M E M O / N O T E D E S E R V I C E

To / Destinataire	Mayor and Members of Council/Maire et Membres du Conseil	File/N° de fichier: ACS2009-COS-DCM-0001
From / Expéditeur	Deputy City Manager City Operations /Directeur municipal adjoint, Opérations municipales
Subject / Objet	Youth Community Safety Audit Report – Woodridge Crescent and Bayshore Park - Update / Rapport de vérification sur la sécurité communautaire des jeunes de Woodridge Crescent et de Bayshore Park - Mise à jour	Date: October 28, 2009 le 28 octobre 2009

Background

At its meeting of February 7, 2008, the Community and Protective Services Committee received a presentation respecting the Woodridge Crescent and Bayshore Park Youth Community Safety Audit and referred the report to staff to review and report back on the status of actions that fall under the jurisdiction of the City of Ottawa.

The report contained 31 recommendations outlining deficiencies with respect to lighting, signage, maintenance, and recreational programming opportunities. 19 of the recommendations were assigned to the City of Ottawa with the remaining 12 assigned to other agencies including the Ottawa Police, the local property manager, school board, and local community health centre.

Ottawa City staff actioned the recommendations in the spring and summer of 2008 but had delayed reporting back on the results pending development of a report respecting Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) by Crime Prevention Ottawa.

Of the 19 recommendations, 13 are complete, 5 have been referred to the appropriate agency for resolution and 1 will be implemented subject to approval as part of the 2010 budget.

Several of the completed recommendations highlight a difference of opinion between the original safety audit recommendations and the subsequent review of the situation by staff. For example, three recommendations propose the installation of additional lighting in circumstances where, from staff’s perspective, the lighting would have negative impacts (primarily encouraging after hours use of basket ball courts and play structures) that would likely not be supported by the adjacent neighbourhood.

In working to implement the recommendations it became clear that a more coordinated approach to safety audits is required not only to clarify roles and responsibilities but also to ensure a shared understanding of the safety principles that are being applied when undertaking and evaluating safety audits.

Since consideration of the safety audit by CPS Committee, Crime Prevention Ottawa has been working diligently with consultants to develop a the CPTED report, which has been approved by the Crime Prevention Board of Directors and which Crime Prevention Ottawa plans to bring forward to Committee and Council in the first quarter of 2010.

CPTED entails understanding the relationship between physical design and levels of criminal activity and changing design to reduce the incidence of crime.

A key finding of the report is that CPTED has been successfully used in Ottawa but its impact has been limited because the use of CPTED is not coordinated, is not adequately funded, is not mandated, and is not linked to a broader crime prevention strategy.

Safety audits are frequently conducted on existing spaces but these audits are done on an ad hoc basis. A mechanism is needed to set priorities for audits, to link the audits with resources, to establish an accountability mechanism to follow up on audits, and to coordinate the audits with city departments and other agencies that have responsibility for acting on the recommendations.

Ideally, CPTED should be integrated into the municipal planning process for new development and systematically applied at the earliest stages of the design and development process to preempt the need for reactive strategies after a community has already been developed.

The Crime Prevention Ottawa report contains a number of recommendations to facilitate integrating CPTED into municipal planning including establishing and supporting a CPTED Working Group that will coordinate CPTED activities. As noted above Crime Prevention Ottawa will be coming forward with its CPTED report early in 2010.

I trust that this information will be of assistance.

c.c. City Manager

Document 1

Item	Priority	Concern	Location	Recommendation	Referred to:	Action
A-1	HIGH	Burnt out street light	Entrance to 125-129 Woodridge Crescent	Replace street light bulb	City of Ottawa	Complete.
A-2	HIGH	No lighting at bus shelter	Bus shelter outside of Bayshore Rec Centre	Install appropriate lighting so residents feel safe when waiting for the bus at night	City of Ottawa	Complete Corporate Security found it to be compliant and in keeping with the other bus shelters in the city
A-3	HIGH	No lighting in basketball court at night No recreational programming can occur here in the Fall as it is dark as early as 6:30pm in September and October	Basketball court in Bayshore Park	Install adequate lighting that can be used on a timer to be turned off around 9:00 or 10:00pm or turn on existing lights until these hours are reached Timer can be adjusted according to season as it gets darker earlier in Winter	City of Ottawa	Complete. There are existing outdoor rink lights at this facility that can be turned on but staff, however this comes with certain risks. 1) Basketball is a noisy activity that will be encouraged to continue after dark, when nearby residents have an expectation of quiet 2) Past experience has shown that lit basketball attracts adults and youth from all over the City to participate leading to issues of congregation and noise.
A-4	HIGH	Lack of general lighting in Bayshore Park Difficult and dangerous to walk through park at night Recreational programming does not occur as much as it could in Fall because of this Encourages and promotes illegal activity such as drug use	Bayshore Park	Install lighting in Bayshore Park to make it safer for residents to travel through and to allow for more recreational programming to occur for youth This would also discourage people from using this park as a space for illegal activity	City of Ottawa Pinecrest Queensway Health and Community Services	Complete. There exists a lit pathway through the park that conforms to the City’s park pathway lighting policy.  Staff would not recommend additional lighting in the park that would encourage after hours use.
A-5	HIGH	No lighting in play structure area of the park	Play structure in Bayshore Park	Install lighting around play structure area to allow parents to have a place to play with their children after dark, especially in Winter as it becomes dark so early (6pm).	City of Ottawa	Complete. Staff does not recommend lighting of play structures. In this instance, the play area is situated in such a way that it cannot be easily observed by nearby residents. Per the WISE standards "Lighting also refers to how well you could be seen at night by others…”
D-7	MED	Excess garbage on garbage day Garbage is not always picked up at the usual day and time which causes it to pile up and smell, as well as attract dangerous animals	Woodridge Crescent	Ensure garbage is picked up regularly and routinely on the same day	Minto	Referred. Minto is responsible for the dumpsters. Issue has been referred to Minto.
D-8	MED	More garbage dumpsters have been requested by youth	In neighbourhood but especially around 125 and 154 Woodridge Crescent and 176 Woodridge Crescent	Attempt to gain access to more dumpsters to give residents a place to safely dispose of excess garbage	Minto	Referred. Minto responsible for dumpsters. Issue has been referred to Minto.
D-9	MED	Swings in park need to be oiled or repaired where necessary	Bayshore Park	Oil swings and/or repair them so that they function safely and securely	City of Ottawa	Complete.
E-1	HIGH	The word “RAPE” is spray painted onto water pipe in the forest/wooded area	Forest/wooded area behind Bayshore Recreation Centre	Youth, Carleton University student, and WISE staff will attempt to remove this graffiti with graffiti wipes from City of Ottawa If this does not work, perhaps the pipe could be painted over quickly	City of Ottawa Minto	Complete The graffiti is sprayed on a rough surface and although it could not be completely removed but were successful in fading and obscuring so the wording is not legible.
E-2	HIGH	Homeless people that the youth fear have taken residence in the forest behind the Bayshore Recreation Centre and this causes the youth to be too scared to go near this area	Forest/wooded area behind Bayshore Recreation Centre	Find a way to discourage people from using this area as a place to loiter, engage in illegal activity, or live.	Ottawa Police Minto City of Ottawa	Referred. Property (wooded lot) in question is owned by Minto. This issue has been referred to Minto.
E-3	HIGH	Older youth and adults engaging in illegal activity, especially drug use and dealing On all of our safety audit walkabouts these behaviours were seen There is fear younger youth will become involved in these behaviours	Portable stairs and picnic tables near Bayshore Public School	Increase lighting in this area and increase police presence	Minto Ottawa Police Ottawa Carleton School Board (Bayshore Public School Principal) Minto	Referred. Property (wooded lot) in question is owned by Minto. Requests for lighting has referred to Minto.
E-5	HIGH	Chair on roof of the shack building in Bayshore Park	Bayshore Fieldhouse	Remove the chair from the roof of the fieldhouse	City of Ottawa	Complete.
E-8	MED	Graffiti scribbled on park benches	Bayshore Park benches beside play structure	Remove this graffiti or replace park benches	City Graffiti Removal Program City of Ottawa Parks and Recreation	Complete.
F-1	HIGH	Forest/Wooded area is not lit up at night and many people loiter in this area at night including homeless people	Behind and to the left of the Bayshore Recreation Centre	Install lighting down pathway Increase police awareness/presence in this area	Minto Ottawa Police	Referred. Property (wooded lot) in question is owned by Minto. Request for lighting has been referred to Minto.
H-1	HIGH	Basketball court lines need to be repainted in the Spring	Bayshore Park	Repaint the basketball court lines after Winter	City of Ottawa	Complete Parks and Recreation committed to providing the required paint, rollers and brushes for the youth to paint the basketball court. The community will be responsible for the volunteers.
H-2	HIGH	Basketball rims are missing nets	Bayshore Park	Replace missing basketball nets – youth would love to try metal chain nets	City of Ottawa	Complete. City policy, in terms of risk management, is to provide no nets only rims.
H-3	HIGH	Basketball rims need to be repaired or replaced as they are beginning to bend and become deformed	Bayshore Park	Fix or replace basketball rims	City of Ottawa	Complete.
H-4	HIGH	Fence missing on one side of the basketball court at park facing the road Balls bounce into the road and occasionally hit people on the sidewalk	Bayshore Park	Ensure fence is installed around the basketball court to ensure youth can play basketball safely without worrying about road safety and young children walking on the sidewalk	City of Ottawa	In Progress. Subject to approval of the 2010 budget. The current mesh is designed to serve the outdoor rink program and this is a unique situation where the winter outdoor rink and the summer basketball court occupy the same surface. The 2010 priority listing of projects to be funded from the requested 2010 Minor Park Improvements envelope has this item listed as top priority, so this item will be completed in 2010 provided it is approved as part of the 2010 budget.
H-5	HIGH	Lack of recreational programming and staffing in the area	Bayshore Park	Increase recreational programming in Bayshore Park and perhaps use the Fieldhouse in programming	City of Ottawa Pinecrest Queensway Health and Community Services	Complete. Recreation ran a school age summer day camp out of Bayshore Public School for six weeks in 2008 and are providing on site staff support in Bayshore Park for a community soccer program and Bayshore Fun Days. Two summer camps for school aged children in Bayshore were operated in the summer of 2009. In addition, provision has been made to: · Staff the fieldhouse on Saturday and Sunday evenings for public access from 6:30 to 10:00 P.M. in July and August · Partner with Bayshore Community Association and St. Anthony's Soccer Club to offer a Friday evening outdoor soccer program through July and August · Partner on a fitness program proposal for seniors and adults in Bayshore scheduled for November 2009 through March 2010. As part of the programs proposal will provide three hours of fitness weekly over the winter months and free childcare will be provided.