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Inside this week: The Metcalfe Jets made their home debut last weekend, find out how they did on Page 23.
OttawaSouthWeekender Our weekend papers reach over 169,057 homes in the National Capital Region 6th Year, No. 43, October 24, 2008
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WSG meets to discuss draft policy WEEKENDER STAFF A meeting between city staff and members of the Wetlands Stakeholder Group (WSG) on Monday afternoon to discuss a draft proposal of section 3.2.5 for the City of Ottawa’s Official Plan (OP) resulted in emotions running high as the meeting wore on. The draft, which head of the Goulbourn Landowners Association Terry Hale says he likes, proposes that the city “in consultation with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) will evaluate the wetland status of lands within the Flewellyn Special Policy Area following the Ontario Wetland Evaluation System (OWES) approximately five years following the completion of drainage works targeted for 2009.” “It basically puts us back to the agreement in 2006,” said Hale the day after the meeting. “Judy (Flavin, a program manager with the City) will take this policy back and the few comments that were made and the suggestions made and tweak it a bit and get back to us with her final version of it.” Hale explained the steps through the next month, prior to a meeting of Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee (ARAC) on Nov. 27.
“Sometime between now and the end of November, the city has to talk to municipal affairs and housing and MNR about this and get their feelings on it. "Because when they report back to ARAC they have to know what the provincial reaction is going. The whole official plan has to go to ARAC at that point and this is part of; it has to be pretty well finalized by then. In the meantime, we’re still working with MNR trying to get this whole mess straightened up.” While the wording of the actual proposal will likely change between now and the ARAC meeting – Flavin took suggestions from members of the WSG during the meeting – the idea remains that drainage construction projects could change (or revert) lands to what the MNR considers not wetlands. The OP would then be changed to reflect whatever lands MNR designates as “provincially-significant wetlands” at that time. Rideau-Goulbourn Coun. Glenn Brooks attended most of the meeting and explained that he wants to see forward movement on the proposal and on the issue. “I’ve sat around this table with many of the same people for three years,” he said. “And I feel like we’re still on square one.”
C. HOFLEY / ADVANCE STAFF
Crash sends one to hospital
Fire crews, police and paramedics responded to a single-vehicle accident on Donnelly Drive near Burritts Rapids shortly after 8 a.m. on Tuesday morning after a woman driving a red car left the road, flipped over and struck a hydro pole before coming to a stop on the vehicle's roof. Few details were available by press time but police at the scene said the woman was taken to hospital with what appeared to be minor injuries. Bruce Webster of the Rural Council of Ottawa Carleton is worried that more delays will occur with the drainage project, which will keep adding costs to the project.
“This has gone on for three years,” he said. “It’s ridiculous. All it’s doing is adding cost, aggravation and more flooding to these property owners.” The issue that keeps sur-
facing is simple: Many of the landowners believe their lands should never have been considered as “significant wetlands” in the first place. History of the land shows that the construction
of Hwy. 7 changed the flow of different rivers, but that’s in the past. For now, the target date remains as Nov. 27 when ARAC meets next to finalize OP amendments.
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