News Article

An old, bad, decision should not destroy Carp Ridge

Alex Munter

The Ottawa Citizen - Saturday, September 25, 2004

We'll soon see if a short-sighted 1991 planning decision is more durable than the billion-year-old bedrock of the Canadian Shield.

CREDIT: Chris Mikula, The Ottawa Citizen Long-time resident Martha Webber leads groups through the Carp Ridge area, showing people how the area is ecologically vital.

A small group of rural residents is mounting a last-ditch effort to stop a planned development in the spectacular Carp Ridge, a finger of the Canadian Shield that descends into Ottawa's rural west end. Its ecology is similar to Mer Bleue or Gatineau Park.

Ottawa-Carleton regional council approved the development of 33 large country estate lots on a 130-acre parcel along the perimeter of the rocky ridge 13 years ago. Councillors ignored opposition from neighbours, environmentalists and its own planners. Staff had recommended the municipality buy the land for $300,000 to avoid "significant and irreversible" environmental damage.

Plans lay dormant since then and most people forgot about it. But now, developer Graham Beaton is ready to build.

Approving the development was highly controversial in 1991. Today, it would be a no-brainer. It would never pass go. It clearly violates current city and provincial policies. In the past decade, serious concerns have also developed in the area about groundwater.

But as far as the planning clock goes, time is frozen in 1991. Ontario planning law is so rigid, it allows no sober second thought. Zoning is forever. Each time a council adds a permitted use to a parcel of land, it can only be removed with consent of the owner.

"It's over 10 years. That's way too long to grandfather something," says Martha Webber, a botany and ecology expert who leads Citizens for the Carp Ridge.

Ms. Webber says the Carp Ridge is one of the reasons she moved to nearby Dunrobin in 1968. She often gives tours of the ridge to kids, church groups and interested residents.

"Ever since I came here, it's been a refuge for me."

The ridge is a Precambrian mix of forests and wetlands, a relatively intact remnant of ancient wilderness. It is home to deer, wild turkeys, herons, even wolves. Ms. Webber calls it "an intricately-balanced ecosystem."

Mr. Beaton has been unfairly cast by some as the villain in the piece. He rightly points out he has followed all the rules for a development that was OK'd long ago.

But Mr. Beaton, who refuses to reveal whether he already owns the parcel or simply has a conditional agreement to buy it, then tries to dress up his development as environmental altruism.

"I'm giving the city 35 acres, including Carp Ridge and the beaver pond, at no charge," he says. "That's $300,000 worth of land."

While it is true 35 acres are to be deeded to the city, that was part of the deal when the land was rezoned in 1991. Mr. Beaton has no choice, he can't build there. And he knew that when he sought out this parcel.

But that's besides the point. Critics note that once three dozen homes are sprinkled across the parcel, the ecosystem that is there today will be destroyed.

That Mr. Beaton has the legal right to do so does not make it right for the environment.

There is increasing concern in Dunrobin and Carp about the contamination of groundwater. A 1995 municipal study also sounded the alarm. "We're giving permits for development right and left and we don't know what the situation is," says Ms. Webber.

She points out the ridge "is the recharge area for the collection, purification and distribution of good water to wells in much of West Carleton and rural Kanata."

"Essentially, the water tank for that area is the sum of all the beaver ponds at the top of the Carp ridge," says area resident Dave Forsythe, a retired geophysicist. "How much can you build before you permanently screw it up?"

Developer-sponsored studies will look at the water table and drainage. If those reports suggest no problem -- as studies paid for by developers generally do -- construction will get the green light.

The larger story here is that Ottawa's rural area won't be rural for long if every bad decision ever made remains unchanged, no matter what new evidence surfaces. Few rural residents realize how many thousands of houses are permitted on the forests and farmland that currently surround their homes.

Proposals to take a second look at old decisions are characterized by some rural politicians as an attempt by the urban majority to impose its will.

In reality, though, the division is not between urban and rural. The division is within Ottawa's rural communities. It pits landowners who want to subdivide and sell against neighbours who don't want the country transformed into an ultra-low-density suburb. The first group likes to point out that many of those in the second group live on land that somebody else subdivided and sold.

Canadians tend to forgive governments that make mistakes. After all, who among us has never goofed? It's when governments stubbornly refuse to fix their mistakes that we get mad.

Happily, there is a solution here. The city already owns more than 1,900 acres of the Carp Hills, including land immediately adjacent to this disputed subdivision. The city has set aside more than $5 million to buy threatened environmental areas.

We want our city to grow and prosper in a way that doesn't harm our environment. Up on the Carp Ridge, there's an opportunity to demonstrate how.

Alex Munter is a visiting professor at the University of Ottawa and former Ottawa councillor. E-mail him at amunter@uottawa.ca.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2004

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