Community Centre Design Ideas
Are you interested in discussing ideas for a new Community Centre at Heron Park? For the past couple of months we have been tinkering with different interactive and participative design processes during the Wednesday Night Program to help generate ideas for a new Community Centre at Heron Park with people of all ages. We would like to continue to collect as many thoughts, suggestions, examples, needs and desires in attempt to build a collection of ideas that will reflect the neighbourhood’s character and identity.
For more information on how to get involved, please join us on Wednesday nights at the Field House. Or in the meantime, take a look at the new category in the left column on the website entitled, “New Community Centre Design,” for some recent examples of some of the collaborative work that has already begun.
InfoBits: Case Study Examples
Have you ever entered a Community Centre that you immediately admired? Have you ever experienced a building that you could just tell worked well for its community? What qualities make such commendable Community Centres? Could some of the ideas from these buildings be appropriate for Heron Park? Case Studies of other Community Centres are very useful tools for thinking about new designs; however, these examples can get buried in reports and documents where few people are able to see and discuss them. To address this issue, we have begun to make some small booklets to help illustrate how information from various Community Centres can be adapted both quickly and effectively. 
We encourage everyone in the community to post any examples, images, links, etc., they think might be useful. Online versions of these Case Study examples are found in the New Community Centre Design category in the left column. Hardcopy versions can be viewed at the Field House. We will continue to make more booklets as new examples are posted.
Heron Park Community Centre Design Survey via SurveyMonkey
The HPCA is conducting this survey of the Heron Park community to see and determine what size and type of Community Centre facility would be appropriate for the neighbourhood. Please follow the link below:
Survey Monkey is the world’s leading provider of web-based survey solutions, (it’s also free to use if you keep your survey under 10 questions!) This online survey will not take very long (about 5 min.), so if you have some time, please help us out by answering the following 9 questions as they will be very useful for documenting the need for a new community building. Make sure to add all your personal ideas and suggestions to the comments section at the end as this is potentially the most important part of the survey. Thank-you for your time!
BIG! Site Model
Just before the holidays, a large site model (4 x 8ft approx.) of Heron Park was created to help visualize different Community Centre layouts and styles. The idea of this model is to encourage everyone from the community to work on it by either:
1/ Creating their own models and designs,
2/ Adding comments and ideas with post-it notes,
3/Sketching and drawing options on the model,
OR/ designing in whatever way you would like.
Every Wednesday night a series of time-lapse photos are taken of this model with a digital camera to document the different design options proposed by members of the community.
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Heron Park Rink Hours (Winter 2012)
The Heron Park Outdoor Rink officially opens on Wednesday, January 11 at 5pm. Come join your neighbours in celebrating another season of skating and shinny. Free hot chocolate and hotdogs between 6 and 7 pm.
Please contact Colin MacLean at cmaclean_esl@yahoo.com if you would like to arrange a special function at the rink, or if you are interested in having a regular time-slot for skating or shinny.
Qualified Tutor Available In Heron Park
Nancy James (Retired Special Education teacher)
32 years teaching experience at the elementary, junior and intermediate level.
Available to tutor for homework and/or assignments. All ages accepted.
613-521-8223
Heron Park Wading Pool
Annika lays back and beats the heat!
Summer is upon us and the sweltering heat has made our Heron Park Wading Pool a huge draw for families with young children. Once again, the City of Ottawa has provided us with wonderful and caring and FUN staff to monitor pool users and provide plenty of diverting activities and crafts for area youth.
This summer our Park Supervisor is Mackenzie. Her capable colleagues and Park Programmers are Afrah, Kat, Deanna, and Liam.
In addition to ensuring the safety of all pool-enjoying-patrons, the staff in Heron Park organize a wide variety of physical activities, arts and crafts.
Closed on Saturdays! The pool schedule will change in August.
Community Design Plan – A Fit for Heron Park?
The City of Ottawa’s recent Open House on the community design plan for Bank Street between Billings Bridge and Heron can be accessed at the link below which goes directly to the information shared at that time. Please scroll down to the bottom of the page to click on links to the presentation materials. If you seek more information, please post a comment or question on this site and a response will be provided as time permits.
http://ottawa.ca/residents/public_consult/bank_cdp/open_house2_en.html
Breaking News: Pedestrian Bridge over Brookfield O-Train tracks!
The City of Ottawa’s Transit Commission approved moving forward on Thursday, June 16th to make major improvements to the existing O-Train line. 6 new trains are to be purchased, the existing 3 trains will be sold and the tracks will be doubled in the vicinity of Gladstone and Brookfield. This will improve service from the current 15 minutes to 8 minutes. Doubling the track at Brookfield includes a much desired pedestrian bridge over the tracks.
