Dear Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour,
1) Great ON THE WALL public art spin-offs – One deadline, Fri, Oct 27!
2) Community Benefit Guidelines: Updates & Next Steps – Thurs, Nov 2
3) Seventh Generation Coalition Clean up of Belle Island Nov 4 – noon – 5 pm
4) Neighbourhood Residents’ Get Together – Nov 5
5) New Inner Harbour Community Gardens
6) City’s New Public Engagement Framework
7) Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour AGM – Thurs, Nov 23. All Welcome!
8) Turtles hatching NOW! See pic at end
1) Great ON THE WALL public art spin-offs!
a) ON THE WALL Facebook page Call for Artists.
Friday Oct 27 deadline!
WALL FOR THE NEW SPEARHEAD BREWERY in the west end.
b) Kingston Mills possibility?
Recently, local resident, Lloyd Wilson, called to see of any of the ON THE WALL artists might be interested in painting on the retaining wall at Kingston Mills. They have tagging problems there. I have been in contact with Parks Canada and also with Energy Ottawa, the engineering firm in charge of the wall. I have also been in touch with Taylor Norris and Colin Wiginton in the city’s Cultural department to see if this could be done as part of the City’s Public Art Policy? Would be great! This initiative probably won’t happen until the spring given the bureaucratic approvals necessary but both Parks Canada and Energy Ottawa are on board with the idea. Really wonderful!
c) Brian and Vicki’s OFF THE WALL. These great community-minded west-end residents, had a hugely successful day Saturday, Oct, 21 when ON THE WALL artists painted 4×4 sheets of plywood with an Indigenous theme. Wonderful that Indigenous artists (Yessi, Frannie and Sierra) worked alongside non-Indigenous artists (Aaron, Emily and Harley) in the spirit of Truth and Reconciliation.
2) Community Benefit Guidelines: Updates & Next Steps – Thurs, Nov 2
For those of you interested in how the city bargains when developers want more storeys:
What: In July and August the city conducted a Public Open House and several workshops to gain feedback on a draft set of “Community Benefit Guidelines” which are intended to guide future processes for securing community benefits in a fair, clear, transparent and predictable manner. Community benefits are applied to large, supportable planning applications that seek an increase to height and/or density beyond what is currently permitted in the zoning bylaw. The draft set of Community Benefit Guidelines are available on the City’s website as well as summaries of the “What We’ve Heard” at https://www.cityofkingston.
Under Section 37 of the Planning Act, the City may allow increased height and/or density on a site in exchange for facilities, services or matters that will benefit the community. To take advantage of Section 37 of the Act, municipalities must have enabling policies in their Official Plan. The City’s Official Plan contains these policies in Section 9 Administration & Implementation (see sections 9.5.25 to 9.5.30).
If you would like to provide written comments on either of the documents, please email communitybenefitguidelin
Following the upcoming meeting on Nov 2, staff will modify the draft Community Benefit Guidelines with the goal of receiving Council’s endorsement of the Guidelines. This will then be followed by an Official Plan amendment(s) which will recognize the guidelines and key components associated with the City of Kingston’s approach to community benefit negotiations.
At this time, planning staff are advancing an information report highlighting the key factors to be considered in the negotiation of community benefits. These factors will ultimately be framed within the Community Benefit Guidelines. Comments encouraged to help inform changes.
What: Staff will report to Planning Committee during this non-statutory public meeting.
Opportunities will be available for the public to offer comments.
When: Thurs, Nov 2, 2017 at 6:30pm.
Where: Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, 53 Yonge Street.
More Info? Greg Newman – gnewman@cityofkingston.ca
3) Seventh Generation Coalition Clean up of Belle Island
What: In the spirit of Truth and Reconciliation, come and help clean-up this sacred ground.
Who: All welcome!
When: Sat, Nov 4, noon – 5 pm
More info? Facebook page Seventh Generation Coalition
4) Neighbourhood Residents’ Get Together – Nov 5
What: You are invited to come hear what these three groups are doing and help them think of next steps to sustain their efforts. This is an experiment to build connections between community efforts, and stay ahead of the North King’s Town Secondary Plan so that local residents know one another better and can share ideas about what is best for the neighbourhood.
Who: Organized by Calvary United Church, the Limestone Solidarity Network, and Wellingtonx.
Where: Calvary United Church, Charles and Bagot,
When: Nov 5: 3-5 pm
5) New Inner Harbour Community Gardens
This wonderful initiative has involved building four gardens in the local area.
There are now a total of 38 in the Kingston Community Gardens Network – all convened by Loving Spoonful! Such a great initiative.
a) Friendship Park Community Garden, Carlisle St & Chestnut St.
(and the three in the Inner Harbour Community Garden Collaborative:)
b) Salvation Army, 342 Patrick St.
c) Town Homes Kingston, 610 Montreal St.
d) John Howard Society, 771 Montreal St.
Community gardens make neighbourhoods more vibrant, create shared gathering spaces, bring people together around food, increase health outcomes, decrease social isolation, and are an entry point for improved food access and food skills. Of the four new gardens, #a has 9 individual 4×4 plots available for rent ($20/year) in the recently redone Friendship Park and #b,c,d are collectively cultivated at social service agencies, where everyone is welcome to work together to grow, harvest, and enjoy the produce. The construction of these gardens was made possible with support from the City of Kingston, the Community Foundation for Kingston & Area, Union Gas, and the Rotary Club of Kingston.
More info? Lilith Wyatt, Community Gardens Network Coordinator, 559 Bagot St., 613-507-8848, gardens@loving spoonful.org, www.kingstoncommunitygardens.
6) The City’s New Public Engagement Framework.
For those of you interested in how you can be involved in promoting what you think is best.
Council has now approved the City’s Public Engagement Framework which will guide when and how the City engages residents on City efforts – and its accompanying Charter, which outlines the City’s commitment to engagement. The City has introduced its new online engagement platform at www.CityofKingston.ca/
It presents engagement information in a consistent way and offers a variety of online input tools that allow residents to engage when, where and how they would like on City efforts that affect their quality-of-life. You need to register to participate and provide input, but everyone can view the projects and comments. Sign up before November 6 to be entered into a draw.
Go to www.CityofKingston.ca/
More info? Debbi Miller – dmiller@cityofkingston.ca
7) Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour AGM – Thurs, Nov 23 evening- 6:30 pm.
Frontenac Village Condo. All Welcome! Set aside the date. More info anon…
8) Turtles Hatching NOW
Several reportings of baby hatchlings have been received. Perhaps partly because of all of this warm weather? Recently two seen on the path north of River St. and one seen on the sidewalk at Minotaur! Finder suspected someone had picked it up and put it in their pocket and then it fell out.
PLEASE KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN. Do get back to us (inverarymary@yahoo.com) if you see any.
See pic below by Martine Bresson of a hatchling she found and helped it get to the water in Douglas R. Fluhrer Park just yesterday.
Also have a look at this fascinating and scary piece sent to us by Doug Archibald. Thanks Doug.
https://theconversation.com/
Once again, thanks so much for being on the list and for reading this lengthy update.
Cheers,
Mary Farrar,
President, Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour