CSCA asking the City of Ottawa for help to change 62 homes that have Navan and Vars addresses.
(information en français au bas).
The Carlsbad Springs Community Association (CSCA) is asking the City of Ottawa for help to change 62 homes that have Navan and Vars addresses to Carlsbad Springs addresses with the K0A 1K0 postal code. (Community Association's arguments are below).
No changes to home addresses will be required as a direct result of the realigned ward boundaries that was voted on December 5, 2020 by Council.
The City Clerk, M. Rick O'Oconnor advised the CSCA that the outcome of the Ottawa Ward Boundary Review 2020 and any related changes to ward boundaries that are to take effect for the 2022 Municipal Elections have no direct impact. Specifically, no changes to home addresses will be required as a direct result of the realigned ward boundaries approved by City Council on December 9, 2020. As described below in more detail, the 2022 Municipal Elections will be administered such that residents/tenants of any properties affected by realigned ward boundaries will be associated with their “new” ward without needing to change their home address.
By way of background, the 2022 Municipal Elections will be conducted in accordance with any new ward boundaries following the ward boundary review, Council’s approval of the new ward boundary structure and subsequent by-law enactment, and the statutory notice/appeal process. Additional information may be found on the ward boundary review project website.
The voters’ list for the 2022 Municipal Elections will identify people who are eligible to vote by name, address, residency status and school board support, and will include ward and poll assignments based on the City’s “new” ward boundaries. These ward and poll assignments are determined based on the geographic location of an elector’s qualifying address rather than their “Canada Post mailing address” or postal code.
Residents/tenants of any properties that may change from the current Ward 19 to the “new Ward 1” (new Osgoode Ward) under the new ward boundary structure would be associated with their “new” ward for the 2022 Municipal Elections without needing to change their home address. Furthermore, if any additional changes to information on the voters’ list were required, opportunities would be provided for information to be added, amended, or removed from the list – also without requiring a home address change, as outlined above.
Regardless of this outcome the Association feels that the time has come for the City to recognize the anomaly due in part that homes that are situated in the core of the village of Carlsbad Springs have addresses that are based in Navan and also Vars with postal codes that are associated with these communities that are 10 and 12 km away from the actual homes.
Below one side of Boundary Rd (west side) has Carlsbad Springs addresses and the postal code K0A 1K0 while the homes (26 total) on the left (east side) have Navan addresses and the postal code K4B 1P4.
All Boundary Road homes on both east and west side are in the core of the village of Carlsbad Springs and recognized by the City of Ottawa under the official village boundary of Carlsbad Springs. The homeowners on Boundary Road are therefore considered to be part of Carlsbad Springs community and not part of Navan (that is 12km away).
Many of the residents the CSCA consulted have requested that their homes be changed to the local post office K0A 1K0 in Carlsbad Springs, a correction that should have been done 20 years ago when Cumberland Township and the City of Gloucester were merged into the new City of Ottawa.
The CSCA hope the City can respect and eventually honor this request. The CSCA’s arguments and reasons are below. The CSCA has done a survey recently (via a mail out to 62 homes) and so far obtained over 99% in favor to change the 62 addresses that have Navan and Vars addresses and postal codes to a single Carlsbad Springs address and postal code (K0A 1K0) that would include them with the rest of our community under a single address and a single postal code.
The CSCA indicates that the community has approximately 750 homes and 62 of them have Navan and Vars addresses. The community has 4 different postal codes (two associated and served by the postal office from Navan, one from Vars and the others from Carlsbad Springs). The CSCA and homeowners simply want to correct this anomaly. Denis Labreche, past President of the CSCA: "It would be OK if we would have more than one postal code but the issue here is there are homes in our community that have Vars and Navan in their addresses. Homes that are in the core of our village. Clearly a very strange phenomenon."
The CSCA is looking for a "champion", someone at the City that cares enough to see that this request is very reasonable and should be honored to correct the discrepancy that was done when the municipality of Cumberland and the City of Gloucester were amalgamated 20 years ago with the new City of Ottawa.
In November 2020 Councillor Kitt and her staff discussed this with Canada Post and Canada Post indicated that they were not allowing the change on their side as they indicated the change has to come from the municipality. On previous discussions with Canada Post (in July 2020) the CSCA were told the change of addressed needs to be done at the City level for Canada Post to action the change.
Canada Post will honor the change, if the City requests the change.
The CSCA’s arguments to change the addresses to Carlsbad Springs are the following:
Numerous residents have indicated that deliveries to their homes can sometimes be problematic due in part because many rent a box at the local post office and many of the deliveries need to be done via their actual Canada Post addresses. The difference between the two has cause numerous issues with residents.
Residents have to PAY to obtain a local address (a mail box number) based in their own community so they can have an address that reflects where their homes are actually located in Carlsbad Springs, not in Vars or in Navan
The CSCA is worried that there will be a misdirect call when it comes to 911 or for any other emergency that would involve their physical addresses as homes are situated 10 to 12km from their actual community addresses. This could cause an emergency vehicle to go to Vars or Navan when the home is situated in Carlsbad Springs, 10 to 12 km away and have serious consequences.
When groups do funding requests (Trillium Foundation as an example) the east part of the community is not included in the stats or difficult to explain in the funding applications. In a small community 62 additional homes can make a big difference if a grant is successful.
To better represent our rural population as one unique community the CSCA feel one postal code with a unique address is important.
As Vars is 10km east and Navan is 12km north those homes are not part of their respected communities. Homeowners feel disconnected.
Pride in our community with sharing the same addresses and a single postal code is important. Homes that are in the village have Navan and Vars addresses and this is very frustrating for many homeowners and have forced them to pay for a box (for over 20+ years) at the local post office as indicated above to receive local mail from the local post office.
For obtain better representation when it comes to social clubs, sports club, school boundaries and community stats (those 62 homes are in Carlsbad Springs, not Navan and Vars).
The distribution of a community monthly newsletter and other community pamphlets becomes a complicated process for social and community groups as they need to identify each addresses that are not part of the local post office. We recently had to mail letters to residents and including every home it is complicated process for no reason.
This correction should have been done 20 years ago when Cumberland Township and the City of Gloucester were merged into the new City of Ottawa.
Additionally the local post office master (Jeanette) responsible for post office in Carlsbad Springs supports this initiative and she also even proposed this change herself to her supervisors a few years ago. She was told the change needs to come from the City of Ottawa.
The map below indicates the roads that are situated in the core of the village of Carlsbad Springs with Navan and Vars postal codes and addresses. The one on the left is Boundary Rd while the other two to the right are Carlsbad Lane and Sabourin Road.
La carte (si-haut) démontre les endroits où se situent le chemin Boundary, le chemin Carlsbad Lane et aussi le chemin Sabourin.
Ces trois chemins sont au cœur de la communauté de Carlsbad Springs. Tout le reste de la communauté ont une adresse civique de Carlsbad Springs et utilise le code poste K0A 1K0 et ces trois chemins ont des adresses et des codes postaux de Navan et de Vars respectivement.
"L'Association communautaire de Carlsbad Springs demande simplement justice et une correction pour que ces citoyens et ces maisons obtiennent finalement une adresse civique qui représente leur réalité de faire partie de notre communauté" indique l'ex-Président de l'Association. "Comme mentionner, dans une petite communauté comme la nôtre l’ajout de 62 maisons dans les statistiques est un nombre important et peut faire une différence dans plusieurs décisions civiques et des demandes de fonds par exemple."
C’est simplement logique.
Oui nous sommes tous dans la Ville d’Ottawa mais dans les secteurs ruraux l’identité et l’adresse civique est aussi une fierté et crée cette esprit d’appartenance à une communauté donc c’est aussi une des raisons qu’on demande ce changement.
Les résidents dans les secteurs ruraux d’Ottawa n’utilisent jamais le nom « Ottawa » dans leur adresse officielle (tel que permis de conduite, etc…) et les gens utilisent les noms tel que Sarsfield, Navan, Vars, Carlsbad Springs, Edwards, Ramsayville, Bearbrook, etc…) C’est une question d’identité et de fierté civique mais aussi l’adresse officielle de chaque résidents imposé par la province et non la Ville.
Autre part il ne fait clairement aucun sens que des maisons sur le chemin Boundary, dans le cœur de notre village ont des adresses de Navan (qui est situé à 12 km) et que les maisons sur Carlsbad Lane et chemin Sabourin ont une adresse de Vars (qui est situé à 10km).
Suite à un sondage en décembre 2020 l'ACCS a reçu l’appui d’une majorité (99%) de propriétaires. Plusieurs ont essayé de faire ce changement eux-mêmes depuis plusieurs années mais sans résultat et appuie de la Ville d’Ottawa qui est très déplorable. Maintenant nous le faisons en collectivité.