The Salvation Army is facing opposition from city planners and the Ottawa aiport over a proposed plan to build a Church and community centre in Barrhaven.
The organization announced last year it had purchased land at 102 Bill Leathem Dr. to build a multi-use facility which will include a worship centre, gymnasium, meeting space, and more.
“When this development finally comes to fruition, in a couple years hopefully, this will be 18-thousand square feet of property,” said Capt. James Mercer, a pastor at the Salvation Army.
This land is inside the Airport Operation Influence Zone (AOIZ), which is an area that does not allow noise-sensitive development.
“That’s something we really have to preserve so that we don’t impact the future of operations of the airport,” said Krista Kealey, the Vice President of Communications at the Ottawa airport.
The plot of land is 2.5 kilometres away from the end of airport’s busiest runway. Airport authority believes the planes will be too loud for a community centre.
The Salvation Army hired a team to prepare a transportation noise assessment, which found the level of noise was safe. Mercer said the building would include sound proofing as an additional measure.
But there is concern the report was conducted on a day when the airport’s busiest runway was not operating.
“There was suggestion that there was some sort of construction going on during that time, but the reports will articulate clearly what we are saying,” Mercer said.
The report will be shown to the city planning committee on Tuesday, before eventually heading to council. The Salvation Army and the airport authority are both prepared to appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) if they disagree with the decision.
In the past, the OMB did provide an exception for the building of the Metropolitan Bible Church, which sits at the edge of a residential area near Price of Wales Dr. In that case, OMB members said the decision was not to set precedent.
“It is not the intention of this decision to provide a glaring new precedent for all churches or other uses to use to seek an exemption from policies that are meant to protect sensitive populations from noise that can cause harm,” said OMB member B.W Krushelnicki.
Still, some councillors believe the project will be beneficial to the area and are planning to support.
“I think the services that they will be providing are ones we are lacking I Barrhaven, so we do need them,” said Councillor Michael Qaquish.
The application to the city to approve a zoning amendment is available here.
