Westboro Beach Community Association

The National Capital Commission is currently in the process of reviewing its Greenbelt Master Plan and Urban Lands Master Plan, which guides the way the Greenbelt and the Greenspace in the region is used, managed and protected.

With the Selby plains, Westboro beach, bike paths and greenspace along the Ottawa river and various parks and pathways, the Westboro beach community offers our residents, the city and visitors to the National Capital region a unique experience.

The WBCA is reinvigorating its Greenspace Working Committee to work with the NCC and the city of Ottawa in maintaining and preserving our local greenspace and in setting a clear vision for its use, now and in the future.

We are looking for new members to join our group.  We will have a short presentation at the upcoming general meeting this April and welcome all those interested to come out.  If interested please send an email on our website.  More info on the general meeting will be coming soon.

Date/time – Saturday May 23rd at 10:00 a.m.

Rain date/time – Sunday May 24th at 10:00 a.m.

This clean-up kicks off the 2009 WBCA community events calendar   In the past we have focused on the beach and riverfront, but this year we would like to expand this activity to cover the entire community.  How can you help?  Just show up and pick up trash.  The WBCA will supply garbage bags and small boxes for glass.  We are providing small boxes so that bottles and broken glass are recycled and do not end up in the garbage.  All you need to provide are sets of willing hands and gloves to protect those willing hands from the trash.

This year we are setting up three collection stations (see attached map).  The collection stations are located at Westboro Beach, the CBC pathway, and the park near Remic Avenue.  You can go to the collect station closest to your home and pick up a garbage bag and/or box.  We have scouted the area and noted areas that require special attention.  They will be marked on maps at each collection station.  You can select an area that appeals to you and away you go.  If you are aware of any problem areas that we missed, please let us know and we will add them to the list.  Once you have finished cleaning up your area simply drop off the trash at one of the collection stations and we will arrange to have the garbage disposed of and the glass recycled.

We look forward to seeing you at this event.

The refurbished Roy Duncan Park will have a community garden, run by members of the community, where neighbours can meet and work together to care for the garden. In addition to helping with food security and nutrition, residents of Van Lang are interested in having container planting on their balcony. A workshop on successful container gardening is being planned and is open to everyone interested. And it’s FREE! The workshop will be held on:

Monday March 23, 2009
9:30 to 11:00 a.m.
All Saints Anglican Westboro
(entrance on Madison)

The Westboro Beach Community Association (WBCA) is starting work on
Community Design Guidelines (CDG). The CDG will evolve over the next several
months by actively seeking input from neighbourhood residents. The intent of the
CDG is to allow neighbourhood residents to formally indicate what constitute desirable and appropriate changes to the neighbourhood to keep and enhance the characteristics that make it such a desirable place to live. It further refines at the neighbourhoodlevel what is included in the Richmond Road/Westboro Community Design Plan.

Read more…

Last June, seventeen young trees were planted along the beach using funding from the city’s Community Tree Planting Program. Many volunteers diligently watered these trees throughout the summer by carrying countless pails of water from the river. Thank you volunteers for keeping the trees healthy!

Two of the trees were relocated in early November to avoid potential interference with tobogganing runs. Paul Smith, a landscaper in our community, kindly provided his expertise and equipment to assist with the relocations.

Another season of regular watering is recommended for the trees so we hope to see our volunteers again this Spring.

Ground Breaking

Work on Roy Duncan Park has started with a grand opening planned for the summer of 2009. Located at the entrance to Westboro Beach at the corner of Churchill and Workman, the park will undergo a number of improvements  over the next three years.

The project is  a joint effort of the City of Ottawa, the Westboro Beach Community Association, the Dovercourt Recreation Centre, the Carlington Community Health Centre and a number of representatives from  residents groups  in the community . The changes to the park will mean more greenspace that can be enjoyed by everyone in Westboro Beach.

Read more…

The Westboro Beach Community Association was successful in obtaining $8500 from the city’s Community Tree Planting Program to plant 17 new trees at Westboro Beach. The trees were planted on June 16th near the patio and along the outer edges of the beach.

Over 20 individuals and families from the community volunteered to take responsibility for watering each tree every week until Thanksgiving. Although rainy days helped out this summer, in theory more than 40 000 litres of water were carried by pail from the river across the beach to the trees this season. Thanks to all those volunteers for their commitment and for the resulting healthy trees.

The placement of a couple of the new trees could interfere with winter tobogganing runs on each side of the slope towards the beach. Later this fall, when it is appropriate to transplant these trees, volunteer labour will be organized to relocate them under the supervision of a tree expert.

Westboro Beach received a lot of attention this summer because of the number of days that the beach was closed for swimming. Out of a season of 65 days, the beach was posted with a no-swimming advisory for 23 days. 14 of these postings were the result of elevated E. coli levels and 9 of the postings were caused by the ‘rain rule’…in other words, after heavy rains it is assumed that storm water runoff will cause pollution at the beach.

A report prepared by Baird Associates on the Bacterial Assessment at Westboro Beach was made available this past Spring (and can be viewed on our website). The findings of the report are somewhat inconclusive, but they do confirm that storm sewer discharges from outfalls upstream of Westboro Beach are key contributors to the bacterial contamination at the beach during wet weather.

Alternatives to mitigate the issues at Westboro Beach are presented in the report and fundamentally the WBCA supports a stormwater detention alternative. I’ve been involved with Don Paskovich and John Almstedt in reviewing the report findings with Baird Associates and city representatives. An objective of our community association is to make sure that Westboro Beach continues to receive attention when it comes to funding for storm water infrastructure improvements.

Westboro Outfall Drainage Area provided by the City of Ottawa Water Environment Protection Program.

Google Map overlay of Westboro Outfalls Drainage Area