CJRO News August 21 to August 27, 2023
Hello, bonjour, and welcome to CJRO News on CJRO Radio. I’m Candice Vetter, reporting from Embrun.
Residents around Farmers Way, Thunder Road and other nearby Carlsbad Springs locations have been alarmed by a series of incidents lately. The latest is a homicide on Farmers Way very early in the morning on Saturday, August 19th. Police and emergency responders were called to the 4000 block at 3:45 a.m. after people reported a shooting. A 26-year-old man, Granit Ahmeti succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds there. He was employed by and was the brother of Demir Ahmeti, the owner of a towing company on Thunder Road.
The previous weekend, on Sunday, August 13th, the body of 21-year-old man was found at the scene of a hit and run on Farmers Way near Thunder. In addition there have been two occasions where stolen vehicles were found nearby—on Highway 417 near Anderson Road and on Ramsayville Road, and there has been a burnt car and street racing on Thunder Road. Also very early last Sunday morning, between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. a woman with children in the car was observed driving erratically and hitting a house and other obstacles. The Ottawa Police Service requests that all residents and business owners in the area of Farmers Way, Anderson Road, Thunder Road and Piperville Road verify their video security systems for any suspicious activity between the hours of 2:00 am and 4:00 am on August 19th. The OPS Homicide Unit number is 613 236 1222 ext. 5493.
Police closed part of Farmers Way between Thunder and Piperville Roads as they investigated the homicide last Sunday. Photo Denis Labreche
Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling Crime Stoppers toll-free at 1-800-222-8477 or at crimestoppers.ca. The local community association has asked Councillor George Darouze to pay special attention to these events. The police said there is not a suspect in custody, but they believe the homicide was an isolated incident.
The OPP has released a video explaining that dialing 9-1-1 is only for true emergencies where dispatchers need to send emergency responders. If there are other reasons to call the OPP use the non-emergency number 705-329-6889. That’s 705 329 6889.
There will soon be more trees down on Piperville Road. The Piperville Project team at Hydro Ottawa has notified the Carlsbad Springs Community Association that Davey Tree Company is clearing trees at 5134 Piperville to facilitate a geotechnical study for a new 27.6 kilovolt municipal power station. The notice said the cutting is necessary to conduct an environmental assessment. Usually EAs are done before trees are removed but this is to allow space to bring in drilling rigs for borehole drilling. The notice said there were two public consultations regarding the transformer’s placement, but it appears they were not widely publicized. The City has exempted Hydro Ottawa from the Tree Protection Bylaw.
Notifications will be sent to stakeholders and customers in close proximity when a draft version of the Environmental Study Report is available. Hydro Ottawa will also host a second set of community information sessions about its findings, to gather additional input, resolve concerns, and, assuming acceptance, prepare for site permitting and approvals. CJRO requested a radio interview by writing the email address given on the notice, piperville@hydroottawa.com. The response from Josee Laroque was “Unfortunately, due to the current labour disruption, our focus remains on our essential operations. That being said we would be happy to do an interview once this is over, hopefully soon.”
Speaking of trees down, the next meeting of the Tewin Community Advisory Committee is August 28th at the Carlsbad Springs Community Centre. According to the proponent, Taggart Group, the main topic will be the involvement of the Algonquins of Ontario with the Tewin project. The agenda will include Streams of Dialogue, Design Principles and Themes, and Algonquin Community Engagement. CJRO recently learned that the AOO had given Michele Taggart oversight and signing authority on the project.
The project is touted as being built under the One Planet Living guidelines, including zero waste. However, in the documents associated with this meeting Taggarts state their intention to “leverage” the CRRC, which is the proposed landfill near Boundary Road. They also mention waste to energy, which is suspected to mean incineration at the site.These documents are available at CJROradio.com. In 1984 an incinerator was proposed for the same area but a geotechnical study indicated the clay soil at the site is not strong enough to support an incinerator.
Meanwhile the Ontario government announced on Monday, August 21st, that it will be giving financial rewards to municipalities which have met up to 80 per cent of the province’s housing goals for that municipality. Funding from the Building Faster Fund is for housing-enabling infrastructure and other costs of community growth. Eligible expenses will be determined following consultations between the province, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, the City of Toronto and the Housing Supply Action Plan Implementation Team. A portion of the overall funding will also be allocated to single and lower tier municipalities that have not been assigned a housing target, including small, rural and northern communities.
Ontario is also expanding strong mayor powers to 21 more municipalities that are projected to have populations of 50,000 by 2031 and whose heads of council are committed to a provincially assigned housing target. The expansion of strong mayor powers will take effect on October 31, 2023. The expansion is in addition to the 28 municipalities that already have strong mayor powers.
A letter has been received by a Russell Township resident from the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks Environmental Assessment Branch in response to a complaint regarding the class environmental assessment and addendum for the Highway 417 Industrial Park undertaken by the Township of Russell. It was determined that, due to a misinterpretation of the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment (MCEA), the Township did not comply with the requirements of the MCEAassessment with respect to consultation. This is because the Township did not consult with all potentially affected members of the public, including immediately adjacent landowners. Until those requirements have been addressed, the project described may not proceed to implementation. However, CJRO spoke with Township CEO Jonathan Bourgon and planner Dominique Tremblay who advised that, because the Township had already decided not to go ahead with the servicing as per that specific plan on the EA the letter is no longer relevant. The ministry said the Township intends to undertake additional environmental assessment work. The Township is starting a new EA of the entire township but details are not yet available.
The 2023 Carlsbad Springs Community Association AGM will be held in person at the Carlsbad Springs Community Centre on September 21st at 7pm. Carlsbad Springs residents are invited to participate. Election to elect a new President, Secretary and also three Directors will take place. If you are interested in a position please email infocarlsbad@gmail.com.
Send the News you want included in this weekly report to newscjro@gmail.com by Monday mornings. Don’t forget—Facebook may not allow Canadian News, but we’re all about it. Get the local news that matters to you anytime on cjroradio.com.
Hear us at 107.7 or 107.9, listen to our podcasts on cjroradio.com or on the Tune-In and Radio Player Canada apps. I’m Candice Vetter for CJRO News. CJRO, last on the dial, first for local news.