Tannery vote Tuesday. Kingscourt tree planting Monday September 5 2022

LFK Newsletter: Tannery vote Tuesday. Kingscourt tree planting Saturday.

September 05, 2022

Little Forests Kingston

Little Forest happenings

  • Biweekly Little Forests meeting: If you’re interested in joining our biweekly meetings, we’re resuming our biweekly meetings.

  • Tree planting - Kingscourt Tree Equity

    • Saturday May 10 at 10:00 am

    • Location: Ronald Lavallee Memorial Kiwanis Park on 4th Ave (right near the intersection of 4th and Lorne Street)

    • See below for more information

  • Belle Island Enji Goode project: We’ve received a grant for $1750 from Trees for Life to buy tree seedlings to support Belle Island Caretakers in their stewardship of Belle Island. European Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) dominates the understory of the Red Oak forest on Belle Island and threatens this forest's healthy succession and biodiversity. If you’d like to help with either Buckthorn removal over the next few weeks or tree planting in October, email [email protected].

Tannery vote Tuesday (tomorrow)

“There was once a tannery here that leaked its poisons into the soil for decades, and hazardous waste continued to be dumped here even after the old tannery was torn down. The popular story is that the Tannery Grounds are poisonous, unsafe, and need to somehow be dealt with. This story keeps most people away, and it has meant that, for the past forty or fifty years, this site has been rewilding on its own. Our first steps through the gate immediately reveal the richness of what has come to be out in this forgotten corner of Kingston... building on the Tannery Grounds takes away land that is open to everyone — including turtles, migratory birds, and willow trees, and transforms it into a commodity available only to those who can afford it?” By the shores of the Tannery Grounds, by Knowing the Land is Resistance

Most of you are probably aware of the request of Jay Party Enterprises to amend the city’s official plan/zoning bylaws to build on the Davis Tannery lands, including an important wetlands, woodland and riparian corridor.

The letter below is a template provided by the Friends of the Inner Harbour which you are welcome to copy (or modify) and send. The final vote is Tuesday (tomorrow), and despite a recommendation from the Planning Committee to oppose the developer request, the vote is going to be close. Every letter or phone call will help. Bridget Doherty, Portsmouth District and Jeff McLaren, Meadowbrook-Strathcona, are two possible swing votes (only one more vote is needed).

Chris Malette, chair of the Belleville’s Green Task Force, wrote “As a Belleville councillor who worked with our City’s Green Task Force to promote our recent council decision to buy from developers 8.4 acres of sensitive shoreline lands on the Bay of Quinte – lands that were once home to a terribly polluted brownfield site known as Bakelite Thermosets – I would hope Kingston once again shows its collective wisdom in preserving valuable shoreline lands, wherever and however it can, and continues to set an example among municipal governments in Eastern Ontario in ‘doing the right thing.’” 

What if, instead of another private development restricting equitable access to the waterfront for humans and non-humans, the Tannery became a bioremediation park, a step towards equity, multispecies justice and climate resilience in Kingston? A group of citizens reached out to the scientists at Phyto Action, from the University of Montreal, who say that the majority of the 37-acre Tannery site can be cleaned up naturally by a process of phyto- or bio-remediation. One example of this approach is Gas Works Park in Seattle, considered revolutionary for its reclamation of polluted soils using bioremediation.

What if the City launched a competition asking citizens to share their visions for the Tannery. One example is Minneapolis’s Riverfront Design Competition who sought ideas that “uphold our heritage and create a parks-centred riverfront worthy of both our great river and the people who live, work and visit now and into the future.” Or Camden Maine’s community competition which resulted in innovative alternatives for the future of their Tannery site.

Send your letter to the City Clerk requesting that it be recorded as official correspondence and sent to the Mayor, Council, and relevant City Staff. [email protected]. If you send an email to Councillors, copy the City Clerk Also cc the deputy city clerk: Derek Ochej [email protected]

Dear Mayor and Members of Kingston City Council:

As a local citizen, I am writing to voice my concerns regarding the request of Jay Patry Enterprises for amendments to the Official Plan and zoning bylaws to allow the company to build on the former Davis Tannery land. This site includes a Provincially Significant Wetland (PSW), a Significant Woodland of some 1800 mature trees, and an Environmental Protection Area. I strongly encourage you to support the Planning Committee, which after careful review and several public meetings, voted on August 4, 2022, to reject the developer’s request for these changes. Planning Committee also rejected Planning Staff’s recommendation that the city request a Minister’s Zoning Order (MZO) from the province to permit the developer to fill in and build on the wetland. Many local citizens, like myself, and representatives from groups like the Kingston Field Naturalists, River First YGK, 350 Kingston, Little Forests Kingston, Turtles Kingston, and No Clearcuts Kingston, as well as provincial groups like Ontario Nature, strongly oppose this development and any request for an MZO for the following reasons: An MZO would be a mistake Filling in and building on a PSW is forbidden by provincial legislation. If granted, an MZO would remove this environmental protection and override locally determined zoning. It would take final decision-making power from the city and allow part of the wetland to be destroyed. It would also remove the democratic right that elected municipal governments have to make planning decisions. An MZO would also eliminate the need for permits and oversight from our local Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority. Wetlands are essential to mitigate flooding 70% of wetlands across this province have already been destroyed. They are our best protection against flooding and our ally in carbon capture, as well as providing habitat for biodiversity. If granted, an MZO would set a dangerous precedent and open the door to demands from other developers across the province to build on PSWs. This proposed development fails to take climate change and the climate crisis into account We are in a climate catastrophe and yet this proposed development has not been reviewed through a comprehensive climate lens. Neither the developer’s Environmental Assessment report nor the City’s Staff report weighs the impact of the loss of 1800 mature trees on this land, nor the effects of extreme rain and heat events if this massive, overcrowded development were to proceed. The impact on biodiversity (threatened turtles, multiple species of birds, and other living creatures making their home on this land or along the shoreline) has not been considered important enough to study carefully. Indigenous peoples have not been consulted The former Davis Tannery lands are located close to sacred Indigenous lands on Belle Island and yet City Staff did not believe it was their “duty” to consult with local Indigenous communities. However, if we do not wish to repeat the mistakes of the past, we need to listen carefully to the wisdom and perspectives of local Indigenous communities. Too many questions remain The Tannery property is a complex site and there are too many unanswered questions and missing details to permit Council to make a fully informed decision about the proposed development at this time: Will the developer’s remediation plan actually work? (Staff want to assess this AFTER the vote.). How is groundwater moving on the site and what, if any, contaminants are leaching into the river? Could clear-cutting all trees and vegetation and filling in and building on part of a wetland actually increase contaminants leaching into the river? Who would be financially liable if this happened? Councillors and citizens deserve clear answers to these important questions. I believe that, as Council wisely requested last fall, the city needs to hire a hydrogeologist to conduct an independent study of what is happening with the water on the site before any changes to zoning are considered. This proposed development is high-end riverfront housing that will not address housing affordability Kingston has an affordable housing crisis and addressing this crisis needs to be a top priority. However, this development will not solve this crisis. All but a possible 100 of the 1700 condos and apartments proposed for this development will not be affordable to people who are presently unhoused or living with constrained incomes. Intensification is important but it should fit with the land and with present neighbourhoods and involve wise urban planning and environmental sensitivity. An urban forest, a PSW, and a shoreline adjacent to a UNESCO World Heritage Site are not the place to build such an aggressive, profit-driven development. There are more appropriate locations along major city corridors for mixed-use, affordable intensification. “High-level” reassurances mean nothing During the August 4, 2022, Planning Committee meeting, City Staff and the developer’s consultants tried to reassure members of the public and Councillors on the Planning Committee - who voiced some of the above concerns - that, once the zoning changes had been approved, the details would be fleshed out. They also promised that the MZO would be a collaborative process between the city and the province, but past experiences with MZOs are not reassuring. Council has to act to protect city interests with “due diligence” Council does not have complete answers to the many questions that have been raised by Councillors and members of the public. Approving the requested Official Plan and zoning bylaw amendments, and asking the province for an MZO, means this proposed development would move forward without sufficient safeguards and with inappropriate zoning for waterfront property - for example, eight-storey buildings with further rooftop elements - further ruining Kingston’s precious waterfront. Again, the environmental legislation and zoning designations that protect this land will be gone and local citizens and City Councillors will have no power to protect the wetland, the trees, and the wildlife living on this land and along its shoreline - and the river that may suffer from additional toxic contamination. Therefore, I ask you to protect the interests of residents and to support the Planning Committee’s decision. Please vote NO to the recommendations in the Staff Report for changes to the Official Plan and zoning bylaws and to the request from the City to the province for an MZO. This development proposal, as presented, is bad planning and not in the public interest. Thank you for considering this letter and for all the work that Councillors and City Staff have put into this file.

Tree equity in Kingscourt

The City of Kingston is in the red zone that will be hardest hit by extreme heat. One of the actions we, as residents and as a community, can take to mitigate extreme heat is ensuring 3-30-300 tree equity here in Kingston. Kingscourt was chosen as a pilot for this program due to the loss of the many elder trees that once graced the neighbourhood.

A fabulous group of Kingscourt residents, working with Little Forests Kingston, Rotary, Leaf Kingston and the City of Kingston, went door to door asking their Kingscourt neighbours if they would like to plant and steward trees. Thanks to their efforts, 112 new trees will be moving into Kingscourt in 70 different locations - beautifying and cooling the neighbourhood, increasing safety (canopy cover reduces crime), and increasing biodiversity. By working together to adopt so many trees, Kingscourt residents are setting a great example for how people helping people can be a fun way to improve the lives of all the humans and non-humans with whom we share the land.

  • When: Saturday September 10th from 10 am to 1 pm

  • Where: Ronald Lavallee Memorial Kiwanis Park on 4th Ave (right near the intersection of 4th and Lorne Street)

  • What: we’ll help distributes trees and mulch, offer planting and stewardship advice, and help transport and plant trees for residents unable to pick up or plant the trees themselves

This will be a great opportunity to meet some of the wonderful people in Kingscourt! And a big thanks to Josh for leading this important project which we hope to build on in 2023.

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