Quarries and golf courses – environmental issues

Ken McRae conveys — January 18, 2007:

1. Riverbend Golf & Country Club: This golf club is located on Franktown Road, west of the Village of Richmond, in the former Township of Goulbourn, now part of the City of Ottawa, on the Jock River.

In 1999 the golf club constructed a second 18 holes golf course on their property. Part of this second golf course was constructed on approximately 23.5 acres not zoned to allow a golf course usage, without first applying for and receiving the necessary rezoning and site plan approvals. The golf club owner left little or no vegetated buffer between parts of the golf course and the Jock River on the 23.5 acres.

Due to a formal complaint submitted by Ken McRae to the City of Ottawa, several years ago, this matter is finally being addressed. The golf club’s rezoning and site plan applications are tentively scheduled to go before the City of Ottawa’s “Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee” (ARAC) on March 8, 2007 for consideration.

Anyone interested in commenting on this matter to ARAC should check the city’s website at the link below after March 1st, 2007 to see if this matter is on the committee’s agenda for March 8th or not. If it is on that agenda then review the attached City staff report before commenting. Further information on this matter can be obtained by contacting the City Planner, Ms. Sally Switzer, handling this matter. She can be contacted by phone at 613-580-2424, extension 27597. http://city.ottawa.on.ca/cgi-bin/docs.pl?lang=en [article no longer online].

 

2.  Cornwall Gravel Company’s “Greely Quarry”: This quarry is located between the villages of Greely and Metcalfe, in the City of Ottawa. Local residents have previously expressed concerns regarding potential negative impacts on the area groundwater aquifer supplying their wells from water taking on the quarry site. They have also previously expressed concerns regarding potential negative impacts on local wetlands and wildlife habitat from water taken from the quarry excavation being discharged off of the quarry site.

The company has applied for a “Certificate of Approval Industrial Sewage Works” (AISW) to legally approve dewatering discharge from the quarry excavation off of the quarry site, and for water usage in an on-site aggregate washing facility. Opportunity for public comment on this application is provided via a “Proposal” posting on the Ontario Ministry of the Environment’s (MOE) “Environmental Bill of Rights Registry” (EBRR) website. The deadline for comments is Feb. 15th, 2007. A copy of this “Proposal” can be viewed by clicking on http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envregistry/029197ei.htm [Archivist’s note: This application was denied in June 2007: https://www.ebr.gov.on.ca/ERS-WEB-External/displaynoticecontent.do?noticeId=MjkxOTc=&statusId=MTUwNjYx&language=en].

Directly related to the above application is a new Permit To Take Water (PTTW) application that the company submitted prior to the AISW application. The “Proposal” posting for the PTTW application can be viewed by clicking on the following link. http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envregistry/029014ei.htm [Archivist’s note: This proposal was accepted in Jan 2007: https://www.ebr.gov.on.ca/ERS-WEB-External/displaynoticecontent.do?noticeId=MjkwMTQ=&statusId=MTQ5NTkw&language=en].

That posting indicates that the company wants to be legally permitted to take up to a maximum of 3,118,500 litres of water per day, 140 days per year. The comment period for this PTTW application has expired.

The above AISW application indicates that it applies to lands located in Lots 14 and 15, Concession 6, in the former Township of Osgoode, now part of the City of Ottawa. The quarry aggregate, “Significant Wetland” (same as Provincially Significant Wetland), and other zoning for this area can be seen by clicking on the following web link which shows a map schedule from the City of Ottawa’s Official Plan.   You need to zoom in to see the detail. http://ottawa.ca/city_services/planningzoning/2020/op/pdf/sched_a.pdf.