Posted Jan 25, 2008, 1:09 PM
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National Capital Region
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Eastern Ontario
Posts: 9,244
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Quote:
Committee rejects Minto's Manotick plans
Patrick DareOttawa Citizen
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Citizens fighting a huge expansion of Manotick booed city staff and cheered their leaders Thursday night as they argued for the preservation of the community's village feel.
About 200 residents showed up at the city's rural and agricultural affairs committee at Tudor Hall as the committee considered the Mahogany community Minto Developments wants to build. After a seven-hour meeting, the committee voted 4-2 to reject Minto's proposal. The issue will be debated by full council on Feb. 13.
Several times, the committee's chairman, Councillor Rob Jellett, asked the crowd to stop cheering and jeering, to no avail. The Minto plan has hit a nerve with many of the community's 1,750 residents.
Minto wants to build a new community on 430 acres the company owns in Manotick. The land is bounded by Century Road, First Line Road and Manotick's Main Street.
Yesterday, the city's planning staff told councillors to approve the plan, which would see 1,400 houses go up, including single-family homes, townhouses and semis.
An additional 350 homes, in phases six and seven, could be built at a later date. Minto originally wanted to build 2,000 houses on its land.
City planner Myles Mahon acknowledged that the community's road system is at capacity. But he said key changes were made to the original plan, including the preservation of a woodlot and a more gradual staging of development, as well as design guidelines to make the houses fit in better. Phase 2 of the development would only proceed when measures to increase transportation capacity are complete.
Many citizens who showed up at the meeting weren't impressed.
Speaker after speaker argued against Minto's project, saying the development would destroy the scale and ambiance of the community.
"Manotick is a rural village. It's not a suburb," said Brian Tansley, president of the West Manotick Community Association. He said Manotick is a historic village that cannot keep its "sense of place" by doubling its size in 10 years.
Susan Boucher said the development would "effectively kill the village as we know it today." She said council has an obligation to support what residents want and they don't want the development.
Mary Findlater, waving a sign that said "a village speaks," said the development will make the community suburban, while Tom Levasseur said he fears "rows and rows of houses on postage-sized lots."
Residents also said they fear the increased traffic from development, saying that ambulances, fire trucks and police cars will have difficulty getting to people in need during heavy traffic periods.
But opposition to the development isn't unanimous.
Mike O'Neil, president of the Manotick Community Association, said there is some support in the community for the development. He said Manotick needs some of the things that come with development, such as community buildings. As an example, he noted that Manotick didn't have a meeting hall big enough to accommodate Thursday night's gathering.
Jack Stirling, vice-president of land development for Minto, said some residents didn't attend the meeting because they fear reprisals if they speak out in support of the development.
He said one of the builder's key disagreements with residents is over how many houses Minto can build on the land within the existing municipal secondary plan. He said residents believe it only allows for 250, but the company believes it allows many more.
Mr. Stirling said Minto will go to great lengths to ensure the new housing fits into Manotick, using materials such as wood and design guidelines with a more rural look.
Mr. Stirling said if the city approves the development, Minto could start building by late 2009. It plans to build about 150 houses a year.
Any appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board could push construction to 2011.
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