North Gower residents mobilize against warehouse plan

Years after Ace Powell retired from coaching university football, he's now tackling plans for a warehouse the size of eight football fields on the land behind his country dream home outside the village of North Gower.

Powell will appear before the City of Ottawa's agriculture and rural affairs committee Thursday to try to prevent a rezoning that would allow Broccolini to build an e-commerce distribution centre for an unnamed tenant on Roger Stevens Drive at Highway 416. The same company was behind the Amazon warehouse on Highway 417.

In the weeks since a community meeting that drew 350 people, Powell has been busy canvassing neighbours to sign a petition. On Monday, Powell and his group delivered it to Carleton MPP Goldie Ghamari, signed by 3,745 people asking her to urge the Ministry of Transportation to stall the project.

"I'm just an old retired guy, and just trying to drive my lawn tractor and enjoy my life, and all of sudden now my world has been turned upside down," Powell said. "I just don't want to be bitter."

'The death of the village'

When Powell built his home, he was comfortable with the idea that a business park serving the local farming community would soon go up between his property and Highway 416, but he thinks a 700,000-square-foot warehouse will "be the death of the village."

His group worries about transport trucks sharing the road with school buses and tractors, not to mention the added traffic created by as many as 1,700 employees getting to and from work. There are also concerns about well water contamination, and constant light pollution.

Another resident, James Graham, says this isn't what North Gower had planned for the property.

"This is really against the vision that we had for a community. This is the only commercial area we have," he said.

Councillor calling for changes

Warehouses like the one being proposed are supposed to be on 400-series highways, so city staff are recommending council approve the zoning.

Coun. Scott Moffatt, who lives in North Gower, doesn't think the village will be ruined. There are many commercial vacancies in the village core, he said. His own children ride school buses that travel Roger Stevens Drive.

Moffatt said it could have been worse: the current zoning allows not just farming businesses, but also industrial uses including waste disposal.

Moffatt thinks the best strategy is for residents to work with him to convince Broccolini to reduce the height of the building and widen its buffers with neighbours.

"The second I set aside all collaboration and say, 'No. I'm opposed to this. I stand against it,' then what goes forward is the exact thing [residents] don't want," Moffatt said.

If the warehouse zoning is approved by committee Thursday, the project will head to council six days later, on Dec. 11.

Meanwhile, Ghamari said she plans to present the petition at Queen's Park next week.

Ghamari said she's met with both residents and Broccolini, and hopes to take part in the next planning approval stage. She said she's also looking into whether the Ministry of Transportation, which she says controls a portion of the site, might play a role in the discussions.