Advisory: City Staff on Hot Seat Over Terry Fox Drive Plans

OTTAWA– City Staff who are leading the Terry Fox Drive Extension project will have plenty of questions to answer when they speak at the City’s Forests and Greenspace Advisory Committee meeting today.

Steve Stoddard, senior planner for the project, will make a presentation on the environmental implications and the City’s mitigation plan.  Also lining up to speak are Ottawa citizens who have many serious concerns about the planning and environmental assessment processes for the road.

Work has already begun to build the road through the forests and wetlands of South March, funded in part with federal infrastructure funds.   But “we’ve been asking questions and not getting answers,” says Paul Renaud, who has been studying the matter intensely.  “Did City Council ever give approval for a $47 million four-lane road?  Did the City fail to meet its obligation to allow public comment on some of the changes to be made to surrounding lands?”

“We cannot allow deadlines for stimulus money to be used as justification for reckless development of our most bio-diverse natural area,” says Judy Makin, a South March resident who will present her concerns tonight.  “It’s never too late to do the right thing.”

What:  City of Ottawa Forests and Greenspace Advisory Committee
Where: Colonel By Room, second floor of City Hall, 110 Laurier West
When: 6:30 pm, Monday April 26, 2010

Contact:
Andrea Prazmowski
613-296-2383