News Article

(Published in the Ottawa Sun on Wed, June 16, 2004)

Residents fight plans for ridge

By SEAN McKIBBON, Ottawa Sun

A group of Carp residents is crying foul over a subdivision planned for land they say is environmentally sensitive, claiming it will contaminate groundwater. The decades-old proposal for a housing development on a parcel of land near Thomas Dolan Pkwy. near the Carp Ridge has prompted the formation of a concerned citizens group called the Carp Ridge Society that's pushing for the city to go over the proposal with a fine-tooth comb for violations of environmental laws.

Although a draft site proposal has been approved, environmental studies must still be held.

"There's a big pond on that land created by a beaver dam that acts like a big filter," says Allan Joyner, a neighbour of the proposed 35-home development. "What happens when you drive the beaver out of a system like that?"

Joyner says the City of Ottawa inherited the project from the former municipality of West Carleton. He says the old municipality shouldn't have approved the project as it sits on top of ground that he says can't filter septic bed contaminants from surface water.

SPARSE POPULATION

The area has a fairly sparse population right now, Joyner says, but he worries more intensive land use will place too great a strain on the water table.

The developer would only say his proposed site isn't on the sensitive ground at all, just near it.

"It's not on the ridge, it's beside the ridge," said Graham Beaton, the owner of the company that's working on the development.

Beaton said he did not wish to comment further as he had been threatened by someone with legal action at the Ontario Municipal Board because of the project.

sean.mckibbon@ott.sunpub.com