New Edinburgh residents take fight over sewage tunnel dig site to City Hall

Angry residents ofOttawa's New Edinburgh neighbourhood descended onthe mayor's office Wednesday to protest a plan to use Stanley Park as an excavation portal for the city's pricey new sewage storage tunnel.

The $232-million project is the centrepiece of a multiprongedeffortaimed atnearly eliminating the flow of sewage into the Ottawa River.

Construction on the tunnel began last fall near Kent Street and Highway 417 following six years of planning.A portion of the riverside park near the confluence of the Ottawa and Rideau rivers is slated to become a site for extracting rock this March.

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But some residents of New Edinburgh say they only became awareof the possible impactof construction during ameeting inOctober.

"Since then, we've been trying to find out the extent of what can happen in New Edinburgh," said Victoria Henry.

A city memo circulated in December describes between four andeight heavy trucks travelling to and from Stanley Park each hour from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. during peak periods. The construction is expected to last two-and-a-half years.

"To our horror, every time we learn a bit more, it becomes more and more serious about our ability to evenstay in our homes in some cases," Henry said.

'Very serious consequences'

Henry was one of several dozen peoplewho demanded a meeting with Mayor Jim Watson. Watson told reportershe hasno problem meeting with the group, and later Wednesday a spokeswoman said his office is trying to organize a get-together "in the coming weeks."

FollowingWednesday's council meeting Watson told reporters he's asking New Edinburgh residents to deal with some inconvenience, as other parts of the city have during different construction projects, for the sake of a project that serves a greater good.

But that did little to satisfy the protesters.

"The issueis not inconveniencing a group of disgruntled tree huggers and dog lovers," said SantiagoReyes-Borda, who's lived in the area since 1989."There are very serious consequences that need to be taken into consideration."

Residents want more evidenceabout hownoise and vibration from the excavation mightaffect people's health, and details about how they'll be warned of excessive noise.

"That's why we're asking to consider moving the extraction site to a far less densely populated site like LeBreton," said Reyes-Borda.

Moving dig costly

Watson said the city looked at shifting the project to LeBreton Flatsor Bordeleau Park, across the Rideau River from StanleyPark, but found that such a move would add as much as $30 million to the cost of the project.

According to the December memo, such a move would also risk slowing the construction schedule ofthe contract awarded to TomlinsonDragados Joint Venture.

The councillor for New Edinburgh, Tobi Nussbaum, admitted it would be a political challenge to justify such a cost.

No one is questioning that a shaft must be built in New Edinburgh, said Nussbaum, but he'snot convinced the bulk of excavation has to happen in a residential area.

"The city needs to do everything it can to mitigate the impacts of this project on a community that's really bearing the brunt on behalf of the whole city," said Nussbaum.

Mitigating measure could involvehours of construction and trucking routes, he said.

As for residents' frustration about a lack of consultation, Nussbaum said information sessions were held between 2010 and 2013, but in areas far from New Edinburgh.