NEPEAN – Twenty-two community delegations could not convince the Agriculture and Rural Affairs committee (ARAC) to reject a zoning amendment yesterday (March 7) that is the first step towards the construction of a concrete batching plant on Carp Road property formerly designated light industrial.

It was a long morning in The Chamber at Ben Franklin Place as ARAC accepted City of Ottawa staff’s recommendation it approves the zoning amendment, following a couple of hours of delegations from the opponents and one from the proponent, Cavanagh Construction.

Huntley Community Association (HCA) Vice President Judy Makin kicked off the community delegations pointing out “to my knowledge, the HCA has never been part of a delegation to council before. This is different. We want you to respect the plan. We believe the line in the sand should be Richardson Side Road.”

Makin said all the concerns will lead to catastrophe.

“It’s an accident looking for a place to happen,” she told ARAC. “No matter of mitigation can fix a bad decision. We’re asking you to turn down this proposal today.”

Twenty-one more delegations made up of community members of all ages, as well as some neighbouring resident from across the city, presented their cases, in five-minute allotments, in opposition to the amendment. For all previous West Carleton Online coverage on this issue dating back to January, 2019, click here.

In the end, the amendment was approved with the exception the applicant be prevented from starting construction until Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks determines that air, noise and dust emissions from the plant would be compliant with all provincial regulations. In addition, to address traffic concerns, the applicant will be required to submit a Transportation Impact Assessment to the city.

Nearby resident David Ross spoke with West Carleton Online immediately following the decision.

“It’s very disappointing,” he said. “I would like to see some backbone from our city councillors and we just don’t see it. I think we demonstrated very clearly why it’s inappropriate from a planning perspective. Obviously, people are worried about the environment and the committee seized on it and said, ‘we’re not really here to talk about the environmental concerns today so the rest of it we’re going to approve.’ It’s frustrating.”

Ross lives on Oak Creek Road and says his property line is about 300 metres from the proposed site’s property line. Ross says he and the residents of the Carp area, have exhausted themselves working on the issue.

“The process is very confusing for residents,” he said. “We have invested hundreds of hours, time off work, etc. to go through all of this stuff. We’ve demonstrated why this is not a necessary development, it’s not consistent with our community design plan. We’ve done that quite clearly. We have a lot of people here today, we had a lot of people speak today, hours’ worth of statements from people who are opposed to this development. And based on the desires of one private business, one that has thumbed its nose at the city, and our regulations through their environmental infractions. They just pay the fines and walk away. The city has bowed to them and I just don’t understand that.”

Coun. El-Chantiry spoke to West Carleton Online after the meeting as well. He said he’s not just the councillor in this case.

“A. I am a resident of that community. B. I drive that Carp Road every day, maybe four times a day. And C. I feel the community’s concern,” he said. “You have to remember, as a committee, on the recommendation of legal and staff, we have to accept the zoning amendment, because this is something within our provision. So, what Cavanagh is asking today is to be permitted use for a small portion of the property, to be used to mix cement. So, the things this committee has control over is the traffic study. Everything else is in the hands of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.”

ARAC determined Cavanagh can do no work on the site until the Traffic Impact Study is complete.

“Cavanagh has to come up and satisfy the city transportation expert. We heard about a traffic light, a left turn lane, will that mitigate the traffic?” El-Chantiry said. “So that has to be part of the provision, so they can’t do anything until they satisfy that concern.”

Could this lead to the potential four-laning of Carp Road?

“I’m not sure, you have to wait for that study to come in and see the amount of added trucks,” El-Chantiry said. “But quite honestly, traffic is already heavy on that road. If you drive it at 5 p.m. in the afternoon, you know what I’m talking about. It’s quite heavy. To (Cavanagh’s) benefit, they want to get the trucks out on the roads as quickly as possible. As we heard, they have a short period of time to deliver it. I will be keeping my eye on the traffic study.”

The councillor’s instincts says this issue may drag on.

“I feel like, on one hand I’m the local councillor,” he said. “I heard my residents loud and clear, I had a meeting for the community, I helped organize a meeting between the community and the proponent, I have met at residents’ homes. This is not going to go easy, I’ll be honest with you. The community is organizing itself to go to the next step and the next step is appeal, and the appeal goes to the Local Planning Appeals Tribunal (LPAT). So that’s my gut feeling.”

Ross says the community is ready for that long road.

“If there’s a problem with that and the city doesn’t approve it, the applicant can appeal, but the public can’t,” Ross said. “We don’t have any legal rights in that case. So, our next step is to continue our conversations with the councillors at city hall and convince them this is an egregious mistake. It isn’t consistent with what we want for our city. Following that decision, and I expect whatever decision is made there, we’ll be heading next to LPAT. Whatever happens there, the party that loses there, will be appealing, so that will be the next step. So of course, for our residents, we’re prepared. We’re disappointed that we have to raise funds and hire professionals to go through that process when it comes. So, we really hope city councillors do the right thing and put an end to it at city council. It will be a long road forward, it could be years.” 

Items approved at the ARAC meeting will go to city council on Wednesday, March 27.