Residents in northern Russell Township are saying they were blindsided by the Township’s plans to expand the 417 Industrial Park right up to their yards.
Homeowners on Eadie and Burton Roads claim the Township has not been transparent about its plans, has not consulted with them at all, and has misrepresented its true objectives. Rhonda Bradley, an informal spokesperson for the group of homeowners and landowners, says the Township has hidden its plans and has not said anything to neighbours who will be negatively impacted directly. In addition, landowners with more than a couple of acres were shocked to find their properties marked as Future Industrial Lands on a new map drawn up by the Township. This was only revealed in a Township Council meeting on May 16th of this year, long after the revised official plan was sent to the province for approval.
Louis Prevost, Director of Planning and Forestry of the United Counties of Prescott and Russell, told CJRO the minimum requirements for consultation were met when the UCPR advertised that the official plan for the entire 2000-square-kilometre county was being revised. He said there were almost no comments. That is disputed by Bradley who says had notice been properly given there would have been many comments and people living along the north end of Eadie would have been involved in the process much earlier.
CJRO also spoke to Richard Godin, Director of Corporate Services at the Township of Russell. Both Godin and Prevost made it clear that UCPR staff and Township staff do not recommend expanding the industrial park or servicing the whole area.
The new official plan only showed the proposed expansion, as an “addendum A” to an environmental assessment on the servicing of a different area which had been proposed to become part of the industrial park. The province approved the official plan Friday, July 14th, but Bradley and her neighbours are still considering their options, including hiring legal counsel. Every property along that stretch has been either recently purchased or had substantial renovations, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars to each home.
Residents are also concerned about the increased loss of prime agricultural land--some of the best in the province--at a time when ag land is being lost to development at a rate of 175 acres every day in Ontario. Maps done between 2016 and early 2023 did not show all the agricultural land which would be rezoned to Industrial. The new size of the industrial park, as proposed by Russell Mayor Pierre Leroux, would be well over 1000 acres.
