News
Local News
Ferguson Forest decision delayed amid pushback
Author of the article:
Sabrina Bedford
Published Sep 09, 2024  •  3 minute read
 
Article content
A key decision about whether to sell off 13 acres of the Ferguson Forest Centre has been delayed as more than 1,000 people have signed a petition against the proposed sale. 
 
 
Ferguson Forest decision delayed amid pushback

 
A group of residents has voiced its opposition after the Ferguson Forest Centre floated the idea earlier this year of selling approximately 13 acres of “under-utilized land to fund a future sustainable capital investment plan.” 

The land, located along the northern side of County Road 43 between St. Michael’s Catholic High School and Anniversary Way, is leased from the Municipality of North Grenville. 

A staff report, where municipal staff will make a recommendation to council on whether they should support the proposal, was scheduled to be released on Sept. 17, but has since been delayed.

Kemptville resident Heather Popazzi, who spearheaded the opposition to the land sale, said in an update Monday that municipal officials informed her they’ve postponed the presentation of their findings. The delay is “to ensure that all options are thoroughly considered before presenting their final recommendation,” Popazzi said Monday.  
 

 

 

The new date for the report and presentation is anticipated sometime in October, but Popazzi says she will not back down in the meantime.

She said the plot of land represents a “significant environmental and agricultural asset to North Grenville and the wider Eastern Ontario region,” and that the municipality should take all steps to preserve it.

“The liquidation of these 13 acres not only threatens the agricultural fabric of our community but also risks undermining environmental initiatives that support reforestation and conservation,” Popazzi said in a prepared statement Sunday. 

The Ferguson Forest Centre is located on 1,100 acres of multi-use green space in North Grenville, and is governed by the not-for-profit Ferguson Forest Centre Corporation, which has operated a 300-acre forest tree nursery on leased municipal land since 2000.
 

According to the corporation, the 13-acre parcel of land is within the Kemptville urban service area and is of lower quality than other lands used by the Ferguson Tree Nursery and is not required for tree growing purposes.

“The land is not classified as prime agricultural land within the Canada Land Inventory and has required continuous supplementation to grow nursery stock of acceptable quality,” corporation officials wrote when proposing the idea.  

The nursery produces millions of trees belonging to native and naturalized non-invasive species annually, and in recent years, the nursery says it has diversified its product offerings and has made improvements to how it operates with the resources it has. 

But it is operating with equipment and infrastructure from the 90s, and those assets are reaching end of life, officials said when making the proposal.
Advertisement 5
 
The sale presents the “opportunity to protect the long-term viability of the nursery and the centre, while giving the municipality the opportunity to address social pressures of concern in the community through appropriate designation and future use of the land,” they said.  

This could include commercial uses, and affordable and accessible housing, they suggested.  

Opponents of the idea say the land should be kept as a treed plot, and any sale would threaten to “disrupt the delicate balance between development and conservation that we’ve worked so hard to maintain,” the petition reads. 

Popazzi urged residents to “stay engaged and continue advocating for the protection of these 13 acres, which are key to North Grenville’s heritage agricultural land and environmental conservation efforts.”

This newspaper has reached out to Mayor Nancy Peckford for her thoughts on the proposal and the opposition.