After extensive cleanup, the industrial past of the property on Dundas Street East, next to the Bay of Quinte, has been all but erased.
By Beatrice Toplitsky [1]
BELLEVILLE – The environmentally protected land at 621 Dundas St. East might be undergoing development soon if its owner and EcoVue Consulting can convince the city council to rezone it.
Belleville’s planning advisory committee met Monday to discuss the waterfront property protected because of its wetlands.
Long-time Belleville resident Kathy Lake expressed her concerns at the meeting Monday.
“The development fragments the environmentally protected property, leaving a larger residential development in the middle of two much smaller pieces of protected property,” she said about EcoVue’s sample development plan. “Doing so effectively cancels, or at best greatly reduces, the value of this property for our environment.”
In the past, 621 Dundas St. East was the grounds for the Bakelite Thermostat plant. When property owner Bernie Ouellet purchased it, the land was badly damaged by its industrial past.
With the help of the city, Ouellet had the property undergo extensive cleaning. Now, he says it’s ready to be rezoned and developed.
Quinte Field Naturalists Association, a local nature lover group, expressed its concerns in an email campaign over making the land residential. It is doing this mainly because the property is an important site for biodiversity and flood mitigation.
According to Quinte Field Naturalists, over 150 species of bird have been recorded in this wetland.
Denise Wilkins, the environmental officer for the naturalists, wrote an email encouraging people to express their concerns to the council. She fears bisecting the wetlands with a housing development will reduce it to a brief stopover point for birds at best.
However, EcoVue’s principal planner Kent Randall says Quinte Conservation Authority is on board with the rezoning.
“The development area that’s shown on that conceptual layout was signed off by Quinte Conservation a few years ago. So this development area is the product of some back and forth between the applicants and Quinte Conservation,” he said.
Quinte Conservation’s planning and regulations manager, Paul McCoy, accepted the proposed development area in 2012.
“The proposed development area is basically one large parcel, and the majority of it was already historically developed,” he said. “The area was heavily impacted by a previous owner, who in 2006 was charged by both Quinte Conservation and the MOE (Ministry of Environment). The owner was convicted in 2007 and ordered to perform the restoration, which included the removal of a road that was constructed in the Bay, as well as contaminated sediment. Most areas beyond the proposed development area were left relatively undisturbed.”
Approximately one-third of the property would remain under environmental protection, with a 15-meter setback to protect the development boundaries.
Council sent the application to the planning advisory committee for its recommendation.
“I think it’s wonderful that there will be 34 acres that will stay an environmental wetland,” said Mayor Mitch Panciuk Monday at the council meeting.
The property, which has been open to the public members previously, would also include a trail for public use, says Ouellet.
“We would welcome a trail coming through. So it would become a public space.”
Mayor Panciuk expressed his willingness to cooperate with Ouellet in the planning process.
“I think there is a balance we can achieve here that can allow you to recoup the investment you’ve made – which, again, we’re very grateful for the fact that you’ve cleaned up the site – but at the same time preserve the green space, the wetlands, the flood mitigating areas for us,” he said.
The application is only for rezoning the land to residential. Before EcoVue can move forward with any development, a new application will have to be filed.
[2]The conceptual plan was presented to the council.