Neighborhood Update – March 2013

MEDWAY MATTERS
On Thursday, March 7 at Orchard Park Public School at 7 pm, the city and its consultant will be presenting its work to date on the city’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for the Medway Creek. This review includes the entire portion of the Medway that is in the City of London.

This year, the City is conducting an update to the Conservation Master Plan for the Medway Valley Heritage Forest Environmentally Significant Area from south of Fanshawe to where it meets the Thames River. This will include a review of trails in the Valley. The proposed timeline is as follows.

A summary of the project and its objectives which was provided by the City is available here. This project will involve all communities that border the Medway, not just ours. Dates and locations of meetings will be on the city’s web site and the community web site and on Facebook. More information will be provided when available.

  • Project start – March 2013
  • Site Inventories – end March to end September 2013
  • Preliminary draft report – late October 2013
  • Public Information Meeting – one at the start of the process (March-April 2013) and one to present results of the study (November 2013)
  • Finalize Phase I report – December 1 2013

TREES
City Council retained money in the budget to replace trees cut due to the Emerald Ash Borer. The replanting of trees cut down this past fall should take place this year.

In addition to the replanting, anyone may request the City to have a tree planted on the City owned portion of your front lawn. The City will assess the site and if appropriate, will add you to their ongoing planting plan (even if you didn’t lose a tree to the ash borer). To make a request:

– visit www.milliontrees.ca
– click on “I Want A Tree” and then click on “Suggest Locations for New Trees”
– Complete the tree request form. Click to submit and then you are done.

You can also call the city at 519-661-5783

INVITATION
The Ratepayers are members of The Urban League of London, an umbrella group for neighbourhood organizations in the city. One of its roles is public education. On Wednesday, March 20, 2013 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM, you are invited to:

An Evening with Greg Levine, an Integrity Commissioner
London Public Library
Central Branch- Stevenson & Hunt Room
251 Dundas Street

Please go to http://urbanleagueoflondon-eorg.eventbrite.com/# for more information and to reserve a spot.

Medway Subwatershed Study

The city is updating its study of the Medway Creek as part of its climate change adaptation strategy.

There will be a public meeting held in the Orchard Park P.S. on March 7th from 7 pm to 9 pm. This meeting will provide an overview and discuss draft results to date.

If you cannot attend, you can contact the consulting firm doing the study for the city and request to be on its mailing list and for copies of display boards. The lead is Brian Huston at Dillon Consulting, bhuston@dillon.ca

Naming Orchard Park P. S.

As per its policy, the Thames Valley District School Board is soliciting opinions on whether or not to change the name of Orchard Park P.S. when Sherwood Forest P.S. closes.

The required form can be sent to k.aitken@tvdsb.on.ca

Please note the closing date for sukbmissions is February 22nd. Ms. Kelly Aitken, the person who is to receive the forms, has confirmed that a Word file with your responses will also be accepted.

Plan for Medway Valley

The city is near to concluding a plan for additional access in the Medway Valley north of Fanshawe Park Road. This matter will go before a committee of city council on April 9th at a public participation meeting. Anyone can speak at the meeting or write a letter to be included on the agenda. You can find the draft report of city staff at:

Click to access MedwayTrailProcess-Summary.pdf

Anyone is welcomed to review the report and submit comments to city staff. City staff have asked for comments to be received by February 21st. You can send them to Bonnie Bergsma, at bbergsma@london.ca

The trail planning process used for this section of the Medway will be used for our section of the Medway when the update to the Conservation Master Plan starts this year.

Coming in February

February 5th at city hall will have two matters of interest to Orchard Park/Sherwood Forest residents.

There will be a report from city staff on whether or not a local improvement levy is a way to finance a possible city acquisition of the Sherwood Forest School site.

The other matter will be on the Planning and Environment Committee agenda that day. It will deal with the possible use of a court ruling in Oshawa (called Howden) that could limit the number of homes turning into rental properties in London. It will be the first step in a city staff review of the matter. The London North Community Association has been leading this effort. LNCA received a legal opinion from a Toronto law firm that the Oshawa ruling does apply to London. They have also met with City staff to share the legal opinion.

LCNA held two town halls earlier in January to discuss this issue. Click here for the slides from those presentations.