Article content continued

Word started to spread that the conservation authority was planning to install ponds to increase the biodiversity in what the agency says was once a thriving wetland habitat, home to plants, amphibians and birds.

-

That didn’t fly for Houle and other homeowners who feared the project would stifle their land rights, create unwanted vehicle traffic and attract more mosquitos.

Houle, who helped to create a landowners’ committee in Navan in response to the wetland scheme, said two petitions have collected more than 400 signatures from people opposing the project.

Peter Friske, a longtime resident of Birchtree Crescent, is worried that the project would overwhelm the quiet neighbourhood with cars and school buses.

A city easement between two houses on Birchtree Crescent — the properties are owned by Houle and Friske — has been eyed as a pathway to the new wetland and boardwalk.

Friske doesn’t accept that the site has wetland qualities. He believes beavers have dammed up drainage ditches in the past, creating flooding.

“I used to have my kids down there flying kites 30 years ago. It’s a grassy meadow,” Friske said.

Never has the South Nation Conservation Authority seen so much bad blood over an environmental project it has steered.

The agency had hoped to complete the work last year, but a growing wave of community opposition, combined with some bad weather hampering construction, compelled the organization to pause the work.