Councillor Kelly's Full Statement to Council On Marchurst BESS Proposal (With Video)

Please see the above video for my full statement at the Council table yesterday evening.

Yesterday was the final opportunity to debate the Marchurst BESS as the zoning by-law amendment (ZBLA) was before council for the final vote after the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee voted against giving the applicant the ZBLA they required to execute the project.

Knowing the likelihood that the majority of Council was going to approve zoning, I moved a motion to add a holding provision to the property which if it had passed, would have meant the zoning could not have been in full effect until several important studies were completed. Unfortunately, that vote was lost 16-9 and the holding provision was not approved and then council voted 21-4 in favour of the re-zoning.

It's no secret how I have felt about this particular application and project since day one. I firmly believe this is not the right location for a project of this scale, that the public consultation was entirely inadequate, and that the political and procurement process that forced this through was unfair to the residents of Ward 5, particularly to those who will have live in close proximity to this project. I have done absolutely everything I could to ensure the concerns of residents were heard, and I left no stone unturned when it came to policy discussions or procedural maneuvers to stop this from happening.

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 If you have a question about this or any other Ward or City issue, just send an email to Clarke.Kelly@Ottawa.ca or call our office at 613-580-2475. You can also submit a report to Ottawa.ca/en/3-1-1.

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