Presentation to Planning and Environment Committee
28 June 2005

Agenda Item 17 East Urban Community Design Plan

The Ottawa Forests and Greenspace Advisory Committee is commenting on the East Urban Community Design Plan in order to strengthen some of the ecological provisions in the Plan.

Protection of Urban Natural Areas No. 97 and 96

We are concerned about the forested and greenspace land bounded by the hydro corridor to the north, and Renaud and Pagé Roads to the south and west respectively. That land, known as Urban Natural Area No 97 also has a small parcel of forested land to the west of Pagé Rd.

We expressed our concerns to the planner about the intent to turn part of this UNA into a stormwater mangement pond. We received the information that as the proposal to use the area for the SWP had undergone an environmental assessment and been approved by the Ministry of the Environment that nothing could be changed. It would appear that as no fish reside in the ravine, the greenspace values in that part of the UNA will be flooded.

We recommend that at the earliest possible time, the EIS guidelines be re-written so that forest and greenspace values are given as much weight as a population of fish. The EIS guidelines currently in use now date back to 1998 and are labeled "Draft".

We further note that due to regulatory changes in the federal Fisheries Act there will need to be a need to "re-examine the [CDP] study area to determine the fisheries potential for each surface watercourse, which will determine the level of protection required." Small fish populations rightly indicate the health of watercourses and of course should be protected. OFGAC will welcome the day when the City provides equal protection to forests and greenspaces and is willing, or required to do further studies leading to protection because of a regulatory or policy change.

Eleven woodlots have been defined and delineated in the past (CDP page 11 - Gorre and Storrie 1992 D4-10.). One of them, Woodlot No. 12, a 9 ha stand of almost pure pockets of Grey Birch was described, in 1992, as " significant because of its unusual composition and support of regionally rare species". OFGAC asked where Woodlot No 12 and the other woodlots are located and we not given that information. (although No. 12 is now identified as being east of Pagé between the hydro corridor and Mud Creek). But the May version of the CDP does not identify the location of the other woodlots. Is it good endough to say that the Urban Natural Areas in the CDP area had been identified and will be evaluated. UNA No 87 (Innes Park Woods) may no longer exist at all.

The location of UNA 96 is not shown on the two maps following page 20 and the first map following page 20 shows a collector road bisecting the unidentified UNA No 96.

OFGAC recommends that you pass a motion to have that collector road withdrawn from the plan.

OFGAC also recommends that no residential, commercial or transportation uses be assigned to UNAs 96 and 97 until their ecological value has been determined by this summer's field work as part of the Urban Natural Areas Environmental Evaluation Study.

There is a precedent for changing transportation corridor locations - set in Riverside South Area. Important woodlots were retained and transportation corridors routed around them. OFGAC recommends that this become standard practice in the future.

Iola Price, Chair
Ottawa Forests and Greenspace Advisory Committee