Burlington Accessibility Advisory Committee Meeting

Minutes

Meeting #:
Date:	Thursday, March 11, 2021
Time:	7:00 P.m. - 9:00 P.m.
Location:	Virtual

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1.

Members Present:

Adam Spencer (Chair), Doug Benton, Khadija Zafar, Cindy Bond, Cheryl Hurst, Vera Zlataric, Greg Owens, Brenda Agnew, Marnie Hill, Rachel Cloutier, Tricia Pokorny, Ron Baliko

2.

Member Regrets:

Morgan Calaway, Barbara Davis, Muzammil Syed 

3.

Others Present:

Jennifer Johnson - Senior Project Manager, Facilities and Buildings, Heather Kress - Supervisor of Aquatics, Judi Lytle - Accessibility Coordinator, Councillor Bentivegna, Heather Martyn - Burlington Public Library, Suzanne Gillies - Clerk

4.

Declarations of Interest:

None.

5.

Approval of Minutes:

5.1

Approve the minutes from the meeting held January 14, 2021

On motion the minutes from the meeting held January 14, 2021 were approved.

6.

Delegation(s):

6.1

Mountainside Pool Renewal - Jennifer Johnson - Senior Project Manager, Facilities and Buildings and Heather Kress - Supervisor of Aquatics

Jennifer and Heather provided the following information regarding the Mountainside Pool renewal project:

• the current pool at Mountainside is almost 60 years old and has reached it's end of life
• the size and surface area of the new structure will remain the same as the site is on a designated woodlot and any change in surface area would require approval from Conservation Halton
• A public survey has been conducted regarding the proposed design concepts.  Over 300 responses were received and 81.6% of survey respondents felt the concept was good or excellent.
• wayfinding signage includes brail, there is no tactile flooring for wayfinding from the changerooms to the pool deck

7.

Regular Items:

7.1

Housing Strategy debrief

Comments from the committee members regarding the housing strategy virtual launch:

• information was hard to understand, new builds with stairs continues to be a problem
• not a lot of talk about accessible housing
• accessible is not about affordability they are two very different issues
• on April 6 applications to form a working group will be accepted, Khadija will apply on behalf of BAAC to be on the committee
• Doug suggested that all members from BAAC that are interested in applying should do so, it might make the odds better that someone from BAAC will be picked to be on the working group
• ACTION - Suzanne to share the link to the video recording of the virtual launch once it is available

7.2

Parks and Recreation Ontario Focus Group (Brenda and Khadija)

Brenda and Khadija provided the following update:

• participated in the focus group of stakeholders for accessible recreation, discussing foundational work that must be done in recreational programs to ensure programs are accessible to all
• areas of discussion included training staff, supports needed, consistency across Ontario, policies, communication and funding
• brainstormed solutions to address gaps in the areas mentioned above
• not sure what the next steps or outcomes for the session are, however next steps from BAAC should be to have more members join the initiative
• ACTION - Khadija will send information from the session to the committee as well as any follow up material or dates

7.3

Anti-Isolation subcommittee update and event debrief

Cindy and Adam provided the following updates:

• the first session went really well, need more advertising
• Heather and Adam did a great job making the session both informative and entertaining
• for future events please give at least 2 weeks notice in order to put together a great communication plan to get the word out
• committee members are asked to send any ideas for future session to the Anti-Isolation subcommittee
• Councillor Bentivegna can promote future sessions during his Cogeco spot

7.4

National AccessAbility Week (NAAW)

Judi let the committee know that staff in Milton suggested that all the cities within the Region of Halton work together to celebrate National AccessAbility Week as a Region.  Halton Hills was not interested and other cities did not respond so nothing came of the idea/opportunity.

The committee discussed what could be done to celebrate NAAW.  Discussion confirmed that a Proclamation should be done at the May meeting of Council.  The committee also discussed if the celebration could be tied to the Anti-Isolation work that is already being done?  The Anti-Isolation sub committee will discuss what they could do at their next subcommittee meeting.

7.5

2021 Workplan

On motion the 2021 workplan for the Accessibility Advisory Committee was approved.  

7.6

ITAC update (Doug)

Doug provided the following update:

• at the last meeting held on Feb. 22, 2021 the committee discussed the Integrated Mobility Plan and the Cycling Master Plan
• the next ITAC meeting will have a presentation from staff regarding the Integrated Mobility Plan 

7.7

Member representation on advisory committees

Doug will continue to represent BAAC on the Integrated Transportation Advisory Committee but is open to giving other members the opportunity.

Ron will continue to represent BAAC on the Inclusivity Advisory Committee but is also open to giving other members the opportunity. 

7.8

Coordinators report (Judi)

Judi provided the following updates:

• issue at the No Frills plaza regarding snow being plowed into the accessible parking spaces, once made aware of the issue it was rectified quickly
• the City Hall design team will be presenting the concepts for the City Hall renovation project at next months meeting

8.

Other Business:

None.

9.

Adjournment:

Chair adjourned the meeting at 9:02 p.m.