An appeal hearing has been set for a proposed distribution centre in North Gower.
The Rideau Action Group announced the hearing this week regarding the proposed facility on Roger Stevens Drive, which was approved by the City of Ottawa in 2019.
Founding Chair for the group, Teddie Laframboise says if the building goes ahead as planned, the village will be irrevocably changed without much benefit to local residents.
“We’re up against the City of Ottawa, and Broccolini, who was the original applicant,” Laframboise said. “We’re talking about multi-million dollar budgets, and here we are. It’s a David and Goliath battle.”
The land at 1966 Roger Stevens Drive is currently farmed, and home to a number of rare or threatened species.
Laframboise says members of the group have emphasized that a distribution centre has no relationship to the village, and it has no connection with the agricultural heritage of the community.
“We’re supposed to be in a climate crisis,” Laframboise said. “People are supposed to be taking public transit, so what are they doing building a huge facility in the middle of farmland, 15 kilometres away from any public transit, it just doesn’t make sense.”
The development also goes against a number of Ottawa’s own planning policies.
This includes protecting the character of villages, preventing industrial-use buildings in residential areas, and policies that are in place to build in climate change resilience.
Laframboise also points out that North Gower is one of the most flood-prone areas in the entire Ottawa valley.
“Just think of adding all that water from the huge building, all the pavement, and their septic already going into a system that tends to flood,” she said.
The Rideau Action Group has been working over the past several months to engage the public and raise funds to support their legal fees and expert witnesses.
The 7-day hearing is scheduled for August 23.