Environmental organization urges council to delay vote on proposed Collins Creek development

Story by Christena Lawrie, CFRC's Broadcast Journalist & Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.

No Clearcuts Kingston is urging city council to await an independent Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of a proposed development on Bath Road.

Earlier this month at the last planning committee meeting, the proposal for development near Collins Creek was narrowly pushed forward with a vote of 3-2. The proposal by developers Armitage Homes Ltd. and Arcadis and property owners Frances H. Day, Clark Day and Robert R. Kennedy includes 41 single detached houses, 66 double-stacked townhouses and 120 triple-stacked townhouses, a total of 309 dwelling units.

No Clearcuts Kingston (NCK) has called on city council to defer the vote and allow more time for a “objective financially independent third-party assessment”, questioning the credibility of the current EIA due to the involvement of private consultants. 

“It has been well documented in academic literature that a financial conflict of interest can affect research outcomes,” said Kathleen O’Hara, NCK member.  “Consultants providing favourable results to developers tend to be the companies that are repeatedly contracted.  It is a flawed system that is difficult, time consuming, and costly for the public and elected officials to contest.”

According to NCK, more than 750 mature trees are threatened by this development, and hundreds of smaller trees would be removed.

“This is a vital connecting piece of the Collin's Creek watershed, Kingston's last remaining intact natural-heritage corridor,” said Kerry Hill, NCK member.  “The woodland at risk is ecologically significant based on its function as a wildlife corridor connecting Lake Ontario and provincially significant wetlands, woodlands, and valley lands that extend to rural areas north of HWY 401.”  

In a release, NCK made reference to the City’s Climate Emergency vote in 2019 and recent support for the Montreal Pledge biodiversity protocol, calling this vote a challenge to the credibility of these claims.

Counc. Osanic will be putting forward a motion to defer the vote at tonight's meeting.