What We Own (Assets)

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Land

Hunt Club encompasses approximately 500 hectares (5 square kilometers). What is the value of this land?

properties owned by people living in the community
properties owned by people living outside the community

Environmental Features

Elevation. Not the usual accounting item; however, elevation is an asset (for us) because the higher land gives us a view over the city, and because other people may want to come and visit, or live here, for that view. It is not without reason that one major street is called "Uplands Drive", that a poem has been written about "Winter at Uplands", and that the Ottawa International Airport, formerly called "Uplands Airport", was built here.

Winter at Uplands

The frost that stings like fire upon my cheek, The loneliness of this forsaken ground, The long white drift upon whose powdered peak I sit in the great silence as one bound; The rippled sheet of snow where the wind blew Across the open fields for miles ahead; The far-off city towered and roofed in blue A tender line upon the western red; The stars that singly, then in flocks appear, Like jets of silver from the violet dome, So wonderful, so many and so near, And then the golden moon to light me home; The crunching snowshoes and the stinging air, And silence, frost and beauty everywhere.

by: Archibald Lampman

written January 1899

Alternating forest environments. Within and just south of Hunt Club we have distinct forests: poplar forests, pine forests, mixed hardwood forests, groupings of black locusts (black wood and fragrent clusters of white flowers in June), each with its own distinctive biology (sounds, smells, moisture content, animal and plant life). A cyclist going through from a poplar forest to a pine forest near the Conroy pits said that if he had blinked when crossing he would have thought he had gone through a time warp.

Open (green) spaces. The value of these assets is based on a dilemma: the more people there are (in Hunt Club) who benefit from having and using open spaces, the greater their value; the more people there are in Hunt Club, the less open space we have. The more open space we have, the less value we place on each unit of open space; the less open space we have, the more valuable each individual remaining unit becomes. What is the best balance? What are the units we measure? What gives the greatest open space asset (the best value per unit times all units)?

Heritage sites. Officially we don't have any in Hunt Club; however, unofficially there are locations and areas (see map) of historical value. One area is the open space, the greenway linkage that separates us from Riverside Park to the north because that open land (could be called "The Uplands") is the subject of Archibald Lampman's poem (above).

Urban Features

Focal points. In other cities, fountains, churches, gardens, imposing structures, provide visual appeal. In Hunt Club, we have none of these. Perhaps we should build some?

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