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Green Home Walking Tour

Green Home Walking Tour
The sign indicates that this garden has been designed to absorb rain and minimize runoff.
The sign indicates that this garden has been designed to absorb rain and minimize runoff.

Join City of Ottawa and EnviroCentre staff as we walk through the McKellar and Highland Park neighbourhoods, visiting homes whose owners have made investments to improve their sustainability with the support of the City's Rain-Ready Ottawa program

 On this walk, you'll have a chance to learn about ways to reduce stormwater runoff to keep the Ottawa River healthy, while at the same time protecting your property from flooding using permeable pavements, soak-away pits, and rain gardens. You'll also learn about other City of Ottawa programs such as the Better Homes Ottawa Program and Residential protective Plumbing Program, that can help you better prepare for and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

 Along the walk, participants will have the opportunity to interact with homeowners who have made changes, as well as speaking with the walk leader about ways the City and EnviroCentre can advise them on making sustainable investments in their property.


Connor would be glad to take questions and converse in French as well as English.

Connor serait ravie de converser en français et en anglais.



Location
Route

We'll meet in front of the McKeller Park Community Building at 539 Wavell Ave. From there, we'll proceed west along Vilnius Ave to Courtney Ave for the first stop, then we'll go south to Dovercourt Ave to Mansfield, where we will visit several homes that have installed permeable pavement and soak-away pits. Our last stop will be on Windermere Ave, to look at a home that has completed a full rain-ready landscape for their backyard before returning to McKellar Park, where the walk will end.


Accessibility: We'll be walking along city sidewalks and paved paths, but also venturing onto private property in at some stops where the accessibility for strollers, scooters, and wheelchairs may vary.

About the walk leader

Connor manages the City of Ottawa's Rain Ready Ottawa program in his role as an Outreach and Communications Coordinator in the City's Climate Change and Resiliency Services. The Rain Ready Ottawa Program is a City initiative designed to support homeowners in dealing with the harmful impacts of stormwater runoff.

Stephan is head of outreach and logistics at Envirocentre, where he has been supporting the delivering of the Rain Ready Ottawa program since 2021.

Guides:

Connor Renouf and Stephan Meloche

When:
Date:Sat May 3, 2025
Time:12:00 PM
Duration: 1 hour 30 min
Language: English
Where:
Start:McKeller Park Community Building
End:McKeller Park
Area:McKeller Park
Distance:2.0 kms
Accessibility:

The walk will follow city sidewalks, but accessibility may vary at individual stops.

Walker Sign-up

This walk requires you to sign up to attend or join a waitlist if walk is full. Please submit your email and the number of walkers that will be attending with you below.

12 walkers registered

Gallery
The sign indicates that this garden has been designed to absorb rain and minimize runoff. This rain garden poster shows how the garden is designed to absorb rainwater into the ground. This rain garden provides an area with pebble mulch and contouring that help keep rainwater from becoming run-off before it can be absorbed.. Driveway and walkway finished with permeable surface material to mitigate stormwater run-off. This attractive driveway finish is permeable to reduce the amount of run-off. A cold-climate heat pump in use for the winter heating season. Fibreglass and other insulation materials can be used in the attic and outer walls of your home to reduce heat loss during the winter heating season as well as to better keep heat out in the summer. Solar panels installed on a residential roof.
Volunteer to Marshal This Walk