Tag Archives: Ottawa City Council

New bill proposes return of local land-use planning powers

27 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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MPP Jim Wilson, also the interim leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, put forward a bill to amend the Planning Act, to return the local land-use planning powers that were removed by the Green Energy Act in 2009.

The Green Energy Act actually superceded 21 pieces of legislation in Ontario, in order to ease the way for large wind and solar power generation projects, but mostly wind.

You may recall that, following a petition by residents in the North Gower-Richmond area to the City of Ottawa last year, Ottawa City Council unanimously passed a resolution supporting the residents’ declaration that the  community was Not A Willing Host to large-scale wind power projects, and asked the province to return local land-use planning powers.

Rideau-Goulbourn councillor Scott Moffatt responded to the news in an email to Ottawa Wind Concerns with this comment:

I am aware that this bill was introduced by MPP Wilson in 2013 and am pleased to see him re-introduce it today at Queen’s Park.  It certainly echoes the motion that was carried at Council last November.

Scott Moffatt

It is extremely disappointing that while the Ontario government, including Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli, has said communities could play a larger role in the siting of power projects and that community approval would be important, the newly released procurement process guidelines indicate that communities can still not say NO.

See the video clip of MPP Wilson here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKzbxexVqcA&feature=youtu.be

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

Donations welcome to help us with expenses and to maintain our retainer for legal services: PO Box 3, North Gower ON  K0A 2T0

Developer of North Gower wind farm fails to qualify

04 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy

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The Ontario Power Authority released its list of Qualified Applicants for Large Renewable power projects today. The deadline for applicants to apply for qualification was one month ago, on September 4th.

The Government of Ontario will now proceed to contract for more wind and solar power, despite the fact Ontario has a surplus of power and has been selling off power to neighbouring jurisdictions throughout October at a loss of millions of ratepayer dollars.

The company that had proposed a wind power project in North Gower, Prowind of Germany (incorporated as Prowind Canada here) is NOT on the list of qualified applicants.

The chair of Ottawa Wind Concerns Jane Wilson says the community is cautiously optimistic: “The citizens of North Gower, Richmond and Kars demonstrated solid opposition to the project via a plebescite last year, which resulted in a supportive motion unanimously passed at Ottawa City Council. We think any other company looking at coming here will get the message that a huge wind power project close to over 1,000 homes and our school is not appropriate. We continue to stand ready to take every means available to fight another proposal.”

Join our email list at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com
LRP I RFQ Qualified Applicants List PostedThe LRP I RFQ submission deadline was September 4, 2014, at 3:00 p.m. Seventy Qualification Submissions were received by the deadline. Following two months of review for completeness and eligibility, the OPA has now completed its evaluation of all Qualification Submissions and has determined the final list of Qualified Applicants. These entities would be eligible to submit proposals under any future LRP I RFP.

Those RFQ Applicants that are not listed on the LRP I RFQ Qualified Applicant List are reminded that they would not be eligible to submit a proposal under any future LRP I RFP but may qualify to participate in any future round of LRP procurement.

More information and the LRP I RFQ Qualified Applicant List are available on the LRP Website.

Next Steps in the LRP Process

The OPA is working to finalize the draft versions of the LRP I RFP and LRP I Contract and anticipates they will be posted in November. Once the documents have been posted, municipalities, communities, stakeholders and other interested parties will be invited to review them and provide feedback. A webinar will also be scheduled to discuss the draft documents – details on the timing of the webinar will be posted with the draft documents.

Interested parties should subscribe to the LRP subscriber list to ensure they are kept aware of any updates relating to the LRP.

Ontario Power Authority

Ottawa councillor invites rural wards to leave

18 Saturday Oct 2014

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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In an interview with the CBC for a news story on Ottawa’s rural ward 20/Osgoode, sitting councillor Diane Holmes said that she has “no sympathy” for the rural councillors, and that perhaps they should just leave.

In fact, Homes said, if there was a vote to let the rural wards go, she would be “first” to vote.

The story may be seen at cbc.ca/m/news/Canada/Ottawa

The report covered comments by Ottawa’s rural residents to the effect that they felt excluded from City plans and projects, and were not sure they are getting value for their tax dollars. Retiring Osgoode councillor Doug Thompson said that there has been a rural-urban divide, but that the situation was improving.

Commenting on Twitter, Ward 21 incumbent councillor Scott Moffatt said Holmes’ remarks were “ignorant.” Candidate for Ward 21 Dan Scharf offered Diane Holmes a tour of Rideau-Goulbourn.

In 2009, Holmes voted against a motion by then-councillor for Rideau-Goulbourn Glenn Brooks, who had proposed a motion to Council asking for a moratorium on a proposed wind power project in North Gower, pending health studies on the effects of the noise and infrasound produced by wind turbines.

Planner: citizens absolutely need a voice on wind power projects

16 Saturday Nov 2013

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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In today’s Ottawa Citizen, subsequent to the motion by Ottawa City Council this week, to ask Ontario for  more substantive role in siting wind power generation plants, is this letter from a  professional planner.

Cities should have a say

The city’s motion regarding windmill projects is to the point: it is only logical that municipalities and residents should be involved in the decision-making process relating to the location of wind power projects.

Windmills are significant structures that have a major impact on surrounding land uses. From a planning perspective, municipalities should have the authority to include the development of windmill projects in their Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw in order to minimize negative impacts and optimize the livability and sustainability of communities within the municipality. If it were any other type of development of a similar magnitude, there would be no question of this need.

Municipal governments and citizens absolutely need a voice on this issue.

May Gabbour, Ottawa

Registered professional planner

Ontario Professional Planners Institute

City wants say on windmills:Ottawa Citizen

14 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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From today’s Ottawa Citizen, an account of yesterday’s vote at Council on Councillor Scott Moffatt’s motion, acknowledging the 1200+ signatures on the petition from North Gower, and telling the province the City wants a stronger role indecisions about siting wind power generation projects.

“With more than 1,200 signatures, the petition is a strong message that politicians say is worth listening to,” says the Citizen.

Note also comments from former Green Party candidate now Ottawa Councillor David Chernushenko: “I’ve always felt people need to have a say…legislation that prevents them…is not healthy in any way.”

City wants a say in where windmills will be located

By Derek Spalding, OTTAWA CITIZEN November 13, 2013
City wants a say in where windmills will be located

Communities need to be consulted about windmill projects near them, city council says.

Photograph by: Tyler Brownbridge , Windsor Star

OTTAWA — City council is urging the Ontario government to give municipalities more say in choosing locations for proposed windmill projects in their communities.

Coun. Scott Moffat drafted the motion that council supported on Wednesday asking for legislative changes that would guarantee local residents have more influence about projects pegged for their neighbourhoods.

The province has already promised to add stringent public consultation requirements to its Feed-in Tariff program, which encourages the development of renewable energy with government funding. Anyone looking to build a project would have to have “significant municipal engagement,” when responding to request for proposals (RFPs), said provincial Energy Minster Bob Chiarelli, just a couple hours before the council meeting.

“The bottom line is it will be very difficult for an energy proponent to be successful in the type of RFP that’s being created without a significant municipal engagement,” he said.

His government has faced public opposition from around Ontario for such projects.

More than 70 communities have joined a coalition of “unwilling hosts” for wind projects, declaring they do not want such developments. The Ottawa motion does not put the city in this same group, but instead asks the government to ensure residents have a say in choosing the location for such projects.

Moffat introduced his motion at council a day after receiving a petition from residents of North Gower, a community in his Rideau-Goulbourn ward, who oppose the large-scale wind-power project.

With more than 1,200 signatures, the petition is a strong message that politicians say is worth listening to.

“What you need is the ability for communities to be engaged in the process, and right now that’s not really happening,” Moffat said. “Mr. Chiarelli seemed to indicate that there would be a process going forward that would allow for community engagement and put it upon the wind developer to have community buy-in.”

Chiarelli said the substance of Moffat’s resolution reflects what the province has been doing over the past few months. Earlier this year the Ontario government removed larger projects from the Feed-in Tariff program and added the RFP process, but details about exactly is required for public consultation have yet to be identified.

Coun. David Chernushenko, a strong wind-energy proponent, supported Moffat’s motion.

“This offers the opportunity now for people to make a real decision about what’s going to affect them,” he told his council colleagues. “As much as I am troubled by the anti-wind hyperbole, I’ve always felt that people need to have a say and legislation that prevents them from having that say is not healthy in any way.”

Chiarelli also confirmed communities will not be able to outright reject projects.

“There is no veto. We’ve said that very, very clearly,” he said. “There is no veto because there are circumstances in the energy planning of Ontario where a veto might be totally unadvisable, but the general thrust is that there must be an engagement with the local municipality.”

dspalding@ottawacitizen.com