HomeMy WebLinkAboutGRAAC - 2004-09-23
GRAND RIVER ACCESSIBILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Thursday September 23, 2004 Catholic Family Counselling Centre
PRESENT: Susan Harkins (Chair), Jay Oswald, Carol Moogk-Soulis, Deb Bergey, Taposhi
Batabyal, Sharon Ward-Zeller, Laura Fiorilla, Brad Ullner, Daniel LaJoie, Sparrow
Rose, James Hunsberger, Councillor Christina Weylie, Councillor Ruby Weber,
Councillor Jane Mitchell, Deb Bergey, Lori Ludwig, Margaret Sanderson.
REGRETS: Gail Brunsdon, Grace Niezen, Bart Toby, Val Hummel, Kathy Glasser, Gerald
Moore, Councillor Ian McLean, Christine Broughton.
1. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS – Susan Harkins
2.ADDITION/ADOPTION OF AGENDA – Susan Harkins
A couple of additions were made to the agenda:
1. WLU Accessibility Plan – Sparrow Rose
2. “In Town Without A Car” – Laura Fiorilla
With the changes noted, a motion was made by Sharon, seconded by Laura to adopt the
agenda. All were in favour; carried.
3. ADOPTION OF PREVIOUS MINUTES – Susan Harkins
rd
?It was noted that on page 2 of the August minutes (3 line down), the word should
be “change”, not “chang”.
?It was noted that Ian McLean, Sparrow Rose and Dan LaJoie sent regrets to the
August meeting and that Ian McLean, Kathy Glasser, Gail Brunsden sent regrets to
the September meeting.
?A motion was made by Taposhi, seconded by Jay to adopt the minutes from the
August meeting with the changes noted. All were in favour; carried.
4. BUSINESS ARISING
4.1 Selection of Letterhead
Refer to Item #6 from the August minutes.
A short discussion took place on the selection of the logo/letterhead, following which
members voted on which of the three samples of logo/letterhead they preferred. The
majority of the votes cast favoured logo/letterhead #2. Laura Fiorilla abstained from
voting.
ACTION:
Members selected #2 logo/letterhead for use by GRAAC.
4.2 Staff Future Plans
It was clarified that staffs role is to liaise with GRAAC and to draft the Accessibility Plan
for their particular corporation/organization. The GRAAC Terms of Reference states that:
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GRAND RIVER ACCESSIBILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Thursday September 23, 2004 Catholic Family Counselling Centre
“At least one and a maximum of 2 staff advisors to be present from each municipality.
Other staff may be invited for specific issues. Staff will act in an advisory/resource
capacity to the GRAAC.
The GRAAC may call upon the resources of the municipalities’ Corporate ODA Steering
and Technical Committees as needed.”
4.3 Committee Workshop on Future Planning - Susan
?Members discussed whether a future planning workshop would be useful at this time
– to help committee define what it does and draft a plan for future action.
?It was noted that next year’s plans will be drafted by year’s end and will be reviewed
by GRAAC before being presented to Boards/Councils/public.
?As it was felt that GRAAC needed more history before holding a planning meeting, it
was suggested that it would be beneficial to the committee to have a training session
on what to look for in a plan. All members were in agreement. Margaret will connect
with a facilitator for the training session.
4.4 Nomination Process
?As there are five one-year terms that will be ending shortly and one vacancy on
GRAAC, members asked for clarification of the nomination process.
ACTION:
Margaret will talk with the City of Kitchener Clerk’s Department regarding the
nomination process. The issue will discussed at the October GRAAC meeting.
5. Tour of GRT Buses
A 2004 bus and a 1994 bus parked in the parking lot of the Catholic Family Counselling
Centre so that members could tour the buses and become familiar with the differences in
the models.
6. Review of GRT Transit Building Plan
?Yannick Cyr and Ellen Tracy attended the meeting to review and explain the
renovation plans for the GRT Transit Building. Staff tries to implement as many
features as possible suggested from feedback gathered.
?The Developmental Checklist (audit tool) was used in the process.
?The building will be fully accessible to both the public and staff.
?An elevator is being added – it was suggested to ensure that a person in a wheelchair
has the ability to turn around inside the elevator
?The long term plan is to add additional parking and a sidewalk from the street to the
building. Members questioned why the sidewalk isn’t being added at this stage. As
the Building Code dictates how many parking spaces are required based on staff
needs, space will be used now for parking and will be assessed for a sidewalk at a
later date.
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GRAND RIVER ACCESSIBILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Thursday September 23, 2004 Catholic Family Counselling Centre
?Members suggested to ensure that the disability parking spaces are 1½ times larger
than a regular accessible space.
?Specialized Transit will not be reviewing the drawings.
Yannick and Ellen were thanked for their presentation and left the meeting.
6.1 Discussion re Site Plan Review Committee
The committee was reminded that under the Act they had the authority to review site
plans under the development approval process and also to review building plans for
municipally owned or leased buildings. In other municipalities several models exist:
* Some AACs have sub teams that review these plans to save time at the whole
committee - sometimes extra experts are brought in, such as facilities staff, architects. It
was suggested BFAC could be part of such a sub group.
* Some AACs have decided to request that only certain types of development would be
brought to the committee, such as high impact buildings like malls, restaurants etc. For
other development (gas stations etc), a set of guidelines/ suggestions would be provided
for the staff approving plans to consider.
There was question whether the GRAAC could have sub-committees. Upon review of the
Terms of Reference it was noted that there is a clause allowing for sub-committee
creation. The first project may be to review the K-W site plan guidelines.
7. BFAC’s New Plans - Brad
?For the past ten years, the K-W Barrier Free Advisory Committee has been a
grassroots initiative. As the committee evolved they began to do what legislation now
says has to be done. Given the formation of GRAAC, BFAC members are now
continuing to work their way through discussions on the future direction of the
committee, which began back in April with the Future Search workshop. BFAC will
have decided on its future direction by year’s end.
?GRAAC members briefly discussed how GRAAC and BFAC could work together.
?It was suggested that
8. ODA Meeting in London - James
?James went to the ODA meeting in London, at which over 400 people were in
attendance. Please see attached for James’s notes from that meeting.
9. OTHER
?Laura shared that she and Dan were guest speakers at the “Without a Car” event
held at WLU on Monday September 20. Laura represented GRT and Dan spoke on K-
W Accessibility. Due to poor advertising, the event was not well attended.
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GRAND RIVER ACCESSIBILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Thursday September 23, 2004 Catholic Family Counselling Centre
10. ADJOURNMENT/NEXT MEETING
All were in favour to adjourn the September meeting; carried.
Next Meeting: October 28, 2004 from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the Catholic Family Counselling
Centre at 400 Queen Street South in Kitchener
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