Kanata residents who banded together in an effort to stop new development in their neighbourhood are crushed after council voted against a motion that would halt construction in the city's west end.
"Is that fair? Probably not, but you have no say in it," said one area resident.
"You know that when we moved out here, it was farmland. We had no problems: 21 years, no floods. All of a sudden, they start building . . . you start having problems," she said.
Although Kanata Coun. Peggy Feltmate wanted a temporary moratorium to help ease fears for flood victims in Kanata over the lack of sewer capacity; other councillors disagreed, arguing that a blanket moratorium in the area was premature.
"It's one thing to say it's not going to affect Glen Cairn. But how do we know that what we're doing now isn't going to create a problem in 15 or 20 years," said Feltmate.
However, not everyone in the area is against development. Small business owners say new homes will translate into new revenue.
"Our demographic is all families, so obviously if there's new houses, new developments, there's more families. And 50 per cent of families have a pet so it would mean great business for us," said Karla Briones, who works at Global Pet Foods in Kanata.
The moratorium proposal was put forward to council after severe flash floods on July 24 deluged hundreds of basements in Kanata, mostly in the Glen Cairn neighbourhood
For many residents, it was the third major flood in the last 13 years. Some still can't get insurance, and many are still making repairs.
Although city officials have admitted they were too slow responding to residents in need, city staff said there was no negligence and therefore no liability.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Jamie Long
