The Truth About the Kanata Lakes Golf Course Development Proposal

Many of you probably see the opposition to replacing the Kanata Lakes golf course with housing as just a NIMBY response of a bunch of privileged entitled suburbanites living in their low density paradise. After all golf courses are not usually considered environmentally friendly and there is a real need for more housing, though whether we need more low density suburban housing is a different question.

However there is a much bigger backstory to this whole issue relating to larger issues of environmental protection and land developers' powers over communities and municipal governments.

All of Kanata Lakes (originally referred to as Marchwood-Lakeside in planning documents), including the golf course, was zoned as Environmental Protection before the developers flexed their muscle threatening to go to the Ontario Municipal Board to get them to overrule the environmental zoning unless the municipal authorities allowed them to develop the land. The result was the flawed 40% agreement applying to Kanata Lakes/South March Highlands.. This was supposedly to protect the most environmentally sensitive lands yet the municipal authorities allowed the developer to include a golf course in that 40% protected “greenspace”. Much of the rest of the 40% was lands the developer did not want to develop anyway. I suppose we should be thankful homeowners lawns were not also included in the 40%.

The fact is we only have the South March Highlands Conservation Forest because the municipality bought those lands as that was the only way to protect them as environmental zoning is almost meaningless in Ontario.

For example a portion of the South March Highlands Conservation Forest within the Trillium Woods was zoned Environmental Protection. When the municipality denied permission to develop it the developer went to the OMB and had the zoning overturned and the municipality was forced to buy the land to protect it from development.

The golf course represents a contractual agreement by the developer (passed on to it's successors) to protect 40% of the total Kanata Lakes/South March Highlands lands as “greenspace”. To allow that 40% protected “greenspace” to be reduced even further would be to admit that communities have absolutely no control over land development and that there are virtually no protections for environmentally important lands in Ontario. It would be to say to the land development industry - go ahead do whatever you want, we are not even going to try to give communities a say in local development decisions anymore.

The solution is not to just acquiesce because trading a golf course for housing might be a good idea but to use this as an opportunity to further strengthen the 40% agreement by swapping the protected golf course lands for more environmentally important lands in the South March Highlands. While most of the KNL (Urbandale/Richcraft) lands are probably too far along in the development stage to be protected there is an environmentally significant portion of lands north of the South March Highlands Conservation Forest including a significant block of land owned by Metcalfe Realty that is zoned Environmental Protection.

The 2008 Brunton report said this about these lands:

Even at 400 ha, the Conservation Forest is presently too small to fully represent South March Highlands natural features and functions. A substantial proportion of that deficiency, however, is represented in the area immediately east and north of Heron Pond. Were the contributions of that area included within those of the present Conservation Forest, total protected floristic representation would rise to 98%. Significant species representation would also increase considerably, rising to 85% of the South March Highlands total. Substantially better representation of Blanding’s Turtle breeding habitat would also be achieved. Conservation management of this adjacent landscape is clearly a desirable objective of impact mitigation for the Conservation Forest.

It is recommended that management planning consider mechanisms for incorporating and protecting the ecological contributions of adjacent lands, particularly those to the north, to minimize negative impacts of the unnatural shape of the Conservation Forest.

Natural environment assessment (existing conditions):

South March Highlands Conservation Forest, Kanata,Ottawa, Ontario, May 2008, Daniel F. Brunton, Brunton Consulting Services, Ottawa, Ontario)

My understanding is that the municipal government has been trying to purchase that land but the landowner wants to sell it as a price suitable for development lands and the municipality wants to buy it at it's value as land zoned Environmental Protection.

I would propose that the current owner of the Kanata Lakes golf course purchase that land and donate it to the city (for inclusion in the South March Highlands Conservation Forest) to replace the golf course lands within the 40% agreement and that the golf course lands then be zoned for housing.

This is not quite a win win situation as no doubt it will not satisfy most of the current neighbours of the golf course, but it will allow for new housing and protect more environmentally important lands while strengthening the spirit of the 40% agreement.

Note: the terms municipality and municipal authorities, etc. are used above because over the time period involved the municipal jurisdiction went through numerous reorganizations from City of Kanata to a regional government model to the current enlarged City of Ottawa. It should also be noted that the ownership of lands comprising Kanata Lakes have passed through several developers over the years.

Further Background Information

Kanata Lakes 40% Plan, City of Ottawa

(click/double click on image to enlarge)

South Mach Highlands Zoning Map
 

(click/double click on image to enlarge)

 Zoning Codes Used on Map
RESIDENTIAL ZONES
Residential Third Density Zone R3
Residential Fifth Density Zone R5
OPEN SPACE AND LEISURE ZONES
Parks and Open Space Zone O1
ENVIRONMENTAL ZONE
Environmental Protection Zone EP
RURAL ZONES
Agricultural Zone AG
Rural Residential RR
Rural Countryside Zone RU
OTHER ZONES
Development Reserve Zone DR


Comprehensive Map of the South March Highlands

(click/double click on image to enlarge) 

THE FIFTH COLUMN: Saving the South March Highlands: Looking to the Future

THE FIFTH COLUMN: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The South March Highlands

THE FIFTH COLUMN Everything I have written on The South March Highlands and The South March Highlands Management Plan

The Coalition to Protect The South March Highlands Changed Everything - The Need For A Moratorium on Development in SMH

Before the Sierra Club raised the issue of the Terry Fox Drive Extension and the Blandings Turtle, which was taken up by a group of concerned residents who expanded the mandate to include protecting all of the South March Highlands (SMH), there was no hope.

It was pretty well assumed that Terry Fox Drive would go through the middle of SMH, the KNL development south of the road would destroy that part of SMH and the only part of this ecological jewel that would be protected would be the city-owned South March Highlands Conservation Forest, including Trillium Woods and the land the city purchased thanks to Alex Munter.

My best hope at that time was that maybe the city would purchase at least some of the land north of the SMH Conservation Forest that is zoned Environmental Protection and add it to the protected lands.

Then came the Coalition to Protect the South March Highlands and due to their hard work in researching the environmental issues and raising public awareness of the South March Highlands everything changed.


I would like to thank them publicly for bringing us to the point that saving all of the South March Highlands is very much a possibility and saving at least more of it is virtually a certainty. I know how hard they have worked and how much dedication they have put to the cause and it is remarkable. I will not name names simply because I believe they would want the focus put on the land and not on individuals.

It is clear that their is a consensus among the community and City Council that the South March Highlands is an ecological jewel that should be saved. The only point of discussion seems to be how much money the City should spend, or can afford to spend, to save it.

Even City Council's most environmental neanderthal has proposed that the City spend money to purchase the lands north of the SMH Conservation Forest and the National Capital Commission (NCC) is considering adding the South March Highlands to the Greenbelt. Even the developer, KNL, is willing to give up a small portion of their lands to increase the protected area.

These lands are all environmentally inter-connected and dependent on each other, the loss of parts of it may have devastating effects on what is left. Those of us who are environmentally minded and forward thinking know that if we do not save all of the South March Highlands, or at least all of it that has not yet been developed, our descendants will look back at this lost opportunity with deep regret that we did not find a way to make it happen.

I will be the first one to recognize that there may be financial considerations that make it difficult for a municipality, the City of Ottawa, to buy all the KNL lands at their current value, the lands having been inappropriately rezoned for development when they should not have been. The blame for that must be shared by a lot of people.

But a way must be found to save this land that is of provincial significance from an environmental viewpoint, and of national significance being in the nation's capital. The responsibility and costs should be shared by all three levels of government.

What we need is a moratorium on all development in the South March Highlands until the community and all three levels of government can come together and find a solution to save this ecological jewel. All three levels of government must make a commitment to do what is necessary to put such a moratorium in place and the must do it immediately.

The decision makers must act now or their grandchildren's grandchildren will never forgive them.

How Dumb Does Randall Denley Really Think We Are

Randall Denley would have us all believe that the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) is an impartial body designed to protect citizen's interests from the actions of big bad government and that it is the only recourse citizens have to appeal municipal government decisions.

He states, in the Ottawa Citizen:

the candidate this week released a proposal to abolish the Ontario Municipal Board. He would like to extend the iron fist to council in general, so that council decisions would not be appealable to any other body.

An attempt to extinguish an individual's right to appeal a council decision is legally dubious at best. The individual's right to challenge a government decision is fundamental to our system. Doucet's idea would hurt communities, not just developers.

As a citizen, I have been involved with appeals to the OMB, as well as applications for judicial review, the process by which decisions by governments, including municipal governments, and governmental administrative bodies can be reviewed by the courts.

Randal Denley would have us believe that he is unaware of judicial review in Ontario. Does anyone really believe that an experienced journalist covering provincial and municipal affairs is not aware of judicial review.

No other province has the equivalent of the OMB. Abolishing the OMB will simply mean that appeals of municipal government decisions will be heard by real courts with real judges not by a developers kangaroo court presided over by corporate lackeys.

There is a word for statements that are made knowing them to be untrue.

Saving the South March Highlands - Urgent Call to Action

The story of the South March Highlands and why it must be saved, in under five minutes.
A must watch video. (Best viewed full screen in 720HD)
Who would have thought this spring, when the battle to save the South March Highlands was reignited, first by the Sierra Club of Canada in relation to the Terry Fox Drive Extension and the Blanding's Turtle, and soon after that by a coalition of concerned residents and community groups, focusing on the road and the proposed development lands, that we would be looking towards a possible victory in the battle.

However, as I write this, a motion is about to go before Ottawa City Council on Wednesday October 6 to expropriate the KNL lands, known as the Beaver Pond Forest, that are in imminent threat of clear cutting and urban development.

It is urgent that this motion pass as the first step in saving the South March Highlands. But it is only the first step. Originally all of the South March Highlands was zoned "environmental protection" and presumably protected. But as we all know, in Ontario, where developers have their own kangaroo court known as the Ontario Municipal Board, zoning is meaningless when it comes to protecting environmentally sensitive lands. In order to save the rest of the South March Highlands the city must purchase all of the remaining SMH lands that have not yet been developed, both those that have been rezoned for development, and those that remain zoned "environmental protection".

Maps indicating the boundary of the South March Highlands (from Brunton report)
and zoning of the lands (from City of Ottawa)

(click maps to enlarge)

Zoning Codes Used on Map
RESIDENTIAL ZONES
Residential Third Density Zone R3
Residential Fifth Density Zone R5
OPEN SPACE AND LEISURE ZONES
Parks and Open Space Zone O1
ENVIRONMENTAL ZONE
Environmental Protection Zone EP
RURAL ZONES
Agricultural Zone AG
Rural Residential RR
Rural Countryside Zone RU
OTHER ZONES
Development Reserve Zone DR

I therefore urge all of you to immediately email your City Councillor and urge them to support the expropriation motion and the acquisition by the city, by negotiation or expropriation, of all of the remaining SMH lands.

This is a jewel, a piece of wilderness in the city, that we cannot let become just more cookie cutter subdivisions.

Marianne's Folly - Kanata Lakes 40% Agreement

It seemed like a good deal - a developer agreeing to protect 40% of it's land as "greenspace" instead of the normally mandated 5%. It seemed like a good deal till you realize none of that land should be developed in the first place as it was all zoned as environmentally protected conservation lands. The only thing that made it seem like a good deal was the fact that developers rule in Ontario and have their own kangaroo court - the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) to threaten communities, municipalities and environmentalists with.

We can argue till the proverbial cows come home whether the deal should have been made or whether the developers bluff should have been called and the original zoning defended by the cities of Kanata, Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton and City of Ottawa.

What we do know is that the agreement could not have been implemented in a worse way, resulting in very little actual environmentally sensitive land being protected and a private golf course being designated as "greenspace".

The first mistake was in designating the allegedly "protected" land as "greenspace" rather than environmentally important land. The second mistake was in not identifying the protected lands at the very beginning before any development took place in Kanata Lakes. And the third, and most important mistake, was in virtually letting the developer decide what was to be in the 40 of "greenspace", leading to such absurdities as the golf course being included in the "protected" lands.

So now we have an unsustainable corridor of protected land, surrounded by development and barely connected to the rest of the South March highlands . That is what we got for giving up the fight to protect all of the South March Highlands - folly indeed.

Saving the South March Highlands - Pursuing the Possible

(click map to enlarge)

As the above map indicates only approximately one third of the South March Highlands are protected within the city owned South March Highlands Conservation Forest, although originally all the lands were zoned with environmental protection.

The way zoning works, as far as environmentally protected land is concerned, is that developers can apply for rezoning through the municipal process or by appealing to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) as many times as they want. If they lose they can keep coming back with new proposals using the outspend, outwait and outfrustrate strategy to combat environmentalists and communities that want to protect environmentally important lands. However once land is zoned for development it is virtually impossible to undo it - because that would be taking away landowners rights. The environment, apparently, has no such rights.

Indeed developers make a large portion of their profits from "political development" - buying protected land cheap and using their influence to get it rezoned for development and massively increased in value.

If you look at the zoning map below (with the protected land approximately indicated in orange) you will see that about half of the non-protected lands in the South March Highlands are developed or zoned for development, and about half are zoned as Environmental Protection Zone (EP) or Parks and Open Space Zone (O1). We know that the zoning does not provide protection as all the lands were originally zoned protected.

(click map to enlarge)

Zoning Codes Used on Map
RESIDENTIAL ZONES
Residential Third Density Zone R3
Residential Fifth Density Zone R5
OPEN SPACE AND LEISURE ZONES
Parks and Open Space Zone O1
ENVIRONMENTAL ZONE
Environmental Protection Zone EP
RURAL ZONES
Agricultural Zone AG
Rural Residential RR
Rural Countryside Zone RU
OTHER ZONES
Development Reserve Zone DR

So how do we set priorities in terms of protecting the undeveloped land from development.

One strategy, and one hard to argue with, is to focus on the most urgent threats to the land, which at the moment is the construction underway on the Terry Fox Drive Extension and the imminent start of work on the KNL housing development. This brave battle has been taken on by the Coalition to Save the South March Highlands (website in progress) and the I want to save the land North of Beaver Pond Park in Kanata Ontario Facebook Group. Unfortunately these are both very difficult battles to win.

The City seems determined to ignore its own demographic information indicating no urgent need for the road and to completely undermine the environmental assessment process in order to get free federal money for this environmentally devastating project. Everyday that construction continues we get closer to the point of no return. Perhaps the old saying needs to be rewritten to "free money is the root of all evil".

The battle over the KNL lands has been fought between the developers, the community and environmentalists for literally decades until the community just ran out of the ability to keep fighting. A brave last stand is underway but unless KNL can be convinced to sell the land and someone can be convinced to buy it and protect it, it's loss is inevitable.

But there is another strategy. One that can be undertaken alongside these brave attempts to stop the highway and save the KNL lands. It is a strategy that looks to the future - to save SMH lands before it becomes almost impossible to do so.

On November 10, 2000 the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton announced the purchase of 556 acres of the South March Highlands for $1.6 million at the urging of Kanata Regional Councillor Alex Munter who has stated his biggest achievement would be putting South March Highland into public ownership to keep it protected. These are the lands that along with Trillium Woods form the bulk of the currently protected lands in the South March Highlands Conservation Forest.

If one examines the zoning map you can see that an additional area of almost the same size within the South March Highlands is zoned either as Environmental Protection Zone (EP) or Parks and Open Space Zone (O1).

No matter what happens in the battles over the Terry Fox Drive Extension and the KNL development the City of Ottawa must move immediately to acquire this land, using it's expropriation powers if necessary, before it undergoes the "political development" process and it's value is increased. As it stands, there is very little the landowners can do with it other than pay taxes on it. The City would be doing them a favour by purchasing the land (their hopes of using their political influence to increase it's value being irrelevant).

It is clearly in the public interest to purchase these environmentally sensitive and important lands and it is becoming increasingly apparent that is also what the public wants.

This strategy is clearly very possible.

As to those pursuing the strategy of trying to achieve the near impossible - Keep up the battle you might yet succeed and if you do not you will have raised public awareness and moved public opinion in a way that hopefully provides City Council with the political will to do the possible and save two-thirds of the South March Highlands rather than one-third.

Once Upon A Time In Teronia

The following is a fable, but like all fables it contains hidden (and not so hidden) truths.

Once upon a time in a land called Teronia there was a village surrounded by pristine environmental lands. The villagers cherished these lands and the village elders declared that they would be protected for all time.

Then they were visited by representatives of the Guild of Developers who told the villagers that if they were allowed to "develop" their precious environmental lands everyone would benefit. But the villagers knew better and said "never never".

So the Guild told the village elders that they would go to The Lords of Omb who would give them permission. The elders said "do you really think they would do that" and the Guild said "they always do" and the elders gave each other knowing looks and just shook their heads.

Then the Guild said to the villagers, and the elders, that they would promise to keep half of the lands as "greenspace" if they would not oppose their plans. A group of the villagers, known as "the radicals", said "you cannot trust the Guild" but the elders said "but we have no choice".

So the Guild built roads and houses and a place for a new sport called "golf" where gentlemen would hit small rocks with sticks and chase after them in chariots. They removed the trees and plants and wildlife and planted a single type of grass that the rocks rolled easily on and they spread chemicals on it to help it grow and poisons on it to stop other things from growing and called it "greenspace".

When the villagers saw the final plan they saw that their precious environmental lands were to be destroyed - the half of the lands that was to be "greenspace", that they thought would protect their precious lands, was nothing but a "golf course" and narrow corridors with unnatural man made pathways instead of the rugged trails that were there. They knew that they had been deceived.

The local elder said "a deal is a deal and we lost and now it is time for us to change sides and support whatever the Guild wants", but the radicals said "No - it is never to late to do what is right".

So how will this fable end. That will be up to the villagers.

Zoning: Developers vs the Environment and the Public Interest

I was out on my bike yesterday riding along Huntmar Road and the Carp River, including land on the flood plain that the city has approved for housing development. Along parts of my route you could not even tell where the river is as everything is flooded alongside it.

As I passed the Corel Centre I recalled the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) rezoning battle for the proposed NHL arena lands.

My wife and I were amongst the official objectors to the proposal to rezone thousands of acres of high quality farmland for commercial development, including the arena. The result was unusual in that we essentially won the battle with the well funded developers. The arena and 100 acres, was allowed to be developed but the remaining thousands of acres were protected and conditions were put on the development to protect the surrounding land from development, including limiting sewage and other services to the size necessary for the arena and requiring the developer to pay for the Highway 417 interchange because it would only be serve the arena project.

The only reason we won this unusual victory was because of timing. The battle was waged during the short period that Ontario actually had a progressive government (Bob Rae’s New Democratic Party government) that cared about protecting the environment and protecting farmland and our food supply. It was the dedicated officials from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF) that carried the major weight of the battle, otherwise the various public interest groups would not have been able to compete with the financial resources of the developer.

Interestingly the quality of the farmland was not an issue at the hearings, although it was an issue in the developers PR campaign. Even as the developer was presenting to the OMB it’s consultants report, that agreed that the land was high quality agricultural land, the developer was waging a public relations campaign of lies to claiming the exact opposite of what they were saying to the OMB, a quasi-judicial board. They knew better that to try to lie to the OMB but lying to the public was no problem for them.

So why was I biking through all sorts of development adjacent to the arena. It is essentially because the rules favour the developers. A victory for the developers is always permanent. A victory for the environment and the public interest is always temporary.

Once developers get land zoned for development it can virtually never be taken away no matter what environmental or public interest arguments and evidence might be presented. To do so would take away their “property rights” and that has financial implications - it would be reducing the monetary value of their land.

However land that is zoned to protect it from development for environmental and public interests reasons has no such long term protection. The developers can keep trying again and again until the defenders of the environment and public interest can no longer afford to keep fighting. It appears that the environment and the public interest has no monetary value.

One of the most troubling cases involved land adjacent to the Trillium Woods in Kanata that was designated as environmentally protected and purchased by a developer (Minto). The City was forced to purchase the lands when the OMB basically ruled that because the land was owned by a developer the developer could do whatever it wanted with it.

This is the type of irrational thinking that leads to the argument that we have to destroy the environment or the economy will collapse. The fact that there would be no economy without the environment is irrelevant because there is no monetary value placed on the environment.

If we are going to have livable communities we have to place a value on the environment that we live in. Once land is designated as protected from development those environmental rights should have the same permanent status as developers rights to destroy the environment (and farmland) have.