City council handed Orlans road proposal for vote despite NCC impasse

The problems with building thousands of houses in the Ottawa suburb of Orlans a planbased on a long-promised bus rapid transit line that has never materializedcame home to roost at transportation committee Wednesday, as residents pushed for a corridoracross federal Greenbelt lands to ease gridlock.

Committee membersultimately voted seven to four to approve the City of Ottawa's preferred route for a $178-million future bus Transitway and $128-million extension to Brian Coburn Boulevard.

That'seven though the city doesn't yet have the money for it and it's far from clear if it will getthe 42 hectares ofGreenbelt farmland on which to buildit.

That belongsto the National Capital Commission (NCC), which refuses to release it.

• City pursues east-end Transitway through the Greenbelt, despite NCC refusal

Municipal politicians have been frustrated by the NCC's stanceand approved a motion by Cumberland Coun. Catherine Kitts to ask thefederal minister responsible for the NCC, Filomena Tassi, to bring the two sides together to "resolve the impasse"within 100 days.

"What perhaps can't be comprehended unless you've lived here for decades is how explosive the growth has been in South Orlans in the past 15 years," said Kitts, who said those thousands of idling cars will have an environmental impact if no Transitway is built.

Councillorswho voted against the route said it was prematureas the city has yet to update its study of traffic patterns,lacks fundingand they want to see what happens with the NCC.

In an email, NCC spokesperson Valrie Dufour said the crown corporationremains open to routes along the existing Blackburn Hamlet Bypass and the NCC board would discuss these developments at its April meeting.

The report goes to full city council on March 9.

Traffic problems in booming Orlans

Many residents who spoke in favour of the Greenbelt route described how the city has approved their car-centric developments in Orlans, south of Innes Road, and yet the critical transit and road corridoridentified 30 years ago remains unbuilt.

Bradley Estates resident and community association memberHeather Buchanan said she can hear trucks behind her home onruralRenaud Road,an "unofficial highway"driversuse tocontinue when Brian Coburn Boulevard ends.

Even if the city built its corridor along the Blackburn Hamlet Bypass which the city determined had poor soil conditions drivers are "creatures of habit" and would continue using Renaud Road, Buchanan said.

"We have thousands and thousands of homes, and another 8,000 coming down the pike, based on a transportation system that doesn't exist," she said.

"This is the time that the city needs to do something about it."

Innes Road traffic is "insane,"addedRyleeBatista, president of the Chapel Hill South Community Association. She too described a neighbourhoodwheretraffic is the biggest issue.

Concerns for Greenbelt

Many residents took issue with what they called "myths" about how the proposal would affect theMer Bleue wetlands, saying the route wouldn't go through the bog itself.

Even the Friends of Mer Bleue supported the route closer to the bog becausethe option provided the "minimum of new road construction."

But both the Greenspace Alliance of Canada's Capital and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society sided with the NCCand didn't want to see theGreenbelt further broken up.

The alliance's chair Paul Johanis said a six-lane corridor should not be allowednext to the second-largest bog in southern Ontarioand a wetland of international significance.

BernardWood, aprofessional evaluator who'scombed throughmany technical documents, was concerned the city's preferred optionhad risen to the top after early evaluations didn't favour it.

"Such an extreme reversal raises a red flag for any evaluator, especially when it's combined with such high pressure and heated advocacy," Wood said.

The city's consultant from Morrison Hershfieldsaid those earlier assessments weren't meant to be definitive and more detailed study was then done.