Great Near Campus Neighbourhoods Strategy – Draft Terms of Reference‏

City staff are looking for feedback on the draft Terms of Reference for the  Great Near Campus Neighbourhoods Strategy Review.  Unfortunately, they have a tight timeline for getting this proposal before a Committee of City Council.

The project will review current conditions in Near Campus Neighbourhoods such as ours, review the 2008 strategy and prepare a new strategy.

Please send comments to Justin Adema (contact information below) by April 10th.  Justin can also be contacted for more information.

Justin Adema, MPl, MCIP, RPP
Planner II, Long Range Planning and Research
Planning Services, City of London
P.O. Box 5035, 206 Dundas St, London, ON N6A 4L9
T: 519-661-2500 ext 4649 | F: 519-667-5397 | E: jadema@london.ca

 

London Transit Route Structure Review

A reminder that LTC is holding an open house at Goodwill on Horton Street on April 8th from 2 to 4 and from 6 to 8, to give you a chance to review the first draft of its proposed transit route changes for the next five years.

Proposed changes to the 31 Orchard Park bus changes are:

  • In 2015 it is proposed that Sunday service between 9 am and 7 pm running every 60 minutes be implemented on the route.

Other proposed changes for the route include:

2018:

  • Increase the weekday evening frequency (6 pm to 11 pm) from 60 minutes to 30 minutes
  • Introduce weekday service from 11 pm to midnight on a 60 minute frequency
  • Increase the Saturday frequency from 60 minutes to 30 minutes from 6 pm to 9 pm

At this point, the plan is for service to remain on Sarnia Road after 6 pm.
All of the recommendations are draft and are subject to change based upon feedback from the public.

If you can’t make the open house on April 8, you can provide comments directly to LTC’s manager of Planning Services, Katie Burns at 519-451-1340 ext 320 or by e-mail at kburns@londontransit.ca

Early Spring News

Happy Spring everyone. Spring has sprung with a bloom of public meetings.

Public Information Meeting for the Great Near Campus Neighbourhoods Strategy Review Draft Terms of Reference

The City of London will be hosting a Public Information Meeting to introduce and seek the public’s comments on its initial DRAFT Terms of Reference for a review of the Great Near Campus Neighbourhoods Strategy.

Date: Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Time: 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Location: 300 Dufferin Avenue, City Hall, 2nd Floor, Committee Room #3

Click here for more information.

Please contact Justin Adema at (519) 661-2500 ext. 4649, or email jadema@london.ca for further details about the Public Information Meeting or if you want to provide comments directly.

Notice of Public Information Centre #2 – Municipal Class Environmental Assessment – Western Road/Wharncliffe Road North Widening from Platts Lane to Oxford Street

The City of London is undertaking a Class Environmental Assessment (Class EA) to identify a strategy for the necessary transportation infrastructure requirements along Western Road and Wharncliffe Road North, from Platts Lane to Oxford Street.

The second Public Information Centre (PIC) is scheduled for Wednesday April 1, 2015 at Kinsmen Recreation Centre, 20 Granville Street from 5:00pm – 8:00pm.

This meeting will be an open house format with no formal presentation being made. Information presented will include design alternatives to address the preferred planning solution, an overview of the related advantages and disadvantages of each alternative, and the selection of the recommended design.

If you wish to obtain additional information about the study, be included on the study mailing list, or provide input, please contact Ted Koza, City of London, Tel: 519-661-2500 Ext. 5806, Email: tkoza@london.ca or Peter McAllister, AECOM Canada Ltd., Tel: 519-963-5865 Email: peter.mcallister@aecom.com

Additional information including the slides from the first public meeting in June  is available on the City of London website.

Meeting with London transit on its service review

The current bus routes and service review will identify improvements to the system. The LTC is inviting everyone to drop in sessions to hear about the proposed changes. The drop in sessions will be held at two times on April 8th. Both sessions will be at Goodwill Industries, 255 Horton Street East (just west of Wellington) from 2 to 4 pm and from 6 to 8 pm.

Community Mailboxes

Canada Post will have notified you by now if a Community Mailbox (CMB) will be located on the road allowance next to your house. There will be about 30 in the area, each containing about 30 boxes, given we have about 900 households in the area.

Canada Post advises if anyone has been notified because a site is going next to their property, you certainly still have a chance to voice a concern. You should call the customer contact centre as soon as possible and ask to speak to a supervisor regarding the site. Someone will get back to you. If you haven’t been contacted again after calling the centre, please contact Sandy Levin and he’ll pass along this information to the staff member who is in charge of this initiative. The call centre number is 1-844-454-3009.

Seniors and those with mobility difficulties can call the call centre number now to discuss Canada Post’s accommodation program. Seniors and persons with mobility issues in getting to the CMB will be able to speak to someone directly about your concern, and if you choose to, you can begin a request for accommodation.

Canada Post is not yet ready to send out location letters to everyone because its initial suggested locations are still under review as part of its process. Once the locations are finalized, Canada Post will let all affected residents know the CMB location by letter.

Western Road and Sarnia Road Improvements

This is another road project assessment that has started. Notices of public information meetings for this project will be posted at: http://www.london.ca/residents/Environment/EAs/Pages/Western-Road-and-Sarnia-Road-and-Philip-Aziz-Avenue.aspx

Sherwood Forest Branch Library Events

Celebrating Seniors, April 8 from 2 to 3 pm. There will be a presentation by the Canadian Hearing Society on “hearing Loss and Communication Issues.”

The Lego Creation Station is held the first Saturday of every month starting in May, from 2:30 to 3: 30 pm.

Have a say in keeping our neighbourhood strong

The City of London will be hosting a Public Information Meeting to introduce and seek the public’s comments on its initial DRAFT Terms of Reference for a review of the Great Near Campus Neighbourhoods Strategy.

The Great Near Campus Neighbourhoods Strategy was introduced in 2008.  City Council has directed City staff to develop the Terms of Reference, in consultation with community stakeholders, to undertake a review of the Strategy. The focus of this review is to identify next steps and actions to implement the Strategy, and to review the successes and challenges in the Near Campus Neighbourhoods.  We hope to maintain the balance in Orchard Park/Sherwood Forest.  Other neighbourhoods near the University, particularly Broughdale and University Heights, no longer have a balance between short term and long term residents.

Meeting details include:

Date: April 1st, 2015
Time: 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Location: 300 Dufferin Avenue, City Hall, 2nd Floor, Committee Room #3

You can find more information about the Great Near Campus Neighbourhoods Strategy at:
http://www.london.ca/business/Planning-Development/current-topics/Pages/GreatNearCampus.aspx

If you can’t make the meeting, comments on the Draft can be sent to the City Planner handling this file, Justin Adema, jadema@london.ca

Sherwood Forest School site update

City staff have provided us with an opportunity (with short turnaround time) to provide ideas for the Request for Proposals (RFP) that will be circulated to builders for the part of the school site that will be used for housing.

Your Executive and School Site Committee have the following DRAFT which will go to City staff at the end of this week (March 13). Your thoughts and ideas would be appreciated. We would also like your opinion on the highest priority criteria as it is unlikely the entire list will make it into the final city document.

Comments and thoughts can be emailed to Sandy Levin. If you would like a copy of the Neighbourhood Character Statement, please let Sandy know.

Continue reading “Sherwood Forest School site update” →