2014 Green Waste Pickup Has Started In Peterborough

Place your green waste in reusable containers with labels, bushel baskets or paper yard waste bags. No plastic bags. You can pick up labels at City Hall, Peterborough GreenUP and local Home Hardware stores.

Securely tie brush in bundles up to 1 m or 3 feet in length and 30 cm or 12 inches in diameter, weighing no more than 22 kg or 50 lbs.

For more information, visit the City of Peterborough's Waste Management Services website.

[Contributed by PtboCanada's Evan Holt]

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A Look At Upcoming Parkway Meetings This Month

November looks to be a busy month for Parkway news...

On November 13th at 6:30 p.m., a special Committee of Whole meeting will be held at the Evinrude Centre (911 Monaghan Road) for a presentation of the Parkway Corridor Class Environmental Assessment.

The meeting is open to the public, however due to a Peterborough Procedure By-law the public is not allowed to speak.

But you will have your chance on November 20, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. when a special public City Council meeting will be held at the Evinrude Centre.

Parks Not Parkways: A Concert for Greenspace is on November 17th at Market Hall and features The Three Martinis, Rick Fines, Kirsten Addis and Al Black and the Tonemasters. It is a benefit concert for the Peterborough Greenspace Coalition, who are devoted to the protection of green spaces in our city. Tickets are $20.

There are two Change.org surveys that you can take part in to vote FOR or AGAINST the parkway.

More here in this video of Jackson Park. 

[Contributed by PtboCanada's Evan Holt]

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PTBOCanada Pics & Coverage: Peterborough Cycling Summit 2013

The Third Annual Peterborough Cycling Summit was held on Friday (October 25th) at the Holiday Inn and featured afternoon workshops to do with cycling both here in Peterborough and the Kawarthas, and stretching throughout the province. Although we couldn't attend all of the workshops, here is a look into a few of them...

Cycle Touring: The Kawarthas and Beyond

This workshop had three speakers...

Kieran Andrews:  “Cycle touring is way more than riding bikes. It’s about quiet roads, unique experiences and beautiful places. That’s what we’re all after.” While Kieran is quite content with just heading down an unknown road to see where it leads, it may not be your ideal decision when trying to plan a route with a limited time span. His main suggestion during his talk was to use MapMyRide.com as both a planning tool and a progress meter. Through the website, you can pick prospective cycling destinations (or find ones in your own area that others have recorded) to see both via map and elevation how challenging it may be, the road type (gravel, paved, etc.) and how much traffic it may see. 

Louisa Mursell: Projects Director with Transportations Options, which is a non-profit organization that has been around for 20 years that helps to further develop sustainable transportation. Lately they have been working on tourism initiatives including cycling. Amongst their programs are Bike Train (to increase bike options for cyclists in Ontario), and Park Bus (bus transit to Ontario Parks locations).

Through the Welcome Cyclists network, they have discovered that cyclists were not fully satisfied with lodgings in areas. You can visit the Welcome Cyclists website to help plan trips, and find accommodations that are bicycle friendly and provide secure bicycle lock-up area. The accommodation must have local cycling maps or websites to help with this information, as well as access to repair tools or be in close vicinity to a bicycle shop. Healthy food and free access to water is also key as well. Prospective businesses that would like to join just have to sign up online (for free) and attend a Welcome Cyclists seminar. There are currently 65 businesses in the Kawartha-Northumberland-Peterborough area (most are in Northumberland County). 

Susan Sauvé: Talked about touring through France by bicycle. She found the hospitality very good along with growing places that have public laundry and Wi-fi (although because of the differences in power outlets, sometimes it was tricky to charge your devices). Sue was pleasantly surprised to find so many bicycle trails and bicycle sharing programs throughout Paris. The three then fielded questions from the audience about cycling touring.

Selwyn Township: Our Trail moving forward, connecting you to better health

John McMullen let us know that that because of healthy lifestyles, and the effort to reduce greenhouse gasses, trails have become a major part of the Selywn township masterplan. The four main trails are the Lakefield Trail, the Bridgenorth Trail, the Ennismore Heritage Trail and the Trans-Canada Trail, but there are also many additional popular hiking trails. They have already had public consultations—through surveys and open houses—from which they learned that Bicycle lanes were one of the higher ranked things, followed by linking the areas together.

Displayed around the room were maps of each of the hamlets of Selwyn township. John asked everyone to put a sticker on the area in each hamlet where they would like to prioritize improvement. 

Peterborough: Setting the Course

Tegan Moss from the P-BAC (Peterborough Bicycle Advisory Committee) and Peter from Green-Up are trying to create a cycling culture here in Peterborough by providing input into both infrastructure and advocacy projects.

This workshop's focus was on "Complete Streets" which is the design infrastructure and maintenance necessary for all road users to enjoy using the road safely. Each table tackled projects that are slated for construction in Peterborough during the next five years that currently do not have a design. Using cardboard placeholders, the idea was to design the layout of streets such as Chemong, Ashburnham, George and Water to incorporate access for both vehicles, bicycles and parking alike. Each game board had markers to indicate scale so each street layout had to comply with real-world dimensions. Afterwards, photos were taken and the layouts will be submitted as possible designs.

Tour of Downtown

Attendees were welcomed to join a tour lead by Susan Sauvé and Urban Design Planner Brian Buchardt. They were treated to a short walk downtown to showcase elements of the current and future design downtown, such as our new footpath beside the train bridge.

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The evening's events were opened by Donald Fraser who thanked such a passionate and growing number of attendees for coming. A message from Jeff Leal (who was unable to attend) was read that mentioned that the Ontario government is aiming for a 2031 date to both recognize cycling as a core mode of transportation and a goal to make Ontario the Number one province for cycling in Canada. The Ontario Cycling Strategy which was just recently released promotes a healthy and active lifestyle, tourism strategy and health benefits. This strategy will roll out through action plans throughout the coming years, with the first kicking off next Spring.

Eleanor McMahon from Share the Road read a letter on behalf of Glen Murray, the Ontario Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure who gave a nod to P-BAC, The Peterborough-County City Health Unit and the Ontario Professional Planners Institute-Lakelands District for their hard work. He also echoed the hopes to make Ontario a lead cycling destination.

City Councillor Lesley Parnell spoke on behalf of the Mayor and Peterborough City Council. They are pleased to support cycling culture in Peterborough and proud to promote all the health benefits that cycling brings. Mayor Bennett is a believer in the “A bike friendly city is a livable city, and a liveable city is a bike friendly city.”

Sue Suavé: The City passed a new updated Compressive Transportation Plan in 2012 which has 183 KM of bikeways in the City alone. They have $500,000 a year to spend on capital to make projects happen such as on multi-use trails and on-road bike facilities. Right now we have 55 km of the network built (30%). Sue showed how over the years our cycling network has expanded. In addition to the trails, we also now have 156 new bike parking spaces within areas such as downtown and East City which brings the total to 629 downtown.

For a sneak peek into future projects, Sue let us know about such things as…

• Ashburnham drive, which is being reconstructed in 2015 and the City is looking to add what is known as a cycling track (a slightly elevated bike lane)
• The Parkway trail, which currently ends at the railroad tracks, will continue to Crawford drive next year
• They will complete the Trans-Canada Trail; this will continue on the South side of Maria street as a three meter paved trail
• George Street improvement project will include bike lanes in both directions
• Otonabee River Trail is currently under an environmental assessment, and hopes to be extended from Del-Crary Park right around to the Little Lake Cemetery (and one day will extend all around Little Lake)
• The bike lanes on Water and George street will be upgraded in 2014

Mayor Mary Smith from Selwyn Township and Chris Bradley from Director of Public Works for Peterborough County. Mary pointed out how many County Councillors were in attendance as they are committed to building trails and do the appropriate planning.

Chris Bradley: The Transportation Masterplan was recently completed which contained updated walking and cycling processes (which are different between the County and the City). Some of the improvements to come are shared road-lanes (which are already being constructed in Smith Township), paved shoulders, designated striped bike lanes, separated buffered bike off-road multi use trails, and a lot of active transportation planning still to come. Chris shared a sidenote: that when the Public Works Department Building on Armour Road was redesigned for use, showers were added for when people cycled or ran to work. Chris mentioned that they are trying to link the communities and are always trying to consider the needs and the potential for bike lanes (and walkability of the roads). Cycling lanes are suggested for the Gifford Causeway (which runs between Bridgenorth and Ennismore) and reconstruction on Ward Street which is slated to be widened. Input from last year's cycling summit has already gone into the new masterplan. One important area that Chris highlighted was Airport Road. They are just completing the final design now for reconnecting it and the project is moving forward.

 The keynote speaker was Dr. Karen Lee whose topic was "The Role of Design and Infrastructure in Addressing Cycling and Health". She talked about how history repeats itself with the infectious diseases of the 19th century and the chronic diseases of the 21st century. Through infrastructure changes, there was a decrease in infectious diseases, however something needs to be done for our current issues. Dr. Lee displayed a disheartening animation of Diabetes trends among U.S. adults from 1994 to 2009 which also equates to higher medical costs. This trend also applies to Canadians as we aren't getting enough exercise. It was suggested that we could again correct this through infrastructure changes to encourage active transportation and greater access to physical activity. Side benefits included a reduction of infrastructure costs and job creation. Our favourite slide had some Peterborough statistics that compared 1947 to now. While our  65+ population has slightly risen, Peterborough has less people per acre, has more employment in the Service Sector, and the percentage of City's Non-Food Retail Space in Downtown has actually dropped considerably. Be sure to view Dr. Karen Lee's presentation and also take note of New York's Fit-City initiative that has promoted healthy living through design.

You can view each presentation on the P-BAC website. 

[Contributed by PtboCanada's Evan Holt]

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Must Watch: The Tale Of Jackson Park & The Parkway Trail

Parks Not Parkways Campaign is trying to stop the building of a massive bridge and arterial road through two of the most beautiful greenspaces in Peterborough. Learn more about the campaign in this amazing aerial video footage of the park...

[via Parks Not Parkways] 

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Peterborough Participates In Park(ing) Day This Friday

Friday, September 20th, marks the annual worldwide PARK(ING) DAY. This is the day where cities and communities voluntarily transform parking spaces into park space for one day. This initiative is to help bring awareness for the need for more urban green space. On this day, Peterborough will be transforming a parking space on Sherbrooke Street near The Avant-Garden Shop into green space. With a little sod and some lawn furniture, a beautiful park space will be created. Check out the Facebook event for more details on Peterborough's involvement to help celebrate this great day. 

[Contributed by PtboCanada's Julie Morris]

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Chalk Talk: Mayor Daryl Bennett

PtboCanada's Chalk Talk is a snapshot of people's favourite thing about Peterborough. Watch for us around town as we would like to feature your favourite thing too! In this edition of Chalk Talk, Mayor Daryl Bennett was very enthusiastic about "The volunteer spirit of Peterborough!"

[Contributed by PtboCanada's Evan Holt]

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City To Begin Heritage Conservation District Study In The Avenues

 From a City of Peterborough release...

Based on the outcome of conversations with the community, the City has decided to undertake its first Heritage Conservation District Study in the area known as the Avenues.

Catherine Nasmith, a nationally recognized expert in heritage conservation districts was hired by the City to lead two public workshops on the value of conservation districts. The second session focused on discussions with residents in three areas, the Avenues, the Old West End and Dickson Mills, where residents had expressed a high level of interest in pursuing heritage designation.

All three neighbourhoods emerged as suitable areas for Council’s consideration and the Avenues will be the first area to be studied. Comments by residents of the Avenues almost unanimously supported heritage designation as a way to protect the parts of their neighbourhood they cherish. When asked what they would be sad to lose in the Avenues, responses included such things as the porches and verandahs, back lanes, mature trees and the area’s walkability.

“Peterborough is a city that has been nationally recognized for its leadership in heritage conservation, and a first Heritage Conservation District study is an important step in protecting and celebrating that heritage,” said Mayor Daryl Bennett.
The request for proposals from consulting firms experienced in completing conservation district studies has been issued and staff will be reviewing the submissions in early August. The study is scheduled to begin in September with the consultant’s recommendations going to Council in the spring of 2014.

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PTBOPics: OFAH's New Canadians Day Included Father & Son's First Fishing Experience

July 6th to 14th was Ontario Family Fishing Week, an annual opportunity for Canadian citizens to experience fishing without a license. In Peterborough, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters hosted a variety of events to mark the occasion, including a "Learn to Fish" workshop at Beavermead Campground and a special event for New Canadians Centre clients at the OFAH. Here's some pics...

OFAH staff talk to New Canadians Centre visitors about the different parts of an arrow during instruction on the Excalibur Archery Range.

A father and son embark on their first fishing experience together.

An OFAH staff member teaches a group of children about their catch before releasing it back into the pond.

MNR Conservation Officer Mike Duncan gave great fishing advice to New Canadians Centre clients at Saturday's event.

—By OFAH's Beth McCelland 

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Sign Of The Times? Scavenging From City Blue Boxes Has Reached All-Time High

From a city release today...

Scavenging from City blue boxes has reached an all-time high. In particular, unauthorized individuals are removing aluminum cans from blue boxes. Homeowners and scavengers should be aware that once material is set out to the boulevard, it becomes the property of the City.

To counteract scavenging, the City will more rigorously enforce section 594.2.9 of the Garbage Collection By-law which prohibits scavenging.

Revenue from the sale of aluminium that the City collects from blue boxes helps to keep our recycling programs affordable.  Homeowners are asked to hold their blue boxes until the morning of their collection and discourage unauthorized individuals from removing their contents.

Please contact the City’s Waste Management Davison at 705-742-7777 Ext. 1657 if you have any questions or concerns.

This information is also available on the City of Peterborough website at www.peterborough.ca.

 

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Learn How To Make Handmade Paper At Ecology Park

Have you ever been curious about how to make your own paper but just weren't sure how to go about it?   Well Peterborough GreenUP and Ecology Park are giving you that opportunity Sunday, June 30th, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The cost is $20 and you must pre-register by calling 705.745.3238.

[Contributed by PtboCanada's Julie Morris]

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