see as a problem for sure yeah the the the ones that are north from there uh were added later on in the in the discussion um the southbound transit coming back from Parliament when you're taking the bus home that's when I Like when I'm at city hall and I'm busing back and I'm walking over to bank taking the six or seven back, it's the southbound peak period where there's a lot of slowdowns. Um whether you're in a car or a bus, it's just through that period that through that area and I agree with center town being I mean there's one lane in each direction at center town and then it opens up at Gladstone. But that southbound point and that period where that that peak period traffic is, you don't see necessarily see a benefit on that side. Again, I think like for the amount of money and energy that staff are going to put into this and the taxpayer is going to ultimately pay for, I don't think it's worth 1 minute to 2 minutes of savings. I take the bus home and it's it's backed up and slow until Gladstone and then half the time I'm on my phone and I realize, oh I just missed my stop because it went so fast. So, I actually don't think uh we have a problem. Not the language. Sorry, sorry, chair. Yeah, we'll we'll keep it PG for this crowd. Council, do you have any further questions for Yeah, just on the chair, I'll wrap up, but just on the um on the major events piece, I know that's something staff are are looking at. Um and obviously a pilot project this long, I'd like to see us shorten the pilot project to be shorter to get actual data because there's a lot of ideas out there, but unless you actually have data for it, it's it's tough to say without real world experience on the ground in this corridor. Um and one of them will be that that event looking at those some of those events as well. Um so just very much a yeah appreciate some of these comments and there's obviously going to have to be some refining you know postpilot as well how uh what kind of data we we would get back in in this corridor. So yeah cuz I think it's 15,000 ticket sales if I my memory is good about back when I was on the transit commission. It's about 15,000 which is too much. It needs to probably be more like when you sell, I don't know, 3500 or 5,000, then all of a sudden that becomes a bus only route. Yeah, I think it's free to take the bus over if there's a large event over 5,000 and then it's a free it's part of your ticket price and then it's uh the red black games that's where the major um and the big big concerts where they where they do those changes to the street. Um otherwise there's some other events like we're seeing charge games popular that probably need some of that treatment too. Yeah, I appreciate the comments. Thank you. Thanks for all your work, by the way, on this and other matters in our ward. Do a good job. Great. Great. Oh, make sure to get one of those beep buttons for future delegations from you, Anthony. But appreciate that. All right. The two gentlemen sitting up here now, you want to introduce yourselves and uh please proceed. Sure. Can can you hear me? Okay, perfect. Good afternoon, U counselors uh and good afternoon chairs. Thanks for having us. My name is David and this is Hayden and we are a public affairs and policy management student from Carlson University and we had the opportunity to engage with with this topic uh as part of a policy competition and we'd like to share some thoughts on the feasibility study and the newest report on March 30th. So here are the things that we liked. First, the report highlights that spacing is limited for cyclists on beg street. Uh we like that the report suggests putting bike lanes on parallel streets uh and recommends a future study dedicated to improving biking infrastructure. And second, we also like that um the report highlights transit users as an important stakeholder uh in addition to drivers and residents and businesses. Um and third uh we also like the accessibility improvements that's recommended for pedestrians. So, tactile walking surface indicators, uh, ladder style crosswalk walks and removing obstacles like bike racks and waistbands. And fourth, we also like that the report recognized that the median south of the intersection with exhibition way is taking up too much space and is recommended to be narrowed. And now I'll just pass the floor to my colleague here. Awesome. You can hear me. Thank you, David. Uh, thank you to council for having us today. uh when we had an opportunity to kind of do some research on what was going on on Bank Street and we had an opportunity to do that case conference with the other Carlton students who had spoken uh I think we really learned a lot of lessons about kind of the importance of different stakeholder groups in a reconfiguration like this. So given the proposal that's been shown to you today on March 30th, I think that it's our position that the proposal is definitely good. It's great that the city is going in this direction considering transit stakeholders as you know really important road users but I think that this proposal could go go further and I think lots of other people who have spoken today have mentioned the importance of increasing the uh the times that the bus lanes are active for. So I think that one issue that we might find ourselves, you know, seeing when the pilot happens is dealing with parking enforcement in those bus lanes because like the city had already mentioned in the report uh last year between September and October, they counted parking services counted over 300 tickets that they had given in that corridor. Uh so I think a major concern is what if those issues find themselves again happening when these are bus lanes when drivers are a little confused maybe unfamiliar with the new configuration park in an active lane that buses travel in which then means that the bus you know needs to do the weave back and forth get into the center lane deal with all of the cars the ve vehicular traffic that's existing there and then go back. So it almost defeats the purpose and really ruins any, you know, speed ups we could see during peak time. So I think that that's one of, you know, a multitude of reasons you've heard today that we need to increase the time that these bus lanes are active for. If not 24/7, I think at least like a 6 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. time would be very beneficial. Uh, not to mention, I know the other Carlton group mentioned this, but I think it's so important that, you know, those bus lanes be available so that emergency response vehicles can use them. Uh, given traffic that occurs on this section of Bank Street, I can imagine that, you know, I have no substantive data, of course, but, uh, EMS, firefighters, police, ambulance might have some difficulty getting through these lanes. So, I think if there was always an active, you know, empty lane of traffic for emergency services to use that they could share with buses, that that would be very beneficial. Uh, otherwise though, I'll let David kind of finish up, talk about some parking. Yeah. So, I would just like to re reiterate um some of the points that um the other delegates have made. Um, we have three statistics that we think are um the most poignant. Uh first um city data shows that on street parking on Bank Street only makes up 7% of total parking available in the area. And second uh the city's visibility study found that over 87% of survey respondents are willing to walk more than 5 minutes uh to their destination when driving to Bank Street. Um so we think that it's it's actually um a communication gap instead of um uh actually losing all of those parking spots. So we think that by communicating that there are available parking spots in the area um businesses will not be left behind and we can also improve on uh thanks tweet for everyone. Thank you David. So you know regardless of any of the criticisms we came to you with today we urge you as a committee to vote for this proposal. You know understanding that our city is growing substantially in the next century and we have to acknowledge that not all of those people are going to be able to use motor vehicles. Okay. And we're going to need to obviously see some densification efforts here in the city and bus lanes and you know understanding the importance of public transportation to densification of urban centers is important. So thank you so much for listening to us and uh take care everyone. Thank you. Wow. I appreciate it. Great mustaches by the way. Um so thank you for coming out and speaking today. Uh seeing uh no questions. I appreciate that. And forgive me. Yeah, I'll just see uh number 31. I guess that would be Thomas. Hi, Thomas. Great. Just want to hop in the seat there. Most appreciated. And I believe uh there's also another Hayden in the Great. Must have been a popular year for Hayden. Is there Hayden in the crowd? Great. We'll go to you, Thomas. Please proceed. Perfect. Thank you so much. So, like some of the other Carlton students that I've already presented today, we were able to partake in the Faculty of Public and Global Affairs annual case competition that talked specifically about the city's active transportation study along Bank Street. I also happen to live uh at Bank and Second Avenue, so I like to think I know a little bit about this. Um, and you know, the sixth and seven average 5,000 daily riders between them, the latter of which takes thousands of Carlton students to and from class every day, on top of accommodating commuters heading in and out of Ottawa's downtown. And traffic along Bank Street is expected to worsen in the short and medium-term as Ottawa's population continues to grow rapidly, faster than city uh initial estimates, and municipal and federal return to office mandates come into effect. Also, redevelopments at Land Zone 2.0 know will increase traffic in the area into the long term. Um as such we think that existing parking infrastructure along the Bank Street corridor is already sufficient. There's the uh parking at the intersection of Bank and Isabella Street, the Second Avenue parking garage, Landown parking garages, and existing uh off- streetet parking. Of all of these, on street parking is the most disruptive and least beneficial. Despite accounting for only 142 of 2,000 local parking spaces, on street parking cuts the available road space in half by taking up an entire lane. This is especially frustrating because on street parking is rarely ever full fully used. In fact, the only time that all available parking is fully used is during major events at Landdown. However, as anyone who's ever been to Panda Game, 67 game, anything else there will tell you, this is precisely when on street parking is most disruptive, pushing traffic into a bottleneck and causing buses to move at a crawl. When we look at the rest of the time, even during peak demand over weekends, the average usage of parking does not average more than 80%. The logical conclusion, existing parking infrastructure is more than sufficient to meet demand and has and as has been pointed out, it's a communication gap of drivers trying to find where to actually park. The vast majority of individuals who come to Bank Street as a destination also already do so by means other than a car. Of those that do come by car, most are willing to walk 500 meters to their destination. Existing parking fills this need without mentioning off- streetet parking as well. Focusing parking into Bank Street's existing multi-story parking garages and side streets will declutter traffic, improve public transit access to local businesses while still allowing customers to park within reasonable walking distance. And as it comes to bus lanes, bus lanes make it easier for people on public transportation to get where they need to go and for people who still need to drive to get where they need to go. Through traffic is still a thing that very much affects Bank Street. And as someone who has to commute to work as well, I totally get it. Currently, both of these groups are poorly served by on street parking and would benefit from bus lanes. Bus lanes obviously make buses faster. They can move five times as many people as private vehicles every hour when they have a dedicated lane. There's no more waiting in traffic or for someone to turn in and out of a parking spot, for someone to turn left. You get the point. The city's proposal for far more limited bus lanes already recognize the time improvements that this would make for the sacrifice of very minimal parking spaces um and would estimate increased travel times by up to 25%. Improving infamously slow bus service with dedicated bus lanes helps attract ridership. And higher ridership means more revenue for the cash OC transport. More revenue helps improve service which attracts ridership. See what I'm getting at? Public transportation also just saves people money, is better for their health, and better for the environment. Private transit's inefficient space usage will be increasingly disruptive as it congests roads in a growing Ottawa. buses present a space effective and sustainable alternative with bus lanes encouraging future transit use avoiding induced demand um so that congestion does not become an issue again when it comes to final finalizing and improving parallel cycling infrastructure I think this is great I think that for Carlton students especially who transit from a number of areas and from different means this is really great as the weather is getting good again I'm looking forward to taking out my bike again so why does any of this matter these recommendations represent feasible lowcost fixes to trade 7.1% of parking space on Bank Street for drastic increases in traffic flow. This means faster and more reliable transit for students who do travel on off- peak times, improved access to local businesses, and more accessible and safer Bank Street that exists with existing City of Ottawa priorities to be the most sustainable and most, you know, livable city in North America. These ideas are also popular. When surveyed, 66% of people chose on street parking and or car lanes as the least important features for the Bank Street redesign. I hope that they're just as popular with you, and I'm looking forward to any of your questions. great delegation today. Uh thank you for coming out. Um no questions, but uh next up we'll have Hayden. If you wish to come up to the microphone. Yeah, great job. Great. Five minutes. The floor is yours. Just turn on the microphone. Okay, you can hear me. Perfect. Thank you. Right. Hello. My name is Hayden. I'm also a student from Carlton University. I'm also president of our university's debating society. And all I wanted to do today is simplify the arguments from both side. Give you a quick summary and why I think there are some illogical arguments on the side of the BIA. So what do we get from the side that is pro bus lanes and getting rid of street parking. We get a clear diagnosis of the problem. What is this? It is that there's extremely high demand for bank street because it is fundamentally a strode. It is a street as in an a arterial route but also it is also a road a destination for people. Uh this connects to a supply problem um which is that there's no alternative to Bank Street. Many people may say you should protect the business interests of the BIA on Bank Street and focus on improving traffic flow elsewhere. The problem with this argument is that most streets in Ottawa, most arterial routes that could be alternatives to Bank Street are also suffering from the shrode dilemma. There are also arterial routes with destinations on them that are popular for people. When you think about Preston Street, it is a shro um same with the other potential arterial routes that could be alternatives. The case the the fact of the matter is then that you have to deal with this issue on Bank Street. How you do this is by increasing the efficiency of transit on Bank Street. You do this by induc inducing the most efficient demand which in this case is buses. Buses are 20 times as efficient as cars in terms of space usage because cars are normally 80% empty. They move one or two people at a time whereas buses are completely full. They're always more efficient. You induce bus demand by getting rid of street parking and giving them a lane so they can get through quickly. people use the bus when they move quickly as my peers already mentioned. Um the BIA arguments are three-fold from what I identified. The first is that many consumers, high value consumers of their businesses travel by car. The second argument is that many of these spaces which you would be erasing are high occupancy. And the third is that delivery trucks need these road spaces. The problem with the first argument about people who drive and are consumers is that it assumes there's no ability to further induce demand for businesses on Bank Street. This is a big problem because if you make buses more uh consistent and more reliable, you very likely as analyzed by my peers induce more bus demand. So you have more people traveling by bus to consume at businesses along Bank Street. This is very good for businesses. Secondly though, you open up a lane just for cars. This is really good for people who travel by car to get to these businesses. So you are able to induce demand more than they say. On the question of these spots already being high occupancy, this is equally problematic because it assumes that people can't use alternatives to street parking. And this is very key, which that if people are okay to walk 10 seconds or 20 seconds from street parking to a business, why is it that they aren't okay to walk 1 minute or 2 minutes? The BIA never tells you this. I think there's there is a lot of data out there. There have been surveys done how far people are willing to walk to get to businesses. And the majority of people say they're willing to walk up to 5 minutes. Most residential parking is even closer than that. So, a lot of people who drive would still be willing to go to these businesses. There's no reason to think that these businesses will go under if there's no street parking because there's a lot of unused nearby parking. In terms of delivery trucks, a lot of them deliver at night. For one, when these bus lanes wouldn't be active, and for two, this logic is kind of self-defeating because if street parking is used up by cars, then there's no room for a delivery truck to fit on the street. So presumably they use side street side streets which is what they normally do if you look at pink street. So the question we need to ask is why does city council adhere to a small minority who has illogical and fraudulent arguments? I spoke with a couple of case of city councilors at our case competition at Carlton and one answer I found was that they are afraid of smear campaigns from interest groups such as the BIA. So my message is very simple. Do not fall for the BIA's political bluff and posturing. Stand firm. If it comes to election chances, if that is what you care about, contributing to a city's decline through inaction on such an important issue is equally untenable as a position as making enemies of the BIA. And there are more people voting in favor of these reforms. As Thomas talked about, the majority of people want the street parking gone, which means you will always get more votes from those people than business owners. So to you, I say uphold your mandate, do what's right for the people of Ottawa, get rid of street parking, and make at least some bus lane reforms. Thank you. Right down to the second. Thank you for that. Uh we'll go to online, Dominic. Uh I believe she's online right now. Perfect. Hello, Dominic. Hello. Five minutes. The floor is yours. That's great. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. My name is Dominique Mil. I am a longtime Glee resident. I'm also a realtor working in the community every day. And my office is right on Bank Street at the corner of Third Avenue. Uh I want to start by saying that I do support improved transit and safer streets. I believe it's safe to say that we all do. But this proposal as it stands is not quite balanced and it will have real consequences for our neighborhood. The Glee is not just a transportation corridor. It's a destination. People don't just pass through Bank Street. They come here intentionally and many of them are coming from outside the neighborhood. As we've heard earlier, about half our visitors travel more than 12 kilometers to get here. And we know I know you've heard this over and over today. Our transit system is not reliable. Uh those are not quick walkable trips. Those are people choosing to get in their cars and come to the Gleeb. And I can tell you from my own business that access does matter. I've had clients tell me outright that they will not come to my office because parking is too difficult. Even though I'm right across the street from the parking garage and these people are people that are coming from Westboro, they understand what it what limited parking means. Parking is not a convenience, it's access. The proposal removes 17 spaces and restricts many more during peak times. On paper, that may not sound very significant, but in practice, I believe it is. Those spaces turn over all day. They represent hundreds of visits and meaning meaningful economic activity for our small businesses. When parking becomes difficult, people don't circle longer. They go somewhere else. There are real neighborhood impacts both for our businesses and for residential safety. The report acknowledges that some traffic will divert on two nearby residential streets in the Gleeb. Those streets are already narrow and heavily used. There is not extra parking on the side streets. Extend extending busonly lane hours, which also coincides with school dropoffs and pickup will increase congestion in areas where children are walking and cycling, creating safety concerns. When you add more traffic into that environment with people trying to get somewhere quickly, frustration builds and that leads to more aggressive driving and road rage on streets that were never designed for that kind of pressure. In the winter, our streets are already constricted with our epic snowbanks. They say effectively become single lanes in many sections. If additional traffic is pushed onto these streets, it becomes much harder for emergency vehicles to get through quickly. And in those moments, seconds matter. This isn't just about inconvenience. It's about safety and response times when it matters the most. This is also about how Bank Street actually functions. It's a main street, yes, but as mentioned in the study, it's a truck route. It's a transit corridor. It's a key north south connection in our city. And right now about 60% of trips on bank are still made by car. We can't design for one mode of transportation and ignore the reality of how people are actually moving today. And finally, uncertainty. Even the report acknowledges that the impact of these changes are not fully known, which is why a pilot's being proposed, but it's not a low-risk pilot. It introduces permanent changes, including the 24-hour bus lanes, which we before we fully understand the impact, and that's a significant concern. So in closing, I do support better transit. I support safer streets, but it needs to be done in a way that reflects how the Glee actually works as a destination, as a community, and as a place where small B businesses rely on access. Right now, this proposal risks shift risks shifting problems into our neighborhood, hurting local businesses and making access harder for the very people who rely on it the most. I'm asking you to take a more balanced approach and to look at the bigger picture because this isn't just about transportation. It's about the long-term health and accessibility of one of Ottawa's main most important main streets. Thank you. Great delegation. Thank you very much for that. Seeing no questions, uh we'll move along to our next online delegate, which is Xavier O. Hello. Hello. Uh my name is Xavier. Uh you may remember me from previous meetings and if you do you may also remember that I'm a rural resident and since I don't have a vehicle of my own the primary way of me getting to and from the city is with my bike and the local trans well local the whole transit network. very recently. So, very recently, last weekend, I decided to go shopping at the 613 flea market for the first time at Landown, which would have required which would have required me to take this uh the number seven bus from the line 2 station at Carlton. Unbeknownst to me, today was that day was also the last regular season game for the Ottawa 67s at TD place. So, when the bus arrived and we made our way to Bank Street, that's when the that's when we started delays in traffic. So for every stop the bus had to emerge in and out of heavy traffic, each time having to wait and squeeze its way back into the left lane. All because a few parked cars in the right lane had the power to take up vital space where the bus could otherwise go and bypass traffic. The six and seven bus lines are the most utilized buses in our transit network. Furthermore, signifying the importance of cutting down these delays and moving people as efficiently and reli reliably down this street as possible. The problems we keep witnessing on Bank Street can easily be fixed and supplemented with a 247 fulllength dedicated bus lane up and down the street. Not the not the spary partial bus lane half measure the city has put forward. Uh, like the real like real thought experiments, which option moves more people down the corridor and gets more potential customers to shop at the stores at Long Bank Street? The five or six parked cars parked between each intersection that typically transport only one person each, which could be parked there could be staying parked there for hours. Or the or on the other hand, we we could have full dedicated bus lanes that move hundreds if not thousands of commuters every hour. Many of whom would stop in front of these who who have bus stops in front of these stores, stop, walk in front of these stores and you know much higher potential than be becoming potential customers and shopping, right? The answer is the answer is crystal clear. The benefit the benefit and the benefits are undoubtable. 24 hour 247 full bus lanes is a win win win for all commuters and local residents get much more reliable transit along the street. People who ride their bikes can safely travel on in these 24/7 bus lanes and shop at these stores. Car drivers benefit uh car driver benefits because uh the reliability of transit means less people taking their cars and less cars means less congestion for them to wait behind. uh emergency vehicles have faster have a much faster way of traveling down these down this corridor to get where they need to go and save lives. And best of all for the businesses along Bank Street uh they benefit massively from the higher foot traffic which means more potential customers. People shop at stores not cars. The current measures the city has proposed are inadequate and are inadequate and do not fix the problems buses and transit riders face on the street. These partial lanes don't solve the problem with buses having to constantly merge back and back back and forth into heavy traffic instead of bypassing it. It doesn't solve how buses and other car drivers have to wait behind people park parallel parking on the street for 5 to 10 minutes. something I'm sure you know any of us you know I I occasionally very sometimes drive a parents car and you know we've all experienced that frustration having to wait behind an inexperienced uh parallel parker right uh you know especially people in the bus many people in the bus having to wait behind that one person right so once again almost done once again pro the pros massively outweigh the cons for 27 bus 247 bus lanes to implement this infrastructure is very cheap we would only need to buy a paint for and remove on street parking parking which only make up a very small percentage of all the parking in the area. Parking that is adequ ad adequately supported with nearby parking garages and side streets. Car drivers are completely fine with a one or two minute walk to the store. We walk even further in the lava parking lot. Let's be honest. And if you know, I ask you to please be bolder with this project and consider implementing 24/7 bus lanes on Bank Street, preferably this spring or summer to deliver quick and quick and impactful results considering the bus shortages we have right now. or at the very least, please, please, please consider uh making this a pilot project so we can at least showcase the huge benefits of this and put any irrational doubts and fears to rest, you know, and especially to the, you know, business owners that showed concerns, you know, pro prove me wrong, prove all of us wrong and put your money where your mouth is. Let's do this pilot project. It's it's a win for everyone, including you. Thank you very much uh for presenting today, Xavier. It looks be I think it's like plus 15 out there. We're stuck in a freezing room. So, I I look back. Thank you. Thank you for that. Um, thanks for your presentation today. Uh, we don't have any questions. We'll move along to our next delegation. I believe null ruperthal. Oh, great. You're right here. IRL. Thank you. Uh, good afternoon, Mr. Chair. Uh, I'm Null, a resident of Riverward. I'm here to encourage the city to adopt a bolder vision with regard to the implementation of bus lanes on Bank Street. I'm I'm invested in this item because if successful, this trial may inform citywide improvements in the future. Um, as a resident of Riverboard by South Keys, I live within easy walking distance of South Key station and living car-free, I rely pretty heavily on the O train to put businesses on my radar. If a business is not within 10 minutes of walking from the O train, I it's not on my radar to be honest. Um that's just a little um addition I wanted to put into here. Uh, as the report lays out, the section of Bank is a thriving main street as well as a designated arterial road and truck route on top of it being the busiest transit corridor rivaled only by the Confederation Line in the 88. As such, parking is conceivably an inappropriate use of this valuable public space. Each parked automo each parked empty automobile represents at least 80 square feet of space and at least six feet of rightway with parking spaces themselves representing much larger footprints. The complexity that parallel parking do any of us like to parallel park adds to this space only serves to compromise safety for everyone outside of a vehicle and impact both vehicular and pedestrian access to surrounding neighborhoods. I applaud the correct direction of this report. I am however concerned that the scope of the contained recommendations are too limited and too slow for the needs of this busy corridor. I ask this committee to support a plan which trials bus lanes in both directions 24/7 as early as this year. This is not a new O train that we're talking about. As much as I would love that, um it's a change of signage and road markings. Don't keep residents and businesses in suspense. Let's find out if this thing works sooner than later. Show us you can deliver on vision and let's get this over with. Thank you committee and chair for your time. Great. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Looking there's no questions. So, we'll go to our next delegation. Can you hear me? Okay, Lauren. Perfect. I see you. Forgive me. I got scribbles all over the sheet. Sorry. No. Hi, my name is Lauren Sirid Monday. I'm a mother. I'm a member of Acorn Horizon Ottawa. And I would like to see more Bank Street bus lanes. Um, let's go back in time. Back when I first moved out to Ottawa, I worked in South Keys at the retail store at the retail mall there. Um, I was going to school and I was living at the cheapest place I could find in Vanet. I would travel all over the city to and from South Keys. And having a dedicated bus lane in the form of the transit way from the south town was to a known transfer point at Ruro before the bars let out was a really big safety factor for me. Um and it allowed me to have an income to get home in the evenings. It was and now this smooth process has been broken up and has a lot more less is a lot less sure um because of transfer points and missing buses. If I was going to make that same commute today, I would have to find a different job. Um I'm like having an alternative road that um will help commuters be more nimble in the cases of the shutdowns in cases of canceled buses. Um and OC transport route design has been running under the assumption that there is a inflow of workers to downtown in the morning and an outflow of workers in the evenings mainly to government officers even after work from home. It's been a priority for for 5 years and it's currently being fought for by by unions mine included. It launch ignores people who need the buses, students, ship workers, people who live in the housing that is affordable in many pockets throughout the city, people who are taking the buses to the doctor's appointments, people who have day jobs, side hustles, and other parts of the city, people who work evenings, weekends, all of which I have done. There are a few things that I am hoping to get my son into this year in the summer, such as the international languages program and hope public school. I would hope he would probably have to take the train to downtown and then take the 607 against the grain of the typical flow of traffic back in the direction south and back and back against the grain again to go home. I have been showing him the various free programs that are run in the Ottawa public library Sunnyside being one such branch and I am constantly texting him if he is running late especially with all the canceled buses and extreme weather. I don't have a car to go pick him up currently. I jokingly tell him I would like to know where he is in case he has died from exposure. But he is the type of kid who will not make a fuss and will let others take the seat ahead of him. So it is actually a very real worry I have. Yes, I do give him an extra 20 bucks for emergencies. It's often spent on snacks. He's 13 years old. It is what it is. When I had a car, I did frequent the Glee, especially the Glee Huck Fairy sadly, but I had a fire and they closed. But what I found when I had to get rid of the car and I took the bus, I was more likely to make a second stop because I didn't have to race my parking meter. I would structure my route to go get groceries on the way. I would go at a time when I could drop my son off at an an event or at the library. I would um giving the the buses priority allows be able to take that extra moment to see what's cooking on in the glee. I myself have a bad habit of getting lost in bookstores. Um, and adding to my two read soon pile, it allows people to move with ease. Allows more for more space on the buses. So, allow people with mobility aids onto the bus, the easy um easing congestion of paratrans. It allows me to go to h hang out with my friends in a very central location and have an adult drink once in a while and be able to get home. I have had broken bikes um where I've taken them to bike into bike shops, taken them on ride shares, they get really angry at you. But you know what has has a bike rack in salt? Buses. Priority bus lanes would take the guest work um um out if I wanted to take my son to an event at Landtown and all the and all the other fun events that happen in the Glee. And I'm sure and I'm sure if I if I don't have to pay for a ride share to get home, I'll have the budget to kid with the kid when he says, "Can I just get one more thing, Mom?" I believe making buses a priority is what we need in the city after years of cuts of raising fairs. Give people who need the bus a head start. Thank you for that. And breathe. That was great. Great presentation. Thank you very much for that. Uh, seeing no questions, we'll move on to our next delegation today. Uh, Brooke Anderson. Thank you. Thank you, chair. As said, my name is Brooke Anderson. I'm a student at Carlton University and I'm here on behalf of Carlton Transit Riders. I want to start with acknowledging what the committee here has already done, which is taking steps to recognize the need for improvement in our transit system and the role that traffic plays in the many delays that OC Transpo is experiencing. As a representative of students, many of whom rely on the seven, this is a step in the right direction, but it's a half step at best. You don't need to hear from me that our transit system needs fixing. I'm sure you've all heard it from uh your own constituents. You've all heard it from other delegates that came before me. Many of you have already heard it from me specifically. We know that our system is in crisis. We also know that one of the top reasons for delays is traffic and that bus lanes are an effective solution. So why are we kneecapping our plan to implement them on one of our most important and congested roads? We don't need reliable transit at some times of day, on weekdays, in one direction, and assuming no one forgets to move their car. We need it always. As a student who relies on buses outside of rush hour, what you're offering to me, other students, and anyone who doesn't have a very specific commute is essentially an empty gesture. I'm sympathetic to the concerns of the small business owners who are putting their own money on the line. But when all of the numbers we've seen here today, as well as all of the studies and precedents that we've been able to find, show that they will benefit. Frankly, I find it insulting as a transit user that the idea of balance is threearters of the road only having part of the day bus lanes that are parking spots threequarters of the time. That's not half and half. That's 3/4 of the time, 3/4 of the road. Are we really going to prioritize 17 parking spots over thousands of workers, students, and shoppers who are going or are we going to commit to fixing our transit system? If 3/4 of the bus lanes are only open a quarter of the time, what's being presented here is generously a quarter step. What we need now is not quarter steps, it's not baby steps, it's bold strides in the right direction. That's why I'm calling on council here to be bold, to step up, and not just to approve the plan, but convert the time of day lanes into 24 hours lanes. Elections are approaching and transit is going to be a key issue, and we in the city will be watching how you vote and we'll make sure people remember. Thank you very much for your time. Great. Thank you for your delegation today. Uh we're on to our next delegation, seeing there's no questions, Kayla McCulla. Thank you. Hello. Good afternoon. My name is Kaylee and I live in College Ward, but I attended Carlton and I have spent many years working on Bank Street and I support 247 dedicated bus lanes on Bank Street. As we have heard today by many people, there are many reasons to prioritize bus lanes. So, I'd like to focus on the question, why continue to prioritize parking? I personally fall into the group of people that loves to drive but hates to park. Like many people, I frequently use a combination of transit or driving options depending on where in the city I'm going and selfishly what the weather is doing. When I visit the Glee, which is fairly often, the idea of street parking never excites me. I almost always opt to use public transit or my bike. I'd like to take a moment to imagine the Bank Street experience as a destination. Think about your happiest day visiting Bank Street. Did parking on Bank Street directly improve your experience? Realistically, when you visit Bank Street, you're not stopping in just to go to one shop. You're there for the atmosphere of the neighborhood. You may be cafe hopping, doing your groceries, taking a break between classes, attending an event, or showing a friend from out of town a beautiful neighborhood. Even if you are going to one specific store, you likely can't find parking directly outside that shop anyway, you have to park a little ways away and walk for a while to get there. As we've heard, people are willing to walk up to 5 minutes. And since you already know that, why not just park in the Second Street parking garage? It's underused and can hold all of the cars that regularly park on Bank Street or on one of many side streets. You'll have to walk for a little while anyway, but that's okay because you're actively choosing to go to Bank Street as a visitor, as a destination. You understand the realities of parking around Bank Street. Drivers are smart and can absolutely account for having to take some extra time to plan ahead and find somewhere to park accordingly. you're already taking the time to visit the area. As a destination, you'll absolutely make the effort to park a little farther away. Convenient parking is not the main draw to the stores on Bank Street. If it were, you would opt to shop at one of the many malls our city has. And for everyone that visits Bank Street, many more people are just passing through on the bus as part of their daily commute on the largest transit corridor in the city. On a new note, which surprisingly has not been raised yet, clearing up street parking would also be aesthetically pleasing. You'd have increased sight into your storefronts, creating a more engaging and spontaneous shopping experience, increasing foot traffic, and the number of people decided to just pop into stores because they can see inside it from across the street. And if accessibility and accessible parking is a genuine heartfelt concern for anyone who has raised it so far, I'd like to highlight the fact that the majority of people with accessibility issues main transportation option is actually the bus or adaptable taxis. None of the current Bank Street parking to my knowledge is dedicated to accessible parking. I'd again like to ask why would the city prioritize the imagined convenience of limited street parking for the private interests of the few over increasing the efficiency of a public service for the many as part of their daily commute on the largest transit corridor in the city. Thank you. Great delegation today. Thank you for that. Uh seeing no questions, we'll move right over to Patrick Bickerton. Welcome, Patrick. Hey, me again. Uh, my name is Pat Beckerton. I'm a resident of College Ward and delegating in favor for the proposed uh, Bank Street Active Transportation and Transit priority feasibility study. Um, first, uh, I just like to address um, a number of the concerned uh, business odor uh, delegates that we've heard today that have spoken. Um, and um, I just like to point out that, you know, like Bank Street is a is a wonderful area kind of ripe with lots of different businesses and a lot of mix of uses. And I think, you know, probably one of the biggest reasons why Bank Street enjoys the commercial successes that it does today is that it was designed around the street car. Um it's been decades since we have uh made the mistake of ripping up those street cars, but the development patterns that surround those old uh street car line uh lines remain. And in fact, um even if you follow those old lines across the city, uh the adjacent properties along those uh lines have similarly highly productive um businesses and uh and commercial uses and uh are are some of the highly productive um uh lands in the city. So I find it a little ironic that there's so much concern about um um returning some priority to transit users users when uh in fact um uh transit users and and and and building businesses around mass transit is uh from my perspective probably one of the reasons why uh this area of Bank Street is so successful in the first place. Um I'll keep my other comments uh pretty short. Um I've got a couple uh suggestions I'd like to see that uh echo some of things that people have already seen. You know uh we already know that um we have been shown that the GPS data from uh buses show that congestion actually happens you know off peak in both directions uh and on and on uh weekends. Um and I al I just uh and then we've heard confusion around the uh the second avenue parking garage. And to this point I just wanted to just offer a personal anecdote. I mean, I went to um an auto charge game um a couple months ago and um parking here is already confusing. Um I mean, I went to Glee High School and I used to live in the area and still I'm confused uh as a as an adult. So, you know, there's one side of Bank has got one hour parking. On the other side, you got two to three hours. Second Avenue garage has a 2-hour limit on the lower floors, but sort of unlimited limit, an unlimited uh amount of hours on the upper floors. Um, so at the charge game I went to, we after discovering the the first floor limits on the parking garage, uh, we checked the side street parking and that wasn't conducive because we had a dinner reservation. So, you know, somehow under some miracle, we couldn't figure out why, but um, Bank Street, you know, surrounded by the traffic congestion and cramped sidewalks, uh, had the most permissive parking rules that, uh, that were in the area. And uh it pains me to say it, but it was easier to park on Bank Street for our dinner um and then we will watch the game than it was to go to other places. So even though we we we circled uh on one side of Bank Street, we circled local streets and we um uh we tried our best to make sense of the signs in the parking garage. So you know, granted um I know that there are more now I know there are more permissive on uh off- streetet parking uh uh locations. Um but at the time, you know, we just we just didn't um we didn't we just didn't realize those. So at the end of the day, um it's not that we're out of parking. I feel like people just can't figure out where to park. Um and so adding a more dynamic parking restriction in terms of temporary lanes is is is likely only going to um add uh add uh additional frustration. So, as I got three recommendations, I'd like uh uh the expanded I I'd like staff to expand bus lanes in uh morning and evening in both directions and on weekends. Uh second, regardless of the decision for this committee, I would uh uh sincerely hope that staff uh improve the signage and wayfinding for that Second Avenue parking garage and simplified rules uh for uh side street parking. And um third, you know, like we just need we needed to implement these changes yesterday. So, we're in a bus uh shortage and uh this is a great opportunity to find savings and efficiencies and operating budgets. Um you know, we hear the mayor and council talk about this all the time. So, this is a golden opportunity in front of you to do just that. So, we should uh so we should take it. Thank you. Great. Thank you very much, Patrick. Uh, I see no speakers here. So, we'll go ahead to our next which is online number 43. Oh, Michelle. Michelle Buru, you're online. I'm online. Hey, Michelle. How are you? Great. Great. Good. Good. It's been a a great day watching all of the delegations. Um, I'll just get started. Thank you. Thank you, chair and committee members. My name is Michelle Gru and I am the chief advocate for the Ottawa Coalition of Business Improvement Areas, Okovia, representing Ottawa's 18 BAS and over 7,200 businesses across the city. BAS are made up of businesses of all sizes who are deeply rooted in their communities. Collectively, these businesses employ more than 130,000 people locally, many of whom rely on transit every day to get to and from work. Aobia has been advocating for better, more reliable transit for years. Every BIA in the city wants transit that works well for riders. This is a key factor in attracting and retaining employees, which is why this is an interesting pilot study and why it's important to look closely at what it actually delivers and what the trade-offs are. Bank Street is a Main Street business corridor and a transit corridor. The city's analysis shows a projected benefit of less than one minute in travel time savings per trip along this corridor should this happen. Is this what the study will be measured measuring success on? At the same time, this proposal includes the permanent removal of on street parking spaces. The city points to available parking at Landown and nearby lots, but in practice that means walking 300 meters to over a kilometer depending on where you are visiting on Bank Street. For many people, that is not equivalent to curbside access. Not everyone can walk several blocks from a garage or side street, whether it's due to mobility, disability, temporary injury, or caregiving needs. The report acknowledges that stop and drop offs are permitted. It does not meaningfully account for Ottawa's aging population, nor does it quantify residents living with mobility related disabilities who rely on close practical access to destinations. This need is a significant and growing part of how people move through and experience our city. BAS are striving to make their main streets inclusive, welcoming as many populations as possible. Designing for accessibility is not about infrastructure. It's also about proximity. So what happens in practice? People may shift to side streets, creating pressure on residential areas, or they may simply choose to not come at all, feeling excluded. That has real implications for local businesses and for ensuring our main streets remain inclusive. This pilot is expected to cost nearly $2 million. So we are making a financial investment along with a curbside trade-off for a projective benefit of less than a one minute savings of a trip. I could be getting this wrong. That raises a reasonable question. And is that is this the right way to proceed? And I ask, where will displaced parking demand be accommodated at the block level? How will accessible parking and short-term loading be maintained close to the destination? And how will accessibility and mobility impacts be measured as part of this pilot? If the benefit is less than one minute per trip, it's important to clearly demonstrate that the gains for transit riders are meaningful and proportionate to the impacts and costs. I support improving transit in general, but this is an opportunity to take a more thoughtful holistic approach to measuring success, one that fully consider considers reliability, accessibility, fiscal responsibility, and the real world function of our main streets. And I thank you for your time. Great delegation, Michelle. I really appreciate that. Thank you for that. Uh seeing uh no speakers on this item. Thank you for coming out today. Thank you. And I think in IRL here we got to Is this Kathleen? Hi Kathleen. You just turn on the microphone. The five minutes. Floor is yours. Hello. Good afternoon everyone and thank you for your time. Uh first I'd like to acknowledge the work of local advocacy groups like Strong Towns Ottawa and Better Transit Ottawa. Um, these residents have invested a lot of their time and effort into trying to improve our city. So, I wanted to say thank you. Um, many delegate delegates today have already spoken to the data uh from the Bank Street study and elsewhere. So, instead of repeating those points, I'd like to share a couple of personal perspectives. I love going to Bank Street. Depending on the day, I'll walk, cycle, take the bus, or drive there. And I've heard concerns raised that on street parking needs to be preserved because it's what people rely on most. But I know in my own experience and from what I see around me, most people are willing to walk a block or two. Um when I drive, I usually do park on a stride uh side street. Um partly because it is easier and also I don't want to be the person holding up traffic while trying to parallel park on a busy corridor. Um, and I think that reflects a a broader point. For many people, walking an extra block is a small trade-off, especially compared to sitting in traffic that's being slowed down by that same on street parking. And more importantly, focusing on that convenience overlooks that many people who arrive by other means, by bus, by bike, or on foot, who are also customers um who rely on this street functioning. Well, I'd also like to share one example of what this looks like in practice. My partner's mother moved to Ottawa after retiring to pursue her work as an artist and to continue teaching art in um northern communities in Ontar uh Ontario. She began living with her sister in South Keys and has relied on the number six bus to get to the Ottawa School of Art. A key reason she's able to attend is because she received a bery from um uh Shinoya, a program from Laxual First Nations, but it comes with a with strict attendance requirements. If she arrives more than 15 minutes late, she's marked absent. And to avoid that, she often leaves home hours and hours before her classes begin, sometimes earlier than 5:00 a.m. Even then, she's experienced delays, overcrowding, and uncertainty with the bus. I imagine um this was happening a lot in February too if everyone remembers with all the cancellations then. Um despite planning ahead and doing everything right, she still risks being late. For her, this isn't a minor inconvenience. It's about whether she can reliably access her education. And that's a point I want to emphasize. For many people, these decisions aren't about walking an extra block or two. They are the result of repeated choices to depprioritize transit. And over time, those choices create real barriers in people's lives. They affect access to education, employment, and opportunity, some of the most important aspects of our lives. The city's own consultation shows that only about 13% of respondents prioritize on street parking, and only about 13% said that they wouldn't be willing to walk a short distance. Questions two and three from the as you heard it survey. So, I would like to ask when residents take the time to participate in that process and when the results are this clear, why um what does it say if those priorities are not reflected in the final decisions? This is a a moment where the city is already planning major work on Bank Street. It's an opportunity to make meaningful changes. Um one that improves reliability, moves people more efficiently, and better reflects how residents actually use this corridor. I I hope you take that opportunity. Thank you. Thank you very much, Kathleen. Um, just looking on the board here, seeing no questions on this one. Thank you for your delegation today. Uh, oh, we got bonjour. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Uh, I used to take route number seven when buses would consistently reliably be unreliable. I remember a time when councelor Trusta and I would tweet from our respective buses that our bus was stuck in car traffic. We were going in opposite directions. In the current report, solutions that are being proposed are still based on standard motorized traffic patterns with morning rush hourway going north and evening going south and a perceived p assumption that everyone comes to shop by car on Bank Street. I'm here to add by Cartawa's voice in support of better, more reliable public transit on Bank Street. Bicawa supports a strong reliable transit network. People who bike also take transit. Imagine for a moment if you could get to your PWHL or Atletico Otawa game easily, safely and reliably using a combination of biking and transit. Biking could be the first mile of your trip or both or anything in between. Bike biking and transit go hand in glove and allow for nibble way of getting around. Bicawa supports a more ambitious plan than what is proposed in the report. A plan that will move more people reliably on Bank Street. For that to happen, one needs to have permanent dedicated bus lanes in both directions, preferably 247. According to the report, mod modeling shows potentially greater congestion with bus lanes along the corridor within, and I quote, acceptable limits. read congestion caused is by congestion is caused by motorized traffic. It does and I quote assume minimal growth the in background traffic due to model shift. Now let's talk about model shift for a minute. Giving people other options than driving in addition to transit will help relieve congestion. We're happy to see the addition of a cycle track coming off the canal bridge. This will make a difference as it currently is. You're throwing people and bikes into a lion's cage. Now, we'd like to see dollars attached to this. When will this be budgeted for? We ask that it be in the next budget. Now, the report talks about directing staff to investigate opportunities to improve north south cycling routes parallel to Bank Street, Percy, Lion, etc. What's all nice? While that's all nice and good, this is vague language. There are no immediate actions tied to this. No timeline attached to a future study of these cycling routes. We ask the city to commit to a timeline so we can measure progress and to funding because without funding, nothing will happen. Thank you, Merc. Uh we have no questions for you today, but thank you for coming out as usual. Melie, uh next up we have uh Lindsay or may or may not be here, so we'll check. She's online per there you are. Great. Hi Lindsay. Uh the floor is here. So you have five minutes. You just have to hit the unmute button. There you go. Hello. Thank you. My name is Lindseay Our. I'm a first-time delegate and the business manager at the Papri residing on the corner of Bank and Fifth Avenue in the Gleeb. We've been on the corner for 40 years. I am not in support of the removal of parking spaces. The city has already removed parking on Fifth Avenue from Bank to Monk Street and now we are risking losing all parking at the front of our store from Fifth to Fourth Avenue. This is roughly around 200 meters of no access to parking around the front and side of our store. The majority of our customer demographic is seniors and have some mobility issues. We also rely on weekly, if not daily, deliveries and services to keep our business running. The loss of parking restricts access to our store. I have already had trades and services refuse jobs based on our location and access to parking. We also have customers who have let us know that if there's not a convenient place to park, they do not stop and they keep on driving by. We are partly a destination location in business. We have customers as far as Montreal and Toronto and other outlining communities who drive to us. They are not relying on public transportation. I am in support of a functioning transit system as a whole, not just a stop gap solution for a specific area. I support moving the bus stop at Fifth Avenue southbound until after Fifth Avenue. This is a high volume intersection and a safety issue. Having to stop after the intersection is much safer. I work in the Gleeb and reside in Nepian. I can drive 17 minutes from my house to work. And if I were to rely on public transportation, it would take me one and a half hours to travel excuse me 17 kilometers. So until transportation is improved as a whole, I will continue to drive and park in the neighborhood. I do I do not support the 2.5 million for a pilot project. I believe this money can be spent better elsewhere, namely community policing and safety. Just last week, I had staff have to lock the door twice midday due to an unruly individual. Um, as to the point Delegate Blair Brousard made, the Gleeb is not a drive-thru, but a drive to. Thank you and have a good night. Great, great points. Thank you very much for that. Looking around, seeing no questions. Uh thank you for your delegation and just seeing Stephanie Sove clicking online and we'll just wait for the delegation and all you have to do is unmute your microphone please. Thank you Stefan. Yep. Your microphone's still on mute. You can either hold your space bar down or click the unmute button. And while we're waiting for the delegation to find their unmute button, um I'll just let uh colleagues know we're going to go to four motions that will be read in uh the uh kits, troster, divine, and low motions. Then we'll go to questions to staff uh with wrap-up and then we'll proceed to go through the rest of the procedure. Okay. Okay. Well, first of all, thank you everybody. I got it. I got it. Are we good? Oh, under the wire. Under the wire, man. Okay. Five minutes, so giddy up. All right. Okay. I'm I'm the last one. And I want to uh thank you very much, the chair and the members of the committee. I know uh it was a long day for all of you. My name is Stefan Sovie. I'm the owner of the Glee Market and chair of the BIA. Um I um was quite uh quite um uh concerned about some of the comments that were made because a lot of the businesses do not have any parking and they're very much destination. 70% of my clientele actually do not live in the Gleeb or Old Ottawa South or Old Ottawa East. They actually come from as far as Canada, Orleans, Gatnau and Manitic. So they do drive in. I do have a small parking lot. Uh I have to admit that. Uh but sometimes it gets uh really busy in there and uh they need to find other spaces which they park on Bank Street. Now uh so far the proposal to uh remove uh seven parking spaces between Regent and Fifth um and uh five uh from Bank and Fifth um is is a little troublesome. And I'll tell you why. I think I think that uh it shouldn't be seven, it should be maybe four. Uh the reason being is that you have McDonald's, you have Pizza Hut, and you have Mad Radish, and you have Subway around the other side, and who do you think goes in there? You go in there, there's never anybody sitting. It's because everybody comes and gets skip the dishes and Uber Eats or whatnot. So, they're in and out. So, the only thing that's going to happen right now is that's going to put a big pressure on my parking lot that they're going to stop there and go go grab whatever they need to grab and leave. And and I I don't find that that's very smart. The the Gleeb, we've been in business since 1920. We're 106 years old. A big part of the whole thing. Uh the Gleeb is is it's well balanced uh as far as restaurants and bars and and fashion and food and whatnot. And it's a it's a great spot for for that type of thing. But don't don't believe for one minute that you remove the parking spaces and it's going to remain like that. It is not going to remain like that. What's going to happen is that all those buildings are going to disappear and you're just going to end up with eightstory big monster things because the the businesses are have small footprints. So, so people that that uh independents like like myself has small footprint uh uh businesses and you don't see that any anytime they build anywhere. It's it's huge things. It's big national team uh businesses or international businesses that come by on Okconor. You have a bike lane, okay, going from downtown all the way to Landstone and it's never been maintained. It's actually the stripes are all disappearing and whatnot. Now you guys are concerned about doing a bus lane, bike lane on Bank Street. I have no clue like how many how many lanes do we need here? Like I I seriously it's it's very uh it's very difficult for me to to understand that. Um you know for my customers it's all nice for you to say that oh take the bus. Well some people like say somebody that comes in from Orleans they're not buying for for that night. They're buying for two or three weeks. They're going out with with bags like, you know, 30 40 lbs of of meat into their vehicle and then then they head back home. We need those parkings. Everybody needs those parkings. There's a lot of businesses that in the glee that are not do not exist anywhere else in Ottawa. So, if these people don't have and don't tell me that on the sites park on the side street because most of the the the houses a lot of the houses in the glee don't even have parking. So, they have to buy a pass. So meaning that that street might be full of people that actually live on that street and have a pass and then you don't have a parking. So So I on that point I I don't understand uh you know it's we're not all a convenience retail. We're a destination business and uh people travel to us. you know, we uh we we've you know, if if this happened like 20 years ago, I doubt even that I would be around because you can't once you you put say say my parking's full and then the car drives by and there's nothing on Regent Street and they go around and then they say, "They're not going to keep trying to find a place like you do when you go on Elgen Street." They're just going to say the hell with it. I'm going to go somewhere else, you know, and and maybe go go go down to South Keys or wherever and get free parking, you know, it's really um it's really tough uh to to even wrap my head around that. And and the other thing is by removing the parking, you know, all the shops, we're all just going to become on like Elen. It's all going to be bars, you know, and there's not nothing there's nothing like what is beautiful right now with it happening at the Glee right now. So, I I would really like you guys to understand to to really think about this. You're going to save two minutes. Two minutes for for your your bus and uh for and we're going to lose what? Millions of dollars on the business side. It it just doesn't make sense. You look at Tim Hortons right across. Thank you very much, Stefan. You're welcome. I think your point is well taken. Uh but thank you for coming out today. Okay. So, at this point, uh, we're going to go ahead and I want to thank before we get into No. So, um, before we get into things, I want to thank, uh, members of committee. Uh, you've exercised a lot of restraint today. We got through 70 people. Congratulations. But that's not because of you guys. It's because of the amazing staff. And, uh, I want to thank Grace. Uh, I want to Marcela, uh, Robbie, and of course, uh, Mark, uh, kudos to you, my friend, getting people up to the mic and keeping things moving along. So, uh, thanks for for dealing with us counselors today. I appreciate that a lot. Thank you. So, we'll go ahead. Uh, right now, I think, um, Vice Chair Kits is going to read it in, but we have, uh, we have Councilman Menard here, and since this is near and dear to his heart, we'll get him to read the first motion in if that's okay. Thanks very much, uh, Chair. Uh, and I wanted to say thank you to to Steph Sove there, the the chair of the uh the BIA and in business for 105 years. Uh, but that's all I wanted to mention. I didn't have questions, so I didn't want to jump back on, but thank you uh Steph for all all you've done for uh the Glee area. Um, okay. So, as uh this is to improve the north south uh cycling routes. Um, as per recommendation for the Bank Street Active Transportation and Transit Study, U. Staff will be investigating opportunities to improve that north south cycling routes parallel to Bank Street along streets such as Percy, Craig, Lion, and O' Conor as part of the active transportation planning program. And to complement recommendation four that staff be directed to investigate the inclusion of a comfortable, well-signed bicycling route through Landown Park uh via shared local roads and other facilities where feasible, connecting Bank Street to the Okconor Homewood bicycling route as part of this recommendation. I appreciate staff's uh support on on this. Great. And in this case, I I don't like uh directions, but in this case here, it seems pretty is it okay to accept this direction to staff, everybody? Yep. It's pretty pretty pretty basic. Uh we'll move on to the next one. I believe uh councelor Troster is going to move this one. Thank you very much, chair. Whereas Bank Street is one of the city's most significant transit corridors and is designated as a transit priority corridor in the transportation master plan with route six and seven being the second and thirdest high ridership bus routes in the city's transit system. And whereas the Bank Street active transportation and transit priority feasibility study identifies a critical need for more reliable transit service on Bank Street between highway 40 41 highway 417 and the Rita Canal and recommends new bus only lanes within the study limits including a pilot that is targeted to launch in summer 2027 with a report back on findings by the end of Q4 2028. And whereas Bank Street north of the study limits from Katherine to Wellington shares the above characteristics and may also offer the opportunity for transit priority measures such as bus only lanes to improve transit travel times and reliability. And whereas the transportation master plan identifies Bank Street from Katherine Street to Wellington as a candidate for tactical transit improvements such as buson lanes and allocates funding annually for planning and implementation of the most critical isolated measures and tactical improvement projects. Therefore, it be resolved that the report pack on the results of the pilot also provide recommendations for future feasibility study of tactical transit improvements on Bank Street between Katherine and Wellington considering the results of the pilot between Highway 417 and the Rita Canal. Thank you. Great. So on that we'll we'll save that for discussion debate but again this is just reporting back there's no action out of this. So that just for clarity. Yeah, just for clarity. It's it's to discuss options once this pilot is over to consider a pilot on the other side of bank if it's successful. Wonderful. I had some committee members asking, but that's all it is. Uh thank you for that. Uh we have councelor Divine and I think yours really ties into the business component. So I'll get councelor Low. He has one after this. There might be some play between the two here. So let's see what councelor Divine has to say. Uh thank you chair. Um, thank you staff for working uh with uh me on this motion and it does have their support. So whereas the Bank Street Active Transportation and Transit Priority Pilot Project will be monitored and evaluated to understand its operational transportation and community impacts and whereas the staff report indicates that a comprehensive monitoring plan will be used to assess the outcomes of the pilot but such plan has not yet been developed. And whereas local businesses and BAS have expressed interest in understanding how the pilot may affect parking access and commercial activity along the corridor. And whereas other municipalities have implemented transit priority projects on commercial corridors and have developed a range of monitoring approaches to assess local business impacts. And whereas council has an interest in ensuring that the monitoring plan for the Bank Street pilot is transparent, clearly defined, and capable of informing future transit prior priority decisions. Therefore, be it resolved that as part of developing the comprehensive monitoring plan for the Bank Street Transit priority pilot pilot, staff will incorporate a transparent and clearly defined approach to monitoring potential local business impacts, positive, negative, or neutral, including the following components. One, a review of how other municipalities have designed and implemented monitoring frameworks for transit priority pilots on commercial corridors with particular emphasis on metrics used to assess impacts to local businesses, the data sources relied upon and lessons learned regarding best practices that can inform Ottawa's monitoring plan. Two, a description of the specific indicators, data sources, and methods staff proposed for use in monitoring potential local business impacts during the Bank Street pilot, which may include baseline and follow-up merchant and customer surveys, parking occupancy and utilization surveys, pedestrian or visitor foot traffic counts, and tracking of commercial vacancy or occupancy trends along the corridor. And three, that the monitoring plan, including the business impact indicators to be tracked, be made publicly available, eg, through the project website with periodic updates as monitoring data are collected to support transparency throughout the pilot period. Thank you, chair. Great. Uh, thank you for that. Now, uh, councelor Low, uh, hearing what you've heard and councelor Divine, do you still want to proceed with your motion? Great. We'll go ahead and have your motion on the screen and we'll get you to read that, please. Thank you, chair. Uh whereas the report recommends significant changes to Bank Street between Highway 417 and the RTO canal, including bus stop, sorry, bus stop relocations on street parking and road layout. Whereas residential properties are afforded the opportunity to support or object to street parking changes by petition. And whereas the same opportunity is not afforded to businesses who will be affected by the changes in the recommended plan. Therefore, be resolved the approval of recommendations 1, two, and three for Bank Street between the 417 and Homewood. Be conditional on signatures of support from twothirds of the businesses in the affected section of Bank Street, including businesses with Bank Street frontage, but a primary entrance on an intersecting street. And be it further resolved, the recommended plan for Bank Street between Homewood and the Rita canal be approved and implemented pending detailed design and funding. Great. Thank you. So, we have those three motions that have been read and the first one we accepted because it was direction. uh so you can use those part of your discussion and debate items. So at this point we'll go to questions to staff and then uh you can include your wrap-up if you wish but we will also allow uh the movers of the motions to have their wrap up as well. So, uh, we'll go to, uh, um, in this case here, we'll go to council manard just so you could lead into this if you want or did you want to go after councelor Johnson? That's I'm happy to whatever you'd like. Chair, I'm pretty flexed today. I'm feeling good. So, yeah, we'll go to council minard. Okay. Okay. Thanks so much. Um, thanks for the the the delegations that have come out and all the work that staff have put in uh to date. Um, also want to thank John in my office too. It's been a year and a half of consultation with businesses, with community, um with a lot of different stakeholders, lots of different presentations and adjustments to to get to this point. Um so I just have I have a few questions to staff chair and then um I uh I can make a bit of a statement after. But so just on the length of the time of the pilot project, it does strike me as a as a bit long like 15 months. Um, and so I'm hoping staff um would be able to either take direction or I guess respond on could we is it possible to shorten the pilot project so that we can see most seasons? I mean the 15 months I think is is extended to four seasons and then another season but could we could we shorten that pilot project to to see how results are going spring, summer, fall, winter? I mean is that an option? Uh so through the chair, thank you for the question. Uh so the length of the pilot, we wanted to make sure it was long enough to be able to capture uh people's changes in travel behavior because this is a fairly significant change to the corridor. We also wanted to see how the pilot would perform under under different seasons. So for example, in the fall where you tend to have the busiest commuting uh activity uh throughout the year uh during the winter where you've got storms and whatnot that will impact transit service. Uh so being able to to get that uh range of conditions uh and also there was some uh interest uh in being able to not interrupt the uh transit customers who are making plans uh to attend major events at Landown such as Red Blacks games by having the sort of the pilot change course in the middle of that. But yes, I think there's opportunity all that said uh to uh to uh come up with what a a reasonable length would be. We just would caution not to make it you know 3 months uh because that's you know we want we want it long enough to be able to actually see uh meaningful results from the pilot. Yeah, absolutely. Maybe more like a year instead of the 15 months so we can see see seasons uh and and speak to what you you've talked about. So, as long I think I think chair, I'm hearing that staff are willing to take direction to short to shorten the the the period if that's what you're hearing too. Yeah, I again this is just something that councilman's listening to the group. A lot of us are kind of perplexed. There's 365 days in a year last time I checked and can we not constrain it specifically instead of just direction kind of to to say one year that will give you enough data to get through four seasons. So, uh, chair, if that is what yourself or councelor Manard wants to put down as an official direction, we can take that direction. Perfect. Perfect. Thank you very much, chair. Um, there was uh some other delegations had mentioned um looking at things like uh the time of day peak periods. And I I hear what they're saying and I hear what businesses are saying. Right now, there's two-hour peak periods either direction. there's no parking at that time during those those peak periods. Um, in the in the actual uh report itself, my understanding is these peak period times will be looked at before implementation of a of a pilot based on the data that uh is available to us to us now. Um, and I just want to get confirmation from staff that this is something that could be a bit fluid just given what the data actually shows and where the where the worst of it is where where maybe some of it is more flexible on the peak period times that have been indicated um to date in the in the study. Uh so through the tri yes we will be looking at the data that we collect and reviewing those uh times and that is indicated in the report. Okay. Okay. Fantastic. Um, the other thing that some some folks have mentioned is that wayfinding signage to the to the Glee parking garage. Um, I I think they're right and I know Scott's here too and others, but I I do think they're they're right that we could probably use some more clear signage there. I know the BIA's asked for this too in the past. Residents have asked for it. Um, is this something that you can look at as part of and part and parcel of this of this study just given how much we heard about the parking garage here today? Oh, through you, chair. It is a part of a functional design plan in document one to add new signage indicating where the underground and the second um avenue parking garage is. Fantastic. Fantastic. That's that's great. Um and then with regard to the transit priority measures on things like advanced lights, I know we're going to try this out at Exhibition Way and there there's one spot in there that's located in the report that we're going to say we're going to try this. I guess through the pilot project though there may be some other areas where this still makes sense to get transit out in front. Um uh I think there's a I know we're moving the bus stop so less less need there on those two bus stop moves but but there are some other areas where transit advance lights would likely be helpful along this corridor. Is that something you'll be studying as part of the the pilot project as well is where those transit advance lights may be effective? Uh so through the chair certainly as part of the pilot there'll be opportunities to see uh where additional priority measures uh may be warranted such as the the through the transit signal priority. Um and it's possible that other locations could be identified through through the the pilot project. Okay. Well, that's great to hear. And chair, I'll just say a few more words before I let other colleagues talk about this, but um it's been a long time coming to get here. Bank Street really tries to do a lot of things for a lot of people. It's a commercial district. It's a residential street. It's an important transportation route. It's a trucking route. Uh it's a destination in and of itself. And it's an important neighborhood main street for not just the ward, but uh for a lot of surrounding areas. And it's taken a lot of work by by city staff that consultation and collaboration between community, the business community. Uh people are very wellversed uh on what the what the potential plan is uh that have spoken to us today. Um, and I don't think anyone expected this to be perfect. There is no perfect solution here. What's important to me, um, is that we implement something that can be studied for a relatively short period of time to see how it functions. We need to study this, uh, in a in in a real world scenario. And that's why that pilot and that ensuing data are so important. um the new sections of those 247 bus lanes, the peak period bus lane pieces, the extended bike lanes from the Bank Street Bridge, those pedestrian safety enhancements and those upgrades to potentially a Connor Percy Lion. This is the sort of thing that there's a lot of of I think good in this proposal, but things that really do need to be looked at and studied in that in that real world scenario on the ground and and uh staff have kind of come to a sort of middle ground position here to implement something, take a look at how this functions and then and then we move from there. So, I'm just appreciative. I I know um it kind of feels like you've got people on all sides of this thing, and that's the way it is with with street renewal, but I think we've landed in a in a space where we can test this out and come back with some data to uh to make some changes based on what happens in in the real world. So, chair, I appreciate the the time and the work by staff uh as well as all the residents who have come out and delegated and the businesses that have come out and talked to us today. So, thank you very much. Yeah, and thank you. Thank you. you're hearing a lot of feedback from committee and people and you're adapting it. So, we appreciate that. Uh, Councelor Johnson, thank you, Chair. So, yes, I I to echo the previous speaker, you know, Bank Street is very important to the city overall. I think we could all agree that it deserves attention and investment. I think the intention is to try and unlock, you know, the potential for this site for as many people as possible. And for various reasons right now, different users are being shut out or avoiding it for for we've heard a whole host of reasons and right now the city is making an investment to try and figure out how to maximize the potential for this site. Um so from my perspective, I think we can all think of, you know, transportation log jams in our own wards that we wish we would have the time and attention paid. Um but in this case, you know, we are seeing it here uh for the future of Landown and other aspects of this area that I I'm I'm pleased to support. Uh but what I'm hearing from delegates is, you know, an overall concern or question mark around the evaluation of the project. You can see that there's a lot of different stakeholders that will want to know that the juice is worth the squeeze. And for my area, you know, with the baseline uh rapid transit corridor, it's similar where we're seeing perhaps small gains or what feels like small gains in uh transit reliability for larger impacts. So, can you please uh help us understand for this committee who is conducting the evaluation of this pilot and how will it be designed? What are the research questions you're going into this with and what are the uh um outcomes that would be measured to determine whether it was a success through you chair. The success of the pilot will be measured in the following eight ways and it will be a city-led initiative. Number one is transit travel time and reliability. Number two is impacts to local businesses. Number three would be auto traffic impacts. Number four would be parking occupancy and utilization. Number five would be safety. Number six would be the impact on local residential streets. Number seven would be compliance with enforcement and number eight would be a communications plan. Um it would include community engagement and consultation with the community and uh local stakeholders. That's fabulous. So I'm hearing some strong sort of thematic analysis for what would make it a success. Can you help me to understand what is the um the metrics? You know, what kind of movement do we need to see on any one of those metrics to make it a success? And are there certain uh themes that you're considering more important than others? If not, if you're not there yet, how will committee and council know how this evaluation has been designed? Because I believe given that, you know, transit priority measures are in the transportation master plan, in the official plan, these evaluative tools may be useful for other areas of the city that are going to be doing this kind of uh retroactive sort of work. I see uh through the chair. So I don't we haven't yet fully fleshed out what the evaluation and monitoring plan is going to look like. Uh so those are questions we're going to be uh taking back. Uh certainly it will reflect the uh policies and priorities in the official plan and the transportation master plan. I think we're really looking for good uh quantitative data on all of the different aspects that Lee's mentioned to be able to to to weigh and and it's not a simple matter of just saying well this travel time improved by X and that makes it a success and like because there's all these things that are going to be impacted plus and minus. So I think it's taking the balance of the evidence that we see coming out of that evaluation and and looking at how uh the benefits for certain groups may have impacted other groups and the the trade-offs that we're seeing along the corridor. And the intent is to be very transparent about that where we we'll have a a project uh website because we know there's a lot of interest in this from the community. Um so to be able to make that information available as as we get it and and to actually make the monitoring plan itself available on that website and as le mentioned you know uh consulting with the community will be part of that as well. So you know throughout the pilot uh those are the sorts of activities that we would be taking uh taking place and in the sort of the time up to the pilot uh that time will be spent developing that uh that monitoring plan and that communications plan. Okay very good. So there's going to be a monitoring plan that's on a project page and is it going to be the type of evaluation that is formative in the sense that as you learn things you make adjustments or is it going to be sumitative in the sense that you do sort of like a pre and a postmeasurement and then at the end is when you kind of do the sense making of what you've seen uh through the chair. My anticipation is it will be a little bit of both actually. I think if there's things that we're seeing like, you know, we need to adjust the signal timing at this intersection because it's just not working. Like we're not going to wait till the conclusion of the pilot to do those sorts of changes, but at the same time, we want to see the the totality of how the pilot works. So, I think it's a it's actually a little bit of both. Okay. Fabulous. I think I think those types of uh you know real time learning will be uh will create some buyin for the project as you're moving forward so that it's not being done to residents as much as it's being done with residents so that they can have that sort of ongoing feedback. Uh obviously the purpose of the of the pilot is to create those bus lanes. It's not that you're going to flip in the middle of the pilot on the essential features. Um but you you know if people can see that things are kind of requiring some adjustment throughout the time that you're taking because it is not a short amount of time uh that they can feel that they're going to be heard that way. Um so I'm I'm quite encouraged by this. I think that the transparency being uh provided on a project web page is is quite important and what I would hope to see in that case is perhaps um uh sort of regular updates on some of those uh metrics. Right? So maybe every six months or every 3 months you're you're putting a little bit more meat on the bone so people can see how it's progressing. Um I'm very excited for how uh this pilot can help to um put some color on the TMP principles in the first phase, you know, or in the first uh uh report. We've got a lot of big ideas. Uh but I think as the city, we do need to start being a little less apologetic about putting transit first. Um, we have made significant investments and the mayor will continue to say that we have uh put more money in transit year-over-year uh bringing this new LRT to fruition. And I continue to be concerned that if we don't actually put the operating dollars uh alongside the capital dollars as we are in this case, um we're going to have invested in a big Pelaton bike that we're all going to just hang our clothes on and never actually ride. I don't want that to become our transit system. I think we have to start edging a little bit in the other direction. And uh this is a this is a uh uh for some it's it's not bold enough, for others it's too bold. So it might be one of those situations where we're making everybody just a little bit unhappy, which sometimes is the best you can do here. Uh but with proper evidence and and reporting, I think we'll be able to strengthen the argument for transit. So thank you very much for taking the time to put together such a thorough report. I'm thoroughly hungry after that meat on the bones squeezing juice cake and eat it too would have been good. But anyway, councelor Gar, thanks Sher. Um, one one of the themes we heard from a lot of delegations on both sides was about both the cost and the small number of minutes of improvement in travel time. Um, how would staff respond to that? I guess convince me that why you see this as a a worthwhile intervention even if it's got a cost and we're talking about a a couple minutes of uh difference. So through the chair I'll start and then maybe Pat will add uh his comments as well. I think so just to clarify we heard uh some confusion I think through the delegations on the cost of the pilot. The cost is not $2 million for the pilot. Uh the cost of the pilot is roughly uh $250,000. Uh and it's essentially uh pavement markings and signage uh for the most part. The the additional cost is for the targeted cycling and uh pedestrian improvements along the corridor. Uh so for $250,000 uh that is perhaps the most efficient way that we can provide transit priority in the in the city. Uh compared to uh building uh entirely new infrastructure, new transit ways, uh this is an extremely cost-effective measure. And I'll I'll turn it over to Pat to add his comments. Thanks, Jennifer. Mr. chair. So, it it for transit customers, it's not just um a shorter average travel time that we'd be looking at, but we're also interested to see whether the conversion of these lanes from no parking to bus only uh results in greater compliance to the point that we can get less variability in travel time. Not only that the travel time on average is shorter, but there's less of a range between the fastest and the slowest trips because if that variability can come down, we can provide more um we can write schedules that are more apt for that space and provide better predictions of arrival times. Okay. Thank you. And the other thing that came up a lot was um the congestion in the glee on game nights and events. Is there a way to add that to the pilot or is that a phase two of a pilot or is that something we could address? So during the pilot we will be gathering information that I think we will be taking back to inform uh recommendations for uh for potential expansion into those time periods. But I will say that uh events at lands down the larger events are actively managed today. Uh which means that there is transit priority given uh two buses for for those largest uh events and uh I believe there's staff from traffic services here that can can speak to a little bit more details on that. But because there is that active management between the city uh and uh and OEG, there's opportunities to sort of uh uh to optimize the the mobility through the corridor during those large events that doesn't require uh the pilot uh because that's all it can all be done actively through that mechanism. Okay. Okay. Um I think a a pilot makes sense. Um, I was trying to think of another traditional main street like Bank Street in Ottawa that has dedicated bus lanes and I can't think of one. Um, Bank Street, this part of Bank Street is really different than Baseline or Carling or Albert or Slater. Uh, even RTO street is very different than this. And it's almost like well I think we are kind of in uncharted territory trying to figure out how to get the right balance the right mix of uh of mobility in this section. Um like a lot of the character of this part of Bank Street comes from the friction on the street. There's people who park and cars that come and go and pedestrians and buses and it's that mix that gives it a lot of its vibrancy and creates kind of its function. So, like on one hand, I I know a lot of people want us to just rip off the band-aid and and have no parking at all on either side 24/7, but I actually think doing a pilot is prudent to figure out what works, what doesn't, and where the next stages are going to have the biggest impact and make sure that we still maintain that uh that vibrant streetscape that we have along Bank Street. So, I hope the pilot is successful and and I think we're setting it up for success, but I think it's wise to to move with uh a little bit of of caution and humility before we go all the way in on this street or any other main street. Thanks, Sher. Great. Thank you for that. Uh, councelor Das. Thanks, Chair. Um, I just have a a question to staff in respect to councelor Lowe's motion. Um, I was curious as to what the intention of his motion will do to what you're proposing and the um all of the the results from all of the public interactions that you've had to date. I'm just curious as to what this all means if we approve that motion. Yeah. I don't know if council low if you want to speak to that or or and then staff follow up with what the implications to that are. It's a good question. Well, I I'll be honest. I do understand the intent and I I actually deeply support engaging businesses further, but I know as to councelor Bernard's point, this has been years in the making and there's been a lot of public consultation as well as consultation with businesses and we've heard from many delegations today. So, as much as I appreciate councelor Low's input as well as his work into this motion, I just want to know from staff, what does this action mean? Does this mean that this delays it or so from a logistical standpoint, what does this mean? I figured that's where you were going. So, thank you. Uh, thank you, uh, councelor. So, through the chair, um, staff would not support this motion. Um, although we completely understand what we are hearing today and have heard in the consultation from business and we're looking for direction from this committee and ultimately council. Um this motion would provide a a veto to a single group and we've been engaging with a wide audience here and as you uh have seen in the report that staff presented there's a lot of data and analysis has gone into this. So um this would be uh if you if this motion passes you'd be directing us to uh notwithstanding what's in the report asking us to uh get um direction from the businesses only. Okay. Okay. Thank you for the clarification. Um, I was curious about the the $250,000 for the pilot and whether that includes communications for motorists because as to some of the delegations points, there is flexibility in terms of the timing. At certain times it's going to be one way, at certain times it's going to be another, certain days it's this, certain days it's that. So, will there be communications for the entirety of the city? those of us who are going to be driving down and just so we don't get you know accidentally ticketed or park in the wrong time or wrong space or or so that there's a knowledge out there. Uh so through the chair yes our intent is to develop a comprehensive uh communications plan for uh both the local community but also uh more broadly citywide for for people who may be traveling to uh the glee. Okay. Okay. That's all my questions. Thank you chair. Yeah. Great questions. Councelor uh councelor Divine. Thank you, Chair. Um I do have um a bunch of questions, but I'm certainly supportive of the this pilot project, not only for the benefits that I'm confident it'll deliver to Bank Street itself, but um in how it might inform our future projects. Um, and I want to make a bit of a a comment on I heard uh councelor Gower making reference to what certain delegates spoke about critically about how this project will only result in a couple minutes improvement uh for a bus rider. But of course, none of us can ignore the fact that that's talking about a bus load full of people. Um and that increased productivity um with factoring in what uh Pat Scrimmer was talking about the the um the increased reliability through through having buses um run more uh reliably is certainly a big return on investment. Um so my questions based on the report's inventory of available parking in the study area and that includes on street parking nearby paid parking like lands down municipal garages can you confirm that the removal of 17 parking spaces represents less than 1% of the total parking um identified in the study area through you chair. Um it's 17 out of 2,000 spaces in the area overall. All right. I'm going to trust if that's less than 1%. That's what my calculator said earlier. Um, several delegates from the business committee, they did raise concerns about potential revenue loss from the removal of a relatively small number of parking spaces. Are staff aware of any studies or evidence that support the claim that losing on street parking for the sake of transit priority measures directly results in sustained business revenue loss? Uh, through you chair. I we there there are studies pointing to um the impact of um sustainable transportation measures. But um it I what through our analysis what we concluded is each each situation is unique and um so that I would say this would be part of our our monitoring to to engage with businesses over the course of the pilot. I appreciate that and I ask it because my understanding is that the broader evidence does not support what businesses were claiming and that in many jurisdictions reallocating street space for transit priority has resulted in at worst a neutral but at best a positive outcome for local business. Um is it fair to say that staff view this pilot as a stepping stone that once performance has been observed and evaluated staff return to committee with evidence-based recommendations on potential future adjustments? uh through the chair. Yes, that's correct. Our intent is to really use this as an opportunity to see how the bus lanes uh operate and to come back with uh datainformed recommendations for uh potential permanent installation or phasing or changes to the pilot. Could some of those permanent um uh changes or phasing include um recommendations on the feasibility of extending these measures to weekends and major event days based on the evidence gathered? Uh through the chair. Yes. Thank you. Um so uh we've heard about the monitoring plan that's intended to provide meaningful insight into how the pilot is performing. Um is it correct that the monitoring plan is still being finalized? Uh that is correct. Thank you. Um, so staff will recall that as part of the TMP, council passed a motion uh that my office brought which committed the city to exploring how peoplebased metrics could be integrated into corridor planning work. Um, I think there's a valuable learning opportunity here. The staff report notes that Bank Street has peak traffic volumes in the range of 650 to 720 vehicles per hour. But it also says that bank has some of the city's highest transit ridership. In a corridor like this, would staff agree that along with measuring how many vehicles move through the corridor, measuring how many people move through the corridor is also a relevant performance indicator? Uh yes, staff would agree with that. And can staff advise whether incorporating people based metrics is something that you are considering and what that approach might look like if so? and Brian also through the chair. Yes, we are looking at uh person-based uh metrics that could be included in the in the evaluation framework. Uh again, the monitoring uh plan is still being developed. So, I can't say what exactly those metrics will look like, but uh it is definitely something we're looking at, especially when you're looking at transit and and pedestrian and and cycling activity. You really have to to evaluate uh people movements. Thank you. Um and chair, I I'll do my wrap-up on my motion here. Um so I I did work collaboratively with staff on the motion. Uh it seeks to evaluate potential impacts on local businesses as part of this monitoring plan. As we've heard, they have expressed concern over the impact this pilot project would have. Other cities have been down this way before and the experience of those cities can be used to inform how staff will measure the impact on local businesses in our pilot. Can I confirm that staff are supportive in incorporating uh that evaluation into the monitoring plan? I.e. my staff support my motion. Councelor Devon, can you mute your mic, please? There's a lot of background noise. It's muted now. But did my question get out there? Okay, you may have to say it again. We can't hear you too well. Can you hear me now, chair? Yep. Okay. Um, just very quickly, can I confirm that staff are supportive of my motion for incorporating uh studying business impacts into the monitoring plan? Yes, they support it. Sean, thank you, Chair. Councelor Low. Thanks, Chair. Um, so you know, for for about six, seven, six to seven years of my life, I um, you know, I've driven up and down Bank Street every sing, you know, all days of the week, all times of hours, all times of the day, rather. And, um, and and the way that uh, the way that it's always worked out for me was that Bank Street was slow, but it always moved. And the the traffic signals are frequent, but they are but they cycle in a way that traffic does move. And when you when you tuck your bus in um off peak, when you tuck your bus into a bus stop and you start from a stop position, it is much easier to merge back into traffic. So the one exception is the northbound bank and third stop where where the stop is on the far side during the peak hours. Um there is no stopping regulation. There is a no stopping regulation in the peak um in the right lane in the peak direction. So in the morning it's northbound, in the afternoon it's southbound. And what I, you know, my observations at that time were that there were the, you know, most people followed it. Um, most people still drove in the left lane. Um, and and the bus was, uh, fairly free to use the right lane. Occasionally, you know, it'd be waiting behind a car that was turning right, waiting for pedestrians to cross uh, one of the cross streets, and that was usually what was uh, what would hold uh, hold me up the most, at least in my experience. So I I you know I'm not completely sold on on the full need here. Um and and you know my my my view is that while while businesses don't vote, they are still part of the community, right? There the business owners vote. The people who go to those businesses uh vote and uh the the employees who work those businesses vote. There are it is it is a positive contributor to the local economy to uh to the employment and uh and that is why I've I've moved my motion to seek the input of those businesses. I know there has been a consultation that was part of this process but the direct um you know directly consulting with the businesses is is is the best way to get that wholesome feedback because if we're if we're afraid of a veto by a single group and you know if they've been consulted and they're on board why why are we afraid of a veto from a single group so um that's why I've moved the motion. Thank you. Great. Thank you councelor Low Vice Chair Kent. Thank you chair. Uh I have a question on the TRSAR motion. Um I understand that there are several tactical improvements uh for transit priority corridors in the TMP Bank Street Wellington to Riverside is included. Um but so are several others including Shawn Dark from Champlne to Inis uh which I have a particular interest in. So, I'm just um wondering if you could explain if the motion changes anything in terms of the prioritization exercise um that you would be doing for for all of those uh those corridors. Uh so through the chair that's not our anticipation that it would change the prioritization of of the studies for those but to basically take the the outcomes of the pilot and uh look at what the what an appropriate timing would be for that feasibility study. U we do uh have a number of of those corridors within the transportation master plan that we're sort of in the process of of planning out when those studies will happen for. So I think the timing will work uh quite nicely in terms of us having taken a look at that but then also being informed uh by the results of the pilot uh for for when that specific section of Bank Street would would fall. Okay. So you wouldn't characterize it as Q jumping. No. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Um some of my other questions have already been asked. I'll be honest, I'm a bit torn on this one. Um because I absolutely support transit priority measures. I love pilots. Um but to the point uh that one of the de delegates made, you know, with so many competing priorities when it comes to um transit improvements in this area um at peak, you know, when the data is showing that the intersections have capacity, um you know, it's I'm I'm not sure it's the most pressing um concern that we have, albeit it's a small amount of money. Um, you know, I am concerned about some of the anxieties that the the business community has brought forward. I frequent the Gleeb. Um, I never struggle to find parking to the to the point that I abandon the errand or the visits. So, um, you know, I hope at least there's some comfort. Someone like me who does drive typically in from, um, far out parts of the city, um, I'm not deterred, uh, by a short walk. There is a lot going on in this corridor. Um, it's obviously an important one citywide. Um, but with lands down, with the NCC restricting access at times the to the QED, um, I can appreciate wanting to try new things. But I also think that because it's such an important corridor, we have to tread carefully with it. Um, so all that to say, it's not cut and dry for me, and I have a couple more minutes to decide what I'm going to do. Thanks. Thank you, Vice Chair. Uh I'll go to uh it looks like no more. Oh, councelor uh Scowski. Great. Thanks. Thank you, chair. Um so I I'm bringing a really different sort of I'm going to share my comments. A lot of the questions that I'd asked have already been a or that I had here have been asked um about making sure that the data is accurate because I personally like to make data informed decisions. I want us to have really good data about this particular corridor and the reason so I represent for those you know folks that are the south end of Ottawa the furthest south end rural south and most people don't take buses um but the some that do this is a really important corridor for a lot of reasons so when R1's are in place you are taking this bus and people have a history I hear about the trauma of taking the six to go back and forth across Bank Street um so the opportunities to improvement improve it and to learn about ways to improve it um from a transit user perspective. I I'm looking forward to seeing what we can actually produce from uh a pilot. Um I also though uh you know I I'm really sympathetic to the fact that uh most residents in my corner of the world are drivers and um and so of course the loss of parking is a big deal. I do find it curious though that there is empty and available parking nearby. So I I like h like uh councelor kits here have been sort of back and forth and back and forth throughout this whole discussion. I am concerned about and alarmed by the comments that our business community raised. Um and uh okay, so I do have questions for you. And really when it comes down to it is I hope I'm hopeful this pilot this pilot is short and tells us a lot because long-term uh I think the reality is that we're going to want to move people back and forth through Bank Street through that corridor and to Landdown to be able to enjoy the the bigger picture of what's going to happen there and we're going to need some good data about what works to move people fast and efficiently from other parts of the city into that corner of the world. So I I will am very interested in seeing the monitoring and what exactly data is going to be collected so that it can help inform some some bigger decisions about ways to move people around this city. One question. So are you planning to include any signage to improve way finding? So certainly anyone with cars going downtown is going to want to have a good place to park if they do not know that there's parking and a whole empty parking lot right there. Uh is that part of the plan through you chair? Yes, that's part of the plan. Super. Thank you. Well, thank you for that. And uh at this point, I'm going to go to councelor Manard. I'll add some of my comments at the end and then uh we'll go to the voting on the three motions that are in front of us today. Council Manard. Yeah. Thanks, Chair. Just a just to thank you. I I said most of my comments earlier. I just wanted to thank uh the committee for for listening to this and for coming out and hearing Carlton students and and everyone that's been been talking about this for some time. This came back in like a motion from 2021 to to study this area further. So, it's been a long time coming. Um it's been incredible the amount of engagement just on this single issue in this small area of the city. Uh and just goes to show you just how much um care people have for their main streets. Um I I think this would be the same if any proposals were coming on other traditional main streets in in our wards. You'd see this type of um this type of outreach and uh visceral reaction on on all sides. So, um, this is really the heart of of of governing in this way. And I think obviously, uh, staff have done a really good job to take those views and those opinions back, uh, in crafting this report. And I think we're in a much better better spot now than we were before. And, uh, very interested to be around hopefully when these results come out and and, uh, to to see that that proven data um, uh, utilized in a good way uh, for for this streetscape. So, uh, just a a big thank you to, uh, to staff on the work to date. Great. Thank you very much, Councilman Menard. And, uh, so just in closing to throw a couple of quick comments in. First, uh, thanks again to Council Menard for working so closely and listening to the concerns. There's a lot of pressure when you're a local counselor. Let's do everything all at once, all the time. But he's got to balance off the needs of the businesses as well. I'm very uh looking forward to the snow clearing component. I think this is going to be something very neat because as you know with the sorry from the gallery is there a a problem. Thank you. So when it comes to the snow clearing component uh I think this will be interesting to see how this will have impacts or not. Um, when it comes to the start date, Pat, I'm looking at you because I think there's a tie in before council. Are we going to have the official start date of when this will take place in 2027 knowing that we've put it in front of us here today? It'll be one year maximum. One year. What the start date would be for this pilot. Can you get that before council? Uh, yes, chair. We can uh confirm that before council. Good. That's something I certainly heard and I want to make sure that that's there. We heard the question of uh wayfinding. I don't care if they require neon signs or blinking. I think that's something that's very a lot of people don't know. And I I'll tell you, I go down to Wild Oat Cafe. By the way, the Sour Cherry uh bars, they can't afford to make them anymore because of the tariffs now. They've gotten too expensive. So, that's a whole other issue outside of this. But uh but Wild Oak Cafe, maybe I might get a cigar or two down there on occasion. I'm an adult. I can do that. Um, so, uh, I understand the parking needs in that area firsthand. So, I want to see what this will look like. Also, uh, I know we're looking at other things. I've I've brought up dynamic signs, uh, within neighborhoods, and I'm hoping that's something we can investigate. So, you know, signs that could digitally change. I know they're not widely used yet. It's still a lot on the worldwide stage being tested in North America. I'm looking at some local tests for that. Maybe by 2027 that opportunity will exist. So I'm hoping we can look at all technologies as part of that in the future. Uh if something comes up before 2027, is that a possibility? Is looking at dynamic signing for the neighborhood, especially for special events. Uh chair, that's certainly something we can take back and look at. Okay. Okay. Great. Um so again, uh just for clarity, this isn't 2.5 million. Um, this is at 250,000. It's paint and roads. And in the event during the one-year pilot project, we notice that there's major challenges. Is it something that council can reconsider or say we're going to halt the That's why it's a pilot is if there's any problems, we can deal with them or try to address them. Would that be correct? Uh, yes, chair. We would certainly report back if uh well you know if there's if there was recommendations that we wanted to bring forward because of what we were seeing we would uh certainly report back before the the one-year pilot and sorry that's what I was alluding to. So if there is a problem we'll get feedback and we can address it as a council. So uh for all those reasons uh uh I'll certainly be supporting this pilot. We'll be watching it very closely. Um so at this point we'll go to the first motion that's on the table uh councelor's motion. I I don't know if anyone wanted to have a vote on this one. I don't think it's super contentious on this one. So, is this item carried? Thank you. Uh the second one, Councelor Divine, and thank you. And again, it's been clarified. There is no additional cost to this. This is something we were pretty much doing anyway. This is just solidifying it. So, councelor Divine's motion. Uh is this one carried? And uh I've been requested to call yays and nays on councelor Lowe's motion that's in front of us today. Council, you still wish to proceed with this motion? Great. Uh councelor uh committee coordinator, if you can do yays and nays on councelor Lowe's motion. Councelor Lulof. Yeah. Councelor Dudas. No. Councelor Gower, no. Councelor Johnson, no. Councelor Divine, no. Councelor Bradley, no. Councelor Truster, no. Councelor Scowski, no. Councelor D. Ro. Councelor Low, yes. Vice Chair Kits, no. Chair Tierney, no. Two yays, nine nays. Great. Well, thank you very much for those. and uh on the report as amended. Is that carried? Great. Thank you very much everybody. Now we're moving on to the next item and nobody leave yet. We're not done yet. We have a couple more things to do. But thank you everybody for your patience. Um, we'll move on to So, we have a we have a motion by Hill and I I believe councelor Kits, you have it, but I think Hill, are you here and available? That's okay. We'll get Vice Chair Kits to go ahead and read this one. And we're going to uh look to to move these ones. Yeah, if it's okay with everyone, we're just going to move these items right onto the agenda today uh and vote on them today. I I don't think there's anything super contentious in here. We've all looked them over. We've circulated them. Um so uh coun vice chair kits where uh so uh we're waving the rules of procedure. Yeah. Okay. Whereas Bar Haven West is one of the fastest growing wards in Ottawa. And whereas Halfoon Bay has had three new schools open their doors in the last two years. And whereas on Friday, March 13th, 2026, a student was struck leaving St. Juan Diego Elementary School by a car and required metal medical attention at CHIO. And whereas there are assessments underway that are not yet complete for potential adult school crossing guards in the vicinity of the school. And whereas staff have recently installed temporary signage to create an all-way stop at the intersection of Flagstaff Drive and Segnis Street as a construction related traffic ma management initiative. And whereas installing a permanent stop control with a single crosswalk where it can be accommodated between existing driveways on Flagstaff Drive on the east side of Signis Street to improve pedestrian crossing safety at this intersection would trigger the integrated accessibility standards regulation under the Accessibility for Ontario Ontarians with Disabilities Act 2005 requiring curb depressions aligned with the pedestrian travel path and properly placed tactile walking service surface. indicators. And whereas the conditions required for staff to exercise delegated authority to implement a permanent hallway stop control at the intersection of Signis Street and Flagstaff Drive have not been met. And whereas the intersection of Signis Street and Flagstaff Drive is not eligible for pedestrian accessibility intersection and ramping program funding as it does not meet council approved criteria for the permanent traffic control. And whereas a permanent always stop control at this location cannot be implemented until all legislated accessible design features are installed. Therefore, be it resolved that the public works and infrastructure committee recommend that council approve making the temporary hallway stop at Signis Street and Flagstaff Drive permanent, including establishing one crosswalk on the east side of Signis Street on Flagstaff Drive once all legislative accessibility features are in place. And be it further resolved, the W3 temporary trafficcoming budget be deemed an appropriate funding source for the installation of the required accessibility features to ensure compliance with the integrated accessibility standards regulation under the accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act 2005, as well as any associated signage and pavement marking costs for the permanent stop control and crosswalk. And be it further resolved that any use of the W 3 temporary trafficcoming budget for this project be coordinated between the W counselor and relevant city staff. And be it further resolved that this work be undertaken as soon as practicable following the confirmation and securing of a funding source compliance with procurement reg requirements and the scheduling of any necessary construction or installation activities. And be it further resolved that staff be directed to review and report back to council as part of the 2027 road safety action plan refresh on options to improve traffic calming around schools including but not limited to additional support for high growth wards. Great. Thank you for that. Uh I know that councelor Hill has comments that are probably a lot less than that uh that motion. That was a long one. Uh councelor Hill, did you want to provide a little bit of context briefly and then we'll vote on that? If if I can. Uh Mr. Mr. Chair, thank you very much. Um, I'll start by saying uh I very much appreciate um the uh engagement from this committee about this time last year uh when an omnibus uh motion came forward talking about community safety zones uh broadly in the city. And one of those was in front of Mary Honeywell uh public school, which is uh the school where unfortunately the tragic incident happened last week with our traffic safety guard. Um we certainly hear regularly from our residents in terms of uh areas where there are concerns uh and there are limited things that we can do uh in a timely manner. Uh that was one thing that uh that we were able to do to increase fines to uh draw more police presence into the area. And this uh motion today is an example of another. Uh the the Flagstaff Road and San Juan Diego is an extremely high growth area in Bar. Uh it's no doubt that when the original designs of San Juan Diego school were created about 10 years ago, uh there was no comprehension of what the actual traffic patterns were going to look like. Uh, and I can tell you, uh, this is this is probably seeing hundreds of houses, uh, new houses going up on an annual basis, year-over-year. Uh, we have a new commercial site that's going to go just down the street from there. Um, and unfortunately what's caused some of the angst is that because the school is so new, um, we haven't had the proper warrants in order to get the three-way stops into an area that we were able to put a, uh, a traffic co, uh, crossing site. This motion will allow for the current temporary three-way stop at Signis to become permanent, which will allow for staff to then uh include a pedestrian crossing site there. Uh which will also allow us to have those conversations with the Ottawa Safety Council in terms of a traffic guard, which would allow for a safe access in a place that's an extraordinarily high density area, especially a pickup and drop off. So, uh, I'm very appreciative of staff and the conversations that we've had over the last several weeks, uh, since we had a young child that was hit on their way, uh, out of the school about 3 weeks ago. Uh, I'm very appreciative, uh, Mr. Chair, for your leadership on this and for the conversations that we've had in order to address this, uh, in an appropriate way, uh, here through this committee. Uh, and thank you to my colleagues. If there's any questions, I can certainly answer them. Great. Uh, thank you very much. you know, all of council is thinking of you and your constituents at this point. Certainly, uh, this is exactly why we bring these things forward to try to improve safety on a regular basis. Uh, on that item, is that item carried? Thank you. We'll go to the next one. And, uh, on the list, it's uh, Councelor Johnson. Yes, this is a great one actually. Uh, to wave the rules. We're all good to put this on the table today. We're good. Carrie, thank you. Thank you. Uh so uh whereas council approved the 2024 road safety action plan implementation plan which included a review and update to the city speed zoning policy as one of its deliverables. And whereas speeding and reckless driving continue to be a significant concern within the community. And whereas vulnerable road users including pedestrians and cyclists have recently been struck by vehicles in residential neighborhoods. And whereas speed is estimated to be a contributing factor in approximately 27% of collisions according to a 2021 Transport Canada report. Whereas speed is a critical factor in the survivability of pedestrians involved in motor vehicle collisions. Therefore be it resolved that staff report on the status of the speed zoning policy update at the April 2026 meeting of the public works and infrastructure committee. So just quickly chair um this is a report that I know many of us have been anxious to discuss and there's been some preliminary conversations I believe with various counselors and some discrepancies or perhaps still some hurdles to be sort of ironed out when it comes to implementation but without a doubt you know we've made commitments to our residents who are deeply concerned about speeding in their neighborhoods that some of these conversations will be coming forward in this term of council. So it was my feeling that and with the support of the chair that we we don't wait for perfection. We need to have a conversation here uh and we can with the different sort of options that might be available to us as a municipality as the province continues to strip away uh what we had hoped to use for the road safety action plan. So, as part of the update, we'll be able to have this conversation at committee, and I know our residents will be very glad to see that we're not sitting on our laurels, and we're trying to be solutions based to address one of the major uh uh variables in uh fatal collision and serious injury on our roads. So, thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Great. On that item, is that item carried? Great work. And uh last uh the rules of procedure be waved so we can deal with this in a timely manner uh to report back at the April meeting. This is one about speed removal cameras. Is that is that carried to bring this to the agenda? Thank you very much everybody. Whereas the speeding and reckless driving continue to present safety risks on the Ottawa road network. Whereas the data from the original eight automated speed enforcement pilot locations showed sustained and continuous compliance with the posted speed limits over many years while the cameras were in place. Whereas the removal of the municipal cameras through bill 56, building a more competitive economy act of 2025 has reduced the range of the tools available for the city of Ottawa to manage speeding. Whereas the staff have collected data on the eight original pilot sites monitored to the impacts of bill 56 on speeding. Therefore, it be resolved that staff report the speed data that they've received collected since they've removed the speed cameras since uh since the cameras were removed and report back at the April 2026 public works and infrastructure committee. Is that item carried? Great. Thank you. It's going to be not so surprising results, but I'll I'll save the show for that. Wow. Okay. Uh, I'm looking at my committee coordinators that just make me look good here. There's a notice of motion. I believe. Great. So, we'll do the Menard one first, I believe. Okay, perfect. We'll just get that up on the screen. Okay. On behalf of councelor Manard, uh therefore be it resolved that public works and infrastructure committee recommend that council approve increasing the parking duration where currently 1 hour 7 to 7 to 2 hours on 4th Avenue between Percy Street and Bank Street and be it further resolved that the corresponding signage changes be completed as soon as practicable. Great. Thank you very much. I certainly hope that passes when that comes to committee. That's a good one. And uh the second one, please. Um therefore, be it resolved that staff investigate financial opportunities from the government of Canada and the province of Ontario to subsidize the costs to install sewers in the City View ditch rehabilitation project area. Great. Thank you again. Look forward to that coming to committee. Is there any inquiries? I'm just looking at the clerk's office. There is one. So, we're just going to get that up on the screen. Oh, councelor Lulof, if you're still hanging. Oh, there you are, buddy. You got the good mic. Go for it. All right. So, this is on behalf of uh of Councelor King. Uh the staff report from earlier today, which feels like maybe about a week ago, uh references an estimated cost of approximately 150 to 180,000 for sidewalks construction within the current integrated infrastructure contract compared to 500,000 to 700,000 for delivery as future standalone project. This variance has been presented as a material consideration in committee deliberations and warrants further clarification. Could staff please provide the following. One, the methodology assumptions and cost components used to develop both estimates and confirmation that the scope of work is equivalent in each scenario. The specific completed projects or comparable examples used to inform each estimate, including relevant details such as location, scope, and year of construction. Three, in cases where sidewalks have been deferred from integrated infrastructure projects and subsequently constructed as standalone projects, a comparison of the original estimated costs at the time of deferral versus the actual costs incurred upon delivery. And four, and last, please provide a written response within 60 days and circulated to all members of the public works infrastructure committee and members of council. Thank you. Great. Thank you for that inquiry. Uh so we have no other business. I'm looking around. Okay, good. So uh this will be adjournment. Our next meeting will take place Thursday, April 23rd, 2026. Thank you very much everybody for today's meeting. Thanks. Good job, Chair.

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