The Montgomery Place Community Association (MPCA) met on June 9, 2015, the last meeting before the summer recess. Later in June, the second LAP traffic meeting was held and Barb Biddle toured federal heritage representatives around our community.
Vandalism – Montgomery School experienced serious vandalism July 5 when Molotov cocktails were thrown at the school. Senseless destruction like this hurts our entire community.
Heritage Designation – MPCA President Barb Biddle toured members of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board around Montgomery Place on June 10, 2015 to acquaint board members with the community. Hopefully our request for heritage designation will survive the lengthy nomination process and be granted approval by the federal minister-in-charge. In June the City of Saskatoon resolved to support our application.
Local Area Plan (LAP) Launch – The first Montgomery Place LAP meeting was held on May 28, 2015. The second LAP meeting on June 10, 2015 concentrated on two issues: traffic in the community and the 11th St. corridor. More info.
Civic Operations Centre (COC) – An open house on June 4, 2015 to share information about the new COC currently under construction on Valley Rd. was not well-attended. On 180 acres of land across from the Landfill and south of the CN Chappell Yards, the City is building a facility to house City Transit, a snow dump and potentially the City Yards.
South Berm – Probably the most important part of the COC discussion for residents is the plan to build an earth berm north of the rail yards along the present Burma Rd. MP residents want the berm high and wide to cut the noise and pollution from the Chappell Yards, from the COC and from the traffic on Circle Drive South. Pat Lorje is pursing our community’s case. Work began this summer to take down the trees that stand in the way of the berm.
East Berm – Montgomery Place residents need an earth berm along the eastern perimeter of the community to buffer the noise and pollution from Circle Drive South and the increasingly frequent and longer trains. The low fence constructed along Dundonald Ave. may prevent us from seeing outwards, but it does nothing to muffle the noise from trains and traffic. Backyards in east Montgomery are often too noisy to enjoy, as conversations cannot be heard over the roar of trains and traffic. This will definitely be made clear throughout the LAP process.
St. Barbe Baker Forest – Thank you to the volunteers who worked hard to clean up the forest area south of Montgomery Place. A motion was passed at the June 2015 meeting that the MPCA support sustaining the St. Barbe Baker Forest as an urban forest of significance.
11th Street Development – Westbow Construction and North Ridge Development continue to make progress on the townhomes being constructed north of the 3200 block 11th St. West. Although drainage on 11th St. differs from Montgomery Place where surface drainage exists, developers are watching for drainage issues.
Ditches, Culverts and Drainage – Montgomery Place has surface drainage for storm and meltwater. Our community does not have storm sewers. This means each homeowner’s ditch and culvert is important to drainage for the whole community.
Summer Roadwork – Repair and resurfacing are scheduled on parts of Cassino Ave., Mountbatten St. and Ortona St. Culvert installation and ditch sculpting may be part of the work.
MPCA Policy – MPCA Vice President Ben Schmidt will take the lead on formulating a Social Media policy for our organization, with input from Katie Rosen, Wendy Rosen and Leslee Newman. Ben now manages the MPCA Facebook.
Next Meeting – Join us at the next MPCA meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2015 in the Montgomery School Library.