Resources

MARCH RURAL COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION

By   David Makin

Background Information

            The March Rural Community Association was founded in 1969 to represent the interests of residents and property owners in the rural area of the then Township of March, subsequently the City of Kanata, now part of the City of Ottawa. We meet monthly and a major part of our agenda   deals with requests from the City respecting new development.   The MRA also operates the local skating rink, maintains rural trails, and works with other Kanata Community Associations to, for example, run all - candidates meetings.

            The population of the March Rural community was 2,400 (1996 census) occupying 830 households. The community has exhibited steady growth since that time. Recent growth has taken place primarily in rural subdivisions, with severances from large landholdings also taking place. There are residences present throughout the rural area, varying from large estate lots, farm properties and rural subdivisions. There is some limited commercial activity. Agricultural activity consists of some remaining farmland (mainly beef and hay production) as well as considerable commercial and private horse stabling uses.

            There will be individual members of the MRA here tonight, who I hope will bring their concerns directly to this committee.   What I want to is to present an overview to you of the kinds of issues that regularly come up at our monthly meetings.   In fact, some of these issues have been coming around for about thirty years, and it must be said that sometimes there are no right answers, or solutions that will satisfy every point of view.   Therefore, the MRA often does its best to represent all points of view in communicating to the City.   You will see tonight that in the commentary that follows, it is often the case that the MRA takes no position, but rather asks that specific issues be carefully considered in the overall decision - making process

Development

            The MRA, being a rural community association on the edge of an expanding urban community, has observed a great deal of development.   We've seen what was rural farmland become intensely urban areas, and we've watched rural land become residential estate lots.    We've watched the growth of the Kanata North Business Park and we made submission on the development of the Corel Center.   I believe it is fair to day that MRA has never opposed development if we are convinced that it is well - planned; we reflect what our former Mayor aptly called a "show me" attitude.   This brings me to two important development issues, where we have a lot of concern.   These issues come up because sometimes it seems like we are the only people participating in the planning process who have a long-term memory.

            We feel strongly that there is a lack of depth in the review of new development.   By this I do not suggest that individuals aren't doing the best that they can, but rather that the system does not encourage awareness of what has gone before.   Turnover in staff exacerbates the problem; perhaps it is fair to say that there is a lack of corporate memory in the new City.  

             The March Road Arterial study , the Kanata North Urban Expansion OMB hearings and report, and the Kanata West Expansion Area studies are now old history to some.    They were major projects that our members participated in because of our desire to participate in good development.    We worry that the work of these studies has been put aside, or forgotten.   The cost of arterial road expansion to serve development in Kanata North was a key issue in OMB hearings, yet the commitment to have proper infrastructure in place before building proceeds has slipped off the table.   We should not be presented with proposals for development that trip over policy decisions that have already been agreed on, following lengthy community consultation and approval by Council.

            The second point I want to make on the issue of development relates to the continued development of rural estate lots.   We've seen a lot of this, and no doubt there will be more.   These applications come piecemeal, sometimes for one lot and sometimes for fifty, and apparently are dealt with on an ad hoc basis.   However we feel that there is no overall plan to rural growth.   The MRA acknowledge that there are contrasting points of view about rural estate development; on   the one hand, the property owner, who is sometimes a long-standing rural resident and farmer, wishes to maximize the value of his land; on the other hand, neighbours may not like the great change that estate development can cause to a rural area.   There is obviously a balancing of interests in dealing with these applications, and sometimes the best the MRA can do is acknowledge that both points of view have validity.   We would suggest that the City needs an overall "inventory" of rural lots available, and some guidelines to provide a basis for decision making.

Water Resources

            This issue flows, and flows downhill, from the issues above. Rural residents depend on their own wells and septic systems.   We own them and we maintain them; we are expected to fix them when they go wrong.   We always pay attention to storm water management in new urban development; the urban storm water is rural ground water.   But the question that has not been answered with respect to rural estate development is, when is enough enough?

            How big an area are we really dealing with when we talk about ground water resources?   Will estate development on the Carp Ridge affect the water in wells on Huntmar Road?   Will the development of a quarry on the Dunrobin Road have an impact?   Will the development of a new estate subdivision on Second Line with forty or fifty new wells and septic tanks have an impact?   Common sense tells us that at some point, we are going to run into a problem.   Is it enough to accept, on an individual basis, that test wells have been drilled and water seems to be sufficient?   The awkward answer has to be "we don't know".

            When water quality problems arise residents will look to the City for relief; this is what happened in Carp and Manotick   Residents will be quick to point to new development as the source of problems.    We know there are well water issues in Dunrobin.   Water issues are also important respecting two major garbage dumps, one private and one formerly operated by March Township, that we need to watch.   We know wells ran dry on the Old Carp road in recent years.  

            I really want to plant that seed of doubt in your mind about water resources and further rural development, because if we get it wrong, we are all going to pay for it.   I think there is a considerable and justifiable concern for our water quality, and I would hope that some efforts could be made to develop a comprehensive rural water resources plan, which identifies known problems, tracks water flows, water quality and water quantity.   At the very least we could develop a data bank of the individual studies that have been done in the past, and we could require testing and cataloguing of well water quality when properties are sold.

            With respect to both these issues, there are tremendous long-term consequences to getting it wrong.   Let's not find out an intersection should be widened only after a major accident involving a school bus with our kids on it.   Let's not have a sudden change in water quality affecting a large number of residents.   Either scenario is one we have been raising flags about for years, yet there seems to be no action.   Please don't put us in a position to say "We told you so."

The Right to Farm

            In submissions to revisions to the official plans, and the MRA has always made submissions, we have asked for an affirmation of the right to farm in our rural area.   This isn't a given by any means.   City folks who move to the country like the dark skies and the fresh air, but they often complain that traffic is held up by a tractor on the road,   about the noise of farm equipment running long hours on a seasonal basis, or about farm smells.   The farmers were here first and they have a right to pursue their business.

Rural Roadside Issues

            I'd like to bring several specific issues to you, some of which flow from recent budget constraints.   It's not apparent that anyone thought of these matters when budgets were under examination.

            It's one thing to cut back on cutting grass on the city-owned median of an arterial road.   But when roadside maintenance on a rural road is cut back, please be aware that there can be consequences beyond unsightly dandelions.   The roadside plants grow really well, and they can be adjacent to a farmer's crops; in fact, if he let his fields come to the state of the city roadside, he'd probably be in trouble for failing to control his weeds.   The bushes and trees along roads grow more quickly than the adjacent forests because they get more sun, and if they aren't cut back then road signs are obscured, and locally I know that tree branches hit the sides of school buses on some routes.

            Another unintended consequence of cutbacks is apparent in the amount of garbage dumped on rural roads. When you cut back on roadside pickup, there are people who view roadside ditches as the ideal place to get rid of construction materials or half a dozen tires.   Judging from comments at the MRA recently, this problem is getting worse.   Remember that it is city staff who, eventually, have to clean this up.