Here are the results from the 3 student teams from the Fanshawe Cllege Urban Design Charrette who were focussed on the Sherwood Forest school site.
These will be presented to the community at large next Wednesday, March 21 at 7:00 pm, at the Church of the Transfiguration, 33 Bromleigh.
BRESCIA
As you may have noticed, Brescia will be starting the construction of its new residence and dining pavilion this spring. This will necessitate the removal of a number of mature trees from the north and south sides of Ramsay Road as well as the “courtyard” area between the Library and Ursuline Hall on the Brescia campus. Brescia has indicated that they plan to plant at least two trees for each one removed.
The parking lot will be moved to the southwest corner of Ramsay and Brescia Lane. To that end, Brescia has filed a revised application to amend the city’s Official Plan and zoning by law for its lands on the west side of Brescia Lane. The change is to permit a variety of uses at the corner from roughly the old Gunn House, north to Ramsay Road. The rest of the property, currently in a low density residential land use, will be changed to a Regional Facility use, but without a zoning change at this time. This clarifies that there are no current plans for developing the lands south to Sarnia Road. The details of the notice are included below.
A public participation meeting before the city’s Planning and Environment Committee will be held this spring at city hall. Information on the date and time will be posted when it is available.
SHERWOOD FOREST SCHOOL SITE
A group of ratepayers have been busy working on alternative uses for the school site. One set of options has been prepared by students at Fanshawe College. You can see these options presented to the community on March 21 at 7 pm at the Church of the Transfiguration, 33 Bromleigh.
An update to the community from the “school site group” of ratepayers will be at the upcoming annual general meeting. While a date has not yet been set, it is hoped to have this meeting around mid May this year. Stay tuned for details.
The city’s urban forester has advised us that there are ash trees on the school property. It is not known at this time when the Board will remove them or if they will be removed by a new owner.
WESTERN UNIVERSITY UPDATE
The university is undertaking a parking study. It has retained the firm, IBI Group, to do this work for them. The firm has been charged with looking at “everything,” according to staff quoted in the Western News. This includes lot types, designations and locations to alternative transportation options, traffic patterns and future needs.
Currently, the company is in the initial data-collection phase. Campus community involvement soon follows via surveys and focus groups over the next three or four months.
A final report is due in July. Those recommendations will be used to inform a parking master plan, which will be integrated into the campus master plan.
If you work on campus, please participate in the study.
MEDWAY VALLEY
There is no new information on when the Conservation Master Plan for the Valley will start. This will be managed by the City with most of the work done by consultants hired by the city. Unlike previous studies, this study will include the entire Valley within the city, including the section north of Fanshawe Park Road which was not included in previous work.
BRESCIA’s APPLICATION FOR A CHANGE IN LAND USE AND ZONING
Revised Notice – Southwest portion of 1285 Western Road on the lands immediately to the west of Brescia Lane, south of Ramsay Road. – The proposed amendment is to permit the relocation of the existing parking lot, currently located on the north side of Ramsay Road, to the subject site and to recognize the existing Physical Plant, Administration Offices, and ESL School Administration Offices as conforming land uses. Possible amendment to the Official Plan by amending Schedule A – Land Use – FROM Low Density Residential TO Regional Facility on the subject lands. Possible amendment to the Zoning By-law Z.-1 FROM a Residential R1 (R1-10) Zone which permits one Single Detached dwelling TO a Regional Facility Special Provision (RF(_)) Zone on only the northern portion of the subject lands to permit the following uses: Adult secondary schools; Churches; Commercial parking structures and/or lots; Commercial schools; Community colleges; Day care centres; Elementary schools; Emergency care establishments; Hospitals; Institutional uses; Libraries; Nursing homes; Private schools; Recreational buildings; Secondary schools; Ancillary residential and/or hostels and accommodations, together with permitted uses in this zone; and Universities with a minimum west interior side yard depth of 6.0m. Please note: The revised amendment is intended to reduce the land area that is subject to the Zoning By-law amendment and to revise the list of uses requested for the area of land intended to be rezoned.
File: OZ-7955 Planner: M. Tomazincic (Dundas)
Thank you to everyone who participated in the workshop on the Sherwood Forest school site. While the number of participants was small, the ideas were big. Hearing the perspective of the community and sharing ideas was a valuable experience to the students.
The discussion questions focused on:
1. What characteristics show the strengths and opportunities for the site?
2. What characteristics show the challenges and constraints for the site?
3. What vision and ideas for future land use or redevelopment can you imagine?
The questions from the meeting are available here. You can still provide comments for the students up until the end of the day on February 15.
If you have comments, please send them to either Sandy Levin, president, Orchard Park/Sherwood Forest Ratepayers at s.levin@sympatico.ca or Professor William Pol at wpol@fanshawec.ca
Workshop for Sherwood Forest Public School site
Thursday, February 9, 2012, 7 pm
Location: Canada Games Aquatic Centre, main floor meeting room
Fanshawe College students and faculty from the GIS and Urban Planning and Landscape Design Programs will be conducting a Design Charrette for the Sherwood Forest Public School site. We hope this process will influence any future development of the site. Having a charrette was overwhelmingly supported at the community meeting in November.
Design charrettes create and evaluate preferred future forms of development. Students receive input and ideas from the community and prepare urban design and landscape drawings/reports of the site, showing possibilities for buildings, landscaping, and parking using leading edge ideas for development and sustainability.
You are invited to a workshop to be held on Thursday, February 9, 2012 beginning at 7 p.m. at the Canada Games Aquatic Centre, main floor meeting room. You are invited to share ideas and comments on the site: strengths and opportunities; challenges and constraints; vision for lands, buildings, and landscaping; form and type of land use.
The workshop should last approximately one and a half hours. The meeting will include a welcome and introduction; discussion tables of 8 – 10 people; note taking by a recorder; and shared feedback to the entire workshop. A summary of comments and ideas will be prepared and given to the students.
After the student projects are created and evaluated, the students and faculty will give a presentation of the best ideas on Wednesday, March 21 at 7 pm at the Church of the Transfiguration, 33 Bromleigh Ave.
If you have any questions or comments please contact: Sandy Levin, president, Orchard Park/Sherwood Forest Ratepayers at s.levin@sympatico.ca or 519-472-9576 or Professor William Pol wpol@fanshawec.ca
MORE ON THE SHERWOOD FOREST SCHOOL SITE
A small group of residents continues to meet to discuss the various options for the site as shared with the community at the neighbourhood meeting in November. If you would like to participate, please contact Sandy. The May Annual General Meeting is the target date for a full update to the community.
ORCHARD PARK PUBLIC SCHOOL BOUNDARY REVIEW
The school board`s senior administration has recommended to the Board that the school boundaries, effective September 2013, expand to incorporate the current Sherwood Forest P.S. attendance area. No additional new areas were proposed in the staff recommendation. There will be a debate on the question at the Board`s meeting on February 7 starting around 7:15 pm. The meeting agenda is posted the day before the meeting at: http://www.tvdsb.ca/board.cfm?subpage=113288 which will give you a better idea of when in the meeting the boundary review will be discussed.
Orchard Park / Sherwood Forest Neighborhood Association 