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OTTAWA – The City of Ottawa and a developer have agreed to scrub plans for building houses on seven lots in the floodplain of the Jock River.
Ted Cooper, the city water resources engineer who has challenged development in Kanata West, on Wednesday successfully appealed the zoning bylaw for development at Half Moon Bay, along the Jock River, to the Ontario Municipal Board. He took half a day of his holidays to appear at the hearing that settled the issue.
Plans for an urban development in south Nepean have been around since the early 1990s and always included a substantial greenspace along the Jock River. When the city approved its zoning bylaw for the subdivision in 2007, the plans included housing development that encroached on some of that parkland, which is in the floodplain. Mr. Cooper compared the original plans with the approved bylaw and found they didn’t match, so he filed the municipal board appeal to stop construction in the floodplain.
The city changed its position and agreed to alter the bylaw after the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority advised it about the floodplain issue. On Tuesday the city, Mr. Cooper and McNeil Farm Limited, from the Taggart Group of Companies which will develop the land, agreed to take seven building lots out of the subdivision. Mr. Cooper had wanted nine lots deleted from the plan.
Mr. Cooper gave the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority credit for knowing policies on building in or near floodplains and sticking with those policies.
He said the city should have refused development of the lots, rather than approve the development and tell the company it must then get the conservation authority’s approval.
“I’m disappointed I had to initiate this appeal. The city had an opportunity in November 2007 to take a stand and protect the public’s interest by refusing to approve the zoning bylaw that allowed for nine lots encroaching into the Jock River floodplain,” said Mr. Cooper. “Instead, it appears the city didn’t want to say no, but to leave it to the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority to be the bearer of any bad news for the developer.”
Mr. Cooper said that if he had time and money to burn he would have insisted on a full municipal board hearing to ensure all nine lots were not built upon.
“I settled on a compromise that at least addressed my concerns about public health and safety issues raised when development in a natural hazard area was approved by council,” said Mr. Cooper.
Nicole Parent, who lives near the future Half Moon Bay development, is a member of the city’s advisory committee on forests and greenspace, and attended the Wednesday municipal board hearing, said it’s sad that a city employee must take his own time to appeal a city planning decision. But she said she is glad he is willing to do it.
Mr. Cooper is the city engineer who has been warning about the hazards of allowing development on land in Kanata West near the Carp River because of flood risks in the immediate area and downriver in rural communities. He was taken off the city’s planning-engineering team for Kanata West after repeatedly objecting to development plans, though some of his concerns eventually led to a council-imposed development freeze on some of the land. As a private citizen he appealed one development in the area to the municipal board and lost. Another appeal, for land in Kanata West owned by Richcraft, has not been scheduled for hearing.