The Official Plan http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/planning/op/opa_en.html was approved by Ottawa Councillors and by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. A significant issue in Ottawa’s recent Official Plan process was whether or not to expand the urban boundary in order to permit more residential development in areas that are currently rural.
A safety study on the 174 conducted by the City of Ottawa found that 270 accidents took place between 2003 and 2007, including 5 fatalities, with the majority being rear-end collisions.
The average daily volume is close to 19,000 vehicles and the average operating speed ranges from 95 to 104 km per hour. We argue that since this road passes through a residential area, the current speeds are unsafe. Our priority is to ensure that Regional Road 174 is safe for all Cumberland residents; particularly those who live along the Ottawa River.
What’s next: A number of safety measures will be implemented in the next few years. A corridor-wide speed zone review has been promised for 2010.
In fall 2008, the City commenced a comprehensive review of the costs of delivering drinking water, and provide sewage and storm water treatment services to Ottawa residents. The goal was to examine how costs should be recovered to ensure sustainable service delivery over time.
The issue arose when an unusually wet spring and summer reduced residents’ use of municipal water, leading to a significant revenue shortfall for the city.
While rural residents on wells and septic systems do not receive water services from the city, there was a proposal to charge them for storm water service in order to fund extensive infrastructure repairs. Essentially, rural residents would be charged for the water that falls from the sky.
