NORTH GOWER — The Ontario Land Tribunal will hear residents’ appeals Nov. 8 on zoning changes to accommodate a planned distribution centre at 1966 Roger Stevens Drive.
In a press release, opponents of the development with the “Rideau Action Group” in the North Gower and Kars neighbourhood say they are “excited and relieved” at the date.
Beginning on the 8th, the Tribunal will sit for seven days on the controversial matter after long delays caused by COVID-19.
Residents living close to the site learned that something was up in August 2019 when the City of Ottawa notified them of proposed zoning and Official Plan amendments. A community meeting in October later revealed plans for a “massive distribution centre on the scale of the Amazon facility at Citigate in Barrhaven, to be built by out-of-town multi-billion dollar developer Broccolini,” the unhappy opponents report.
They point out that the North Gower subject property was originally zoned to allow for sustainable commercial and small industrial development specifically for the benefit of the agricultural community. They claim a 1999 mediation agreement “was supposed to have settled the matter of what was permissible on the land in perpetuity.”
Ottawa’s Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee hosted a full-day of public comment on the development in December 2019. Only one councillor voted against it.
