On May 25^th, 2025 we held our Annual General Meeting at the Plant Recreation Centre. This year’s meeting featured a full agenda which included topics ranging from the disconcerting (umm, don’t ask what’s under Nepean Bay) to the existential (where exactly is the Dalhousie in Dalhousie Community Association?). If there is one thing we can say for certain, it is that everyone who attended now knows at least one more fun fact about the area.

Approximately 45 members attended the meeting, along with representatives from each level of government, City Councillor Ariel Troster, MPP Catherine McKenney and MP Yasir Naqvi, who each provided an update on their activities and priorities.

This year’s keynote speaker was Dave Allston, local historian and trash talker who presented “The Shoreline at LeBreton Flats: Built From Garbage!” A previously published version of this talk is available in the Kitchissippi Times, and you can find more of Dave’s work on his blog The Kitchissippi Museum.

In the President’s report, DCA President Catherine Boucher outlined the major accomplishments of each committee over the past year. If you’re reading this and want to get involved, check out the Committees tab at the top of this page. To be put in touch with each committee, please contact president@ottawadalhousie.ca.

Members of the board of directors sit for alternating two year terms. seven board members whose term had expired returned for another term and one board vacancy was acclaimed. Members of the board are: Charles Akben-Marchand, Debbie Barton, Catherine Boucher, Archie Campbell, Ida Henderson, Nick Lepine, Ed McKenna, Jenna Moore, Zsofia Orosz, Lory Picheca, Michael Powell, Sally Rutherford, David Seaborn, Ryan Turley, and Amy Wong.

During AGM business items a discussion was brought forward on a potential name change and the board will take this back for further consideration. After the AGM business had concluded, we met for a walkabout on the 1010 Somerset site to discuss the proposed development plan for the area. Information on the plan is available on Engage Ottawa.

Thanks to all who have volunteered their time in the community over the past year, and to everyone who attended this year’s meeting. 

Early this past summer, Laura Mueller, Chief of Development Implementation for the National Capital Commission, attended the DCA’s regular monthly meeting in June and provided an update on the “Building LeBreton” project and the NCC’s application to the city for approval of the project’s draft Plan of Subdivision.

In September, we learned that the National Capital Commission has reached an agreement in principle to sell a large parcel of land on LeBreton Flats to Capital Sports Development Inc., for the construction of a new arena for the Ottawa Senators.

We’re posting Laura’s interesting presentation on our website in anticipation of public consultations in the months ahead, to review and comment on the NCC’s plans for LeBreton Flats.

Our thanks to Laura for providing the update in June, and for making her presentation available to all Dalhousie residents.

Saturday, September 28 was a beautiful day for the Sweet Willow Garden with about 40 neighbourhood volunteers joining us to help construct and fill 20 large steel beds.

The steel beds came in four pieces, so we needed to move each to its designated location,
assemble it, and bolt the pieces together. Folks jumped into the task and got creative
crouching, bending and tucking themselves inside the beds to attach them and strengthen
them with steel rods.

Volunteers also learned about hugelkultur and how to fill each bed with logs, branches, twigs,
leaf mulch and a layer of topsoil to fill the top 5 inches in each bed.

After a long day, a few small tasks remain, including constructing four smaller beds and
installing a garden sign. But thanks to the community effort, we are well on our way to re-
opening the garden for the 2025 gardening season!

Interested in getting involved? Contact the garden at
sweetwillowcommunitygarden31@gmail.com

Rochester Street’s Sweet Willow Garden will be back in action in spring 2025 thanks to funding from Just Food and the hard work of the DCA’s Public Realm Committee.

31 Rochester Street was the home of the Sweet Willow Garden for approximately two decades, where it sat atop a CMHC demonstration underground heating plant built in the early 1980s. The garden beds were removed when the heating plant was decommissioned in 2018 and the land has been fallow ever since.

Volunteers have been working behind the scenes to prepare the garden. Here’s what we’ve been up to:

• Consulting with Just Food on the best organization of the space. We’ve planned for 24 raised galvanized steel beds.
• Grading the site and covering it with wood chips
• Installing a shed in the back of the garden on a levelled foundation of gravel, sand and patio stones
• Preparing the beds according to the hügelkultur method: a centuries-old sustainable way of building a garden. Find more about hügelkultur here: https://www.almanac.com/what-hugelkultur-ultimate-raised-bed
• Organizing water access to the site (water will be provided from the building south of the garden with a new hose and two rain barrels utilizing the downspout from the adjacent building).

Join us!

Creating a successful community garden takes community effort! Volunteers with a variety of skills are needed:

• Construction and assembly
• Collecting materials for the hügelkultur beds
• graphic design for flyers and signage
• Communications and outreach
• Coordination once the garden is up and running

We’re hosting a community build day on September 28 at 9 am! Help us build and fill the garden beds.
To participate, please contact sweetwillowcommunitygarden31@gmail.com. Rain date: September 29.

The City of Ottawa has posted its “final” concept plan for 1010 Somerset Street – the area west of the Plant Recreation Centre and Plouffe Park border extending to the pathway next to the O-Train (LRT) tracks:

https://engage.ottawa.ca/1010-somerset

Plouffe Park has been preserved and space in the 1010 development site has been allocated for a much-needed new school site for the Louise-Arbour French public elementary school community, new parkland, a new recreation centre and multiple new residential buildings.

The amount of new parkland seems to be 55% the amount previously promised (see the Corso Italia Secondary Plan, p. 127) and there are ways the quality and safety of the parkland could be improved. Parkland in Somerset Ward is 0.54 Ha/1000 persons. In the local neighbourhood (Dalhousie) it is even less. The City aspires to 2.0 Ha/1000. About 14,000 additional residents are expected to be housed in the nearby area (Corso Italia) in the next decade, ten times the current population. Having sufficient parkland is essential to community health and well-being.

Have your say

As the timeline for engagement on this concept plan is expected to be very short, now is the time to share your views with the City on this plan and describe the changes you would like to see to make this development better for our community.

There is no survey with this round of engagement; instead you can share your views at the virtual consultation, through the Engage Ottawa site and by writing to city councillors and the mayor of Ottawa. Earlier rounds of comments from the public have already resulted in improvements to the plan – this is another opportunity to suggest how we can make the site better for all and also share your ideas about how to make the new parkland and the new recreational centre the best they can be for our community.

Here are some questions you may want to consider in sharing your views on how to make 1010 Somerset a better site for everyone:

1. CAN WE FIT MORE PARKLAND INTO THE SITE?

The community was promised much more parkland on this site than the current concept plan provides. With greenspace already very low compared to other Ottawa neighbourhoods and thousands of new residents expected nearby in the coming years, it’s essential to have as much parkland on this site as possible for the health and wellbeing of our neighbours. 

If you agree, ask the City to consider:

• Finding another location for the district heating plant, not on parkland
• Reducing the land for a “future residential site” by changing the southern edge to parkland 
• Saving all of Plouffe Park: with the current plan, it appears the western edge of Plouffe including trees will be lost to provide a lane for school buses, reducing the park by about 20%.
  • Use Oak Street which would also be safer for children moving from the school to Plouffe Park
  • If only absolutely necessary as a fire lane, move the southern section of the lane to the west and at the top of the hill.

1. CAN WE MAKE THE PARKLAND BETTER FOR THE COMMUNITY?

Earlier plans for this site had continuous green space from Preston west to the pathway near the O-train tracks. The current plan chops up the green space and cuts off much of it visually from Somerset and Preston streets with only narrow paths for access. Ample green corridors from Somerset and Preston would improve access and visibility, making the parkland safer and more inviting for community use. Refinements to the concept plan could make the parkland and the overall site much better.

If you agree, ask the City to consider:

• Improving the connections between Plouffe Park and the new parkland with wider green corridors to improve access, visibility and safety and the quality of the parkland (including sufficient space for trees and plants).
• Improving the usability of Plouffe Park (including keeping the grass growing all season) which is expected to be used by hundreds more children once the school is operating. 
• Extending parkland north to Somerset in place of the mid-rise building site to create clear access and visibility from this street (move this building to the future residential block).
• Reducing hardscaping in favour of permeable surfaces, consistent with broader efforts to better manage heavy rainfalls and reduce flooding.
• Providing pathways that safely accommodate both foot and bicycle traffic.
• Reducing vehicle lanes to the absolute minimum, while still providing access to emergency vehicles, including using Oak Street for school buses.

What we’ve been doing

Members of the P4X have written the following letters to Councillors and City staff. Check them out below and read more about how we can make this development work for everyone in our neighbourhood.

Unintended consequences ltr to 1010Download

Response to Plan May 20, 2024- Cheryl ParrottDownload

Parkland less than 1Ha ltr to 1010Download

Design for Future Failure ed. 17Download

On May 25 we held our Annual General Meeting at the Plant Recreation Centre, which brought together approximately 40 members and ten guests to celebrate our 40 years as an association and reflect on how our neighbourhood has changed since the DCA was first formed by a group of neighbours in 1984. 

Catherine Boucher, current president, kicked off the meeting with a warm welcome and a review of the agenda. We then jumped into a 40th anniversary panel featuring past DCA presidents Carol Paschal, Archie Campbell, David Seaborn, Peter Childs, Martha Musgrove (via a letter) and Michael Powell shared their favourite memories of the association’s history, achievements, and challenges.

In the President’s report, Catherine Boucher highlighted the past year’s accomplishments, from successful community events like the Halloween party at Plouffe Park and Mother’s Day tree distribution, to the significant victory of the campaign to save Plouffe Park. 

Members of the board of directors sit for alternating two year terms. This year the seven board members whose terms had expired were acclaimed for another term. Members of the board are: Charles Akben-Marchand, Debbie Barton, Catherine Boucher, Archie Campbell, Ida Henderson, Imran Kaderdina, Ed McKenna, Jenna Moore, Zsophia Orosz, Lory Picheca, Michael Powell, Sally Rutherford, David Seaborn, Ryan Turley and Amy Wong.

After the business of the AGM attendees enjoyed a celebratory cake baked by a neighbour and a second panel discussion featuring local councillors Ariel Troster, Laine Johnson, and Jeff Leiper. The councillors shared insights on the role of community associations amid changing provincial legislation, followed by a lively Q&A session.

The meeting concluded at 5:30 PM, marking another successful year for the Dalhousie Community Association.

Interested in getting involved? Email president@ottawadalhousie.ca

This year’s Annual General Meeting was held on May 14 at Plant Recreation Centre. To kick off our meeting we invited three experts to ask them three important questions:

How tall is tall? How affordable is affordable? How green is green?

Our panel was moderated by Catherine McKenney, Councillor for Somerset Ward and consisted of Toon Dreesen, President Architects DCA; Angela Keller-Herzog, Executive Director, Community Associations for Environmental Sustainability, and Sarah Button, Executive Director, Centertown Citizens Ottawa Corporation.

Toon Dreesen – How tall is tall?

Sarah Button – How affordable is affordable?

Angela Keller-Herzog – How green is green?