Fernbank Community Design Plan

In 2005, as a result of the City losing a developers’ appeal to the OMB, 455 ha in Kanata West was designated Urban – the Del, Brookfield and Westpark lands. The first step to develop this and some adjacent land goes under the name of “Fernbank Community Design Plan.”

An Open House and Community Design Roundtable (invitation) was held on November 29, 2006 at Scotiabank Place. This was an all-in-one process: CDP and Class Environmental Assessment, and Planning Act requirements for implementation of the Official Plan Amendment. The study area is 650 hectares between Fernbank and Hazeldean Roads. Contact Myles Mahon at the City (613-580-2424 xt 27817) or the consultant, Wendy Nott (1-866-968-3511), or visit www.fernbankcdp.com [no longer online] for more information.

Purchase of a portion of the Fernbank wetland from DCR Phoenix (who had gone to the OMB to get development rights approved) and the OPA and Zoning amendments were approved by Council last January (six Councillors dissented). The purchase (for $1.2 million) was supported by the Goulbourn Wetlands Group and the Ottawa Forests and Greenspace Advisory Committee. Submissions by Christine Hartig and Iola Price were posted to this list on 18 Jan 2006. There were related postings on Jan 14 and 15. Conflicted between this support on the one hand and, on the other hand, the fact that there are other wetlands of higher ecological value (e.g. the Remer wetland near Leitrim), the limited amount of funds available and the huge price paid, the Alliance did not comment.

Facts: DCR Phoenix bought this portion of the land (69.7 acres) 2 years ago at $16,157/acre. (The deal did not close until 1 June 2005.) The taxpayers now bought 7.5 acres for $149,590/acre. However, if you add in Parcel 2 (which is being deeded to the City), the total acreage coming to the City rises to 35.6 acres and the price per acre becomes $33,242. (Source: Minutes of Corp. Cee.)

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Delcan’s Kelly Roberts wrote on December 12, 2006:

Round Table Participants – thank you for your participation and interest on November 29 at the Fernbank Community Design Plan Public Open House and Community Roundtable. You completed the portion of the comment sheet which asked if you were interested in becoming a member of the Public Advisory Committee (PAC) for the project. The PAC will meeting approximately 5 times over the next 12 months and be responsible for reviewing materials and representing the interests of the organizations represented.

Eight to ten representatives from the community will be invited to form the PAC from Community Groups such as; Community Associations; Recreation Associations; Religious Organization and Special Interest Groups. Where more than one group representative has been identified, the group or collection of individuals will be asked to select a single representative.

Please confirm that you are interested in participating.

BCC to all interested individuals.

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Two Community Design Roundtables followed, on January 31 and June 5, 2007. Open Houses were held on September 24, 2007 and April 27, 2009. The process was delayed until the Third Party review of the Carp River Restoration was approved (May 2009).

The CDP, OPA and supporting plans were approved in May/June 2009. – the report is here. Committee and Council made several amendments. The Council Minutes of June 24, 2009 are here (PEC Report 53, item 4).

The final CDP is on the City’s web site here.

For more information about OPA 77, FGA’s appeal, sworn witness statements by Ted Cooper and Darlene Conway, and revisions of the Class Environmental Assessment manual of the Municipal Engineers Association, please go here.