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Transportation email to City councillors – AVTC recommendation to remove OOE North section

Tom Scott, 2025-April-1

—– Forwarded Message —–

From: TOM SCOTT <tscot9401@rogers.com>

To: Rawlson King <rideaurockcliffeward@ottawa.ca>; Ariel.Troster@ottawa.ca <ariel.troster@ottawa.ca>; Marty.Carr@ottawa.ca <marty.carr@ottawa.ca>; stephanie.plante@ottawa.ca <stephanie.plante@ottawa.ca>; Steve.Desroches@ottawa.ca <steve.desroches@ottawa.ca>; David Hill <david.hill@ottawa.ca>

Cc: Rawlson King <rawlson.king@ottawa.ca>; City Councillor for Capital Ward Shawn Menard <capitalward@ottawa.ca>; Jonathan McLeod <jonathan.mcleod@ottawa.ca>; Mark.Sutcliffe@ottawa.ca <mark.sutcliffe@ottawa.ca>; b.deachman@citizen.ca <b.deachman@citizen.ca>; Bruce Deachman <bdeachman@postmedia.com>

Sent: Tuesday, April 1, 2025 at 05:31:51 p.m. EDT

Subject: City of Ottawa staff recommendation: TMP Update for AVTC

Good evening Councillors,

You may have seen Councillor Menard’s notice to our communities of a change in approach by the TMP-Update staff preparing to brief the Transportation Committee regarding the Alta Vista Transportation Corridor (AVTC).

I just recently read the New Edinburgh community newspaper in which there was an article celebrating twenty-five years after their community association’s success in having removed the Vanier Parkway extension to the McDonald-Cartier Interprovincial Bridge – through New Edinburgh residential neighbourhoods, NCC parkland and RVCA flood plains – for the then-to-be-renewed Transportation Master Plan. 

The local newspaper article also noted how vital it had been to have had strong support from nearby community associations in Ottawa East and Vanier, even if not immediately and directly impacted, in obtaining Council support.

Now it is our turn.  Staff are about to recommend to Committee the deletion of the northern section of AVTC as a vehicular autoroute, remembering that this artifact of 1960’s planning was:

– one that would have required an additional bridge crossing of the Rideau River, 

– one that the head of Transportation, in the day, noted to our OOECA that it was a much older TMP-artifact item that had neither planning permission (EA and full design) nor funding approval: just on the map but not in the active plan, 

  • one that would have eliminated a key element of riverside greenspace in Old Ottawa East,
  • one that would have dumped more north-bound commuter traffic onto the Queensway/Nicholas interchange, now no longer accommodated by MTO’s latest rebuild of that overpass,
  • one whose design would have had to cross highly-contaminated lands that would have required extensive City, Provincial and RVCA environmental considerations, 
  • one where indigenous community consultation for a commuter expressway, across unceded and forcibly relinquished territory, appears to be absent, 
  • one that would have encouraged increased commuter (often single-user) traffic into an already congested City-core route.
  • one that is at odds with the new Ottawa Official Plan and TMP policy to NOT compete in parallel with the LRT, and finally, from your Council perspective, and 
  • one that is very strongly resisted by the locally-impacted residential communities, with a history going back twenty-five years and further, compared to New Edinburgh.

Nevertheless, that other sister community’s success with support from Councillors beyond its boundaries was notable, and was included in the New Edinburgh community newspaper article.  For that reason, we are reaching out to you for your support when this TMP adjustment comes forward to Committee, and then to Council, to sustain removal of the AVTC northern leg from the TMP Update. 

You should know that staff recommend keeping reserved as greenspace for the southern leg from the Hurdman Station complex down to Walkley Road, but with a longer-term possible extension along Conroy, should future growth pressure from our south-east neighbourhoods call for better public transit connections. 

We would very much appreciate your support for Councillor Menard when this motion reaches Committee and Council in the near future.

Cheers

Tom Scott

Old Ottawa East Community Association

Transportation and Infrastructure       

Alta Vista Transportation CorridorAVTC