Comment ID: 194794 First,…

Comment ID: 194794

First, the territory borders the Ottawa river by about 2 km and the village of L'Orignal at 5 km to the east north east. Our home is within 5 km east and north of the proposed cement plant and also 1.2 km north of an existing steel foundry which already pollutes us by way of particles in the air very noticeable on our watercrafts parked on the riverfront and by noise from the smelter, outside machinery and junk movement. When we moved and bought our house here in 1999, we knew of the existing nuisance and lowered the purchased price by 25% hoping that either the plant would close or that environmental regulations would protect us better in the future. The steel mill spent 80 million dollars of public money in upgrades in the past 3-5 years yet, the pollution is still very present if not worse and a visit by environmentalist will confirm that, I guarantee it.. The proposal to use the Charlebois drain for waste water must be denied because these waters will find their way directly into the Ottawa river where many residents draw their potable water. Why would you risk to pollute this river? On a stretch of 5 km downstream, there is no municipal water or sewage available and when Town Council was asked if it was in the plans should problems arise, the answer was a blunt no!. There is no reason to allow this project to be build where proposed other than for profit reasons due to the fact the raw materials are on site. The only benefiters is the operating company. They will only make better profits while polluting a very nice residential and agricultural site. The UCPR official plan does not permit this kind of industry and neither does the zoning. There are too many residences nearby that will be affected if changes to the official plan allows for it. Residential property assessments have already been reduced due to the neighbourhood nuisance of the steel mill and we understand, appraisers have already been warned to reduce evaluations for resale and mortgage purposes due to the threat that a highly polluting cement plant may be constructed. As residents, we feel our rights are encroached upon just by the fact an application to change the Official plan and Zoning. We were there first and, we will fight this to the end, Pollution in any form will be considered as trespassing. Should our rights not be protected, we have the option to sue or sell at a loss. My opinion is that allowing this project to go through as requested is political suicide for all levels of government. So, if you allow for a 2nd heavy polluter to establish within 4-5 km of each other, it will destroy the highly desirable resort Muskoka type of residential along all of Bay road and most of the Village of L'Orignal. There certainly is land available within our municipality and Prescott-Russell County adjacent to the main Hwy (417) that will not cause too much harm away from built up zones. Sure, it will cost the promoter to transport the raw materials, but at least, they will still make money, create jobs as they say they might given the fact cement plants currently operate at much less capacity. As yourselves who will benefit from a war between all parties and their neighbours? There is a lot more to be said against this proposal including the issue of transportation by road.. My family, my children and grandchild's who come to visit us on the Ottawa river every week end ask you to disallow their request so that, we are not forced to eventually leave this beautiful site. Thank you for listening to me.