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Press Release:
July 29, 2003
THE FRIENDS
OF THE JOCK RIVER WINS FIGHT FOR
PROTECTION OF THE RICHMOND
CONSERVATION AREA
The Friends of the Jock River has successfully lobbied the
Ministry of Environment to amend the City’s Certificate of
Approval for three lagoons in the Richmond Conservation Area. The
change will prevent two sub-standard lagoons in Richmond from
being used for sewage storage, and will make possible the
implementation of the Richmond Conservation Area Management Plan.
Overview
You don’t have to be an environmentalist to find the decision
somewhat peculiar: establish a conservation area to be managed
for birds and other wild life; invite the public to come and enjoy
the opportunities for passive recreation and nature observation;
and then, as soon as you’re ready to make it happen, agree to a
plan to store sewage right where the public and wild life will
be. Oddly enough, that’s just what Goulbourn Township’s council
and mayor agreed to four years ago, at the urging of staff working
for the Region of Ottawa-Carleton. The conservation area in
question is the Richmond Conservation Area, along Eagleson Road,
just south of Richmond Road.
Environmental organizations, such as the Friends of the Jock
River, have been fighting ever since to hold Goulbourn Township
and the Region (now amalgamated as the City of Ottawa) to their
promise to protect the conservation area through mitigation
measures. In 2001, the Ministry of Environment issued an amended
certificate of approval to the City for operating its Richmond
sewage facilities, and the amendments did not look good for
conservation. The certificate allowed all three lagoons in the
conservation area to be used for sewage storage, including two
that did not satisfy Ministry standards. Eric Snyder,
vice-president of the Friends of the Jock River, and long-time
resident of Richmond, led the battle to turn things around.
Almost two years later, the Ministry’s Assessment and Approvals
branch called a 27 June teleconference with the Friends of the
Jock River, the City of Ottawa, and its Toronto, Ottawa and
Kingston offices to resolve some of the issues.
Background
The Richmond lagoons consist of three cells (Cell A, B and C)
situated within the village of Richmond. The cells were used by
the Region for sewage treatment until the construction in 1983 of
the Richmond pumping station and forcemain to Glen Cairn. The
lagoons were retained until Regional engineering staff was
satisfied that the pumping station and forcemain could be relied
upon to deal with Richmond’s sewage, and in 1986 were abandoned.
The land was purchased by Goulbourn Township, which designated it
as an industrial park. However, the area had become a renowned
birding destination, and Eric Snyder, then a member of Goulbourn’s
Environmental Advisory Committee, recommended that the cells and
surrounding land be made into a conservation area. The Richmond
Conservation Area was opened in 1993, and the Richmond
Conservation Area Management Plan, written mostly by Eric, was
adopted in 1997. With the apparent support of Goulbourn Council,
the future of the area seemed assured.
However, although the Richmond lagoons had been abandoned, they
were never decommissioned by the Region. In 1999, Regional staff
initiated a study to decide how to solve capacity problems in the
Richmond forcemain, and wanted to reclaim the lagoons as part of
its sewage facility. Goulbourn Township, and its mayor, Janet
Stavinga, supported the Region’s plans. But Goulbourn’s
Environmental Advisory Committee expressed serious concerns about
impacts on the Richmond Conservation Area. After difficult and
often contentious negotiations, the Region maintained that it
would use only one lagoon, Cell C, for temporary storage of
sewage, and that this cell could still be managed as wetland
habitat for the Richmond Conservation Area. Cells A and B could
not be used for sewage because, during the course of its study,
the Region had found permeable soil in the cells. Neither
satisfied Ministry of Environment standards for sewage lagoons.
Recent Events
But when the certificate of approval for the Richmond Lagoons was
issued two years later, in 2001, it included all three lagoon
cells as part of the sewage facility. By this time, Janet
Stavinga had become Goulbourn ward councillor for the City of
Ottawa, and was Council liaison for the City’s Richmond
Conservation Area Management Team. Curiously, neither she nor the
management team seemed to be concerned about the possible use of
all three lagoon cells for sewage. The Friends of the Jock River
had no representation on the management team, but with Eric Snyder
elected to its board, the organization took up the fight. After
attempting to work through the City and its management team
without success, it tried a different approach, with Eric writing
numerous letters to the Ministry of Environment’s Assessment and
Approvals Branch. “It was a difficult undertaking,” recounts
Eric. “We’d write the Assessment and Approvals Branch in Toronto,
outlining our concerns, and our letter would be forwarded to the
City of Ottawa. Ottawa staff would offer the Ministry some reason
for dismissing our concerns. We’d write again explaining why
their reason was unpersuasive. The Ministry would forward this to
the City, which would come back with a different reason. And so
on. This went on far too long. In the end, we had to make a
number of direct appeals to the Minister of Environment’s office
to get results.”
The Friends of the Jock River learned in late June of this year
that its efforts were worthwhile. The Ministry announced that the
certificate for the Richmond lagoons will be amended to exclude
the two sub-standard cells, A and B. “This just goes to show,”
says Eric, “if municipal government and politicians won’t work
with you, sometimes you can go over their heads to do something
good for your community.” The change in the certificate will not
only reduce environmental health risks, it will also make it
possible to achieve the habitat management objectives prescribed
for the two cells in the Richmond Conservation Area Management
Plan. Another Friends of the Jock River board member commented,
“The City appointed Richmond Conservation Area Management Team
should appreciate this.”
The Friends of the Jock River still has concerns about mitigation
for the conservation area, particularly Cell C, and has asked the
City, and Councillor Stavinga, to work with it to deal with these
concerns. “We’ll see if they’ll let us work on the Management
Team this time around, which hasn’t been allowed to date,” says
Eric.
For a full account of outstanding issues see:
www.geocities.com/jockriver/RCA_issues_ecological.htm,
www.geocities.com/jockriver/RCA_issues_membership.htm and
http://www.ottawasewergatefiasco.com/rca-sewergate.htm.
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