The Salvation Army is finding itself at odds with the Ottawa International Airport Authority over a proposed church and community centre on Bill Leathem Drive in northern Barrhaven.
The land the Salvation Army wants to use falls within an exclusionary zone that restricts development, due to the noise from the airport.
It’s called the Airport Operating Influence Zone (AOIZ). It bans construction of “sensitive” development, such as schools, retirement residences, and places of worship. The Airport Authority is concerned there will be noise complaints if the Salvation Army moves in.
Speaking on CFRA’s Ottawa Now, Salvation Army Captain Jim Mercer says the Barrhaven congregation has spent seven years looking for a new home.
“The bottom line is that we have very limited areas in Barrhaven designated for places of worship,” Mercer says. “Our biggest concern is not that we’ve chosen this place in particular, it’s that we have very limited space. We had a piece of land a couple of years ago that was in a residential area and there was great opposition to that, perhaps with perception it was going to be homeless shelter or a place for people with addictions. It’s a perception people have with the Salvation Army in general, which is very unfortunate. We were just going to build a church and a multi-purpose facility.”
Mercer says he understands it could be noisy, but he has no plans to complain.
“It’s not on our radar to complain, and there are all kinds of measures we can take to implement so that the noise is very minimal on our congregation,” he says.
Mercer says the Metropolitan Bible Church, on Prince of Wales, encountered similar problems.
“Here they are today with a building with all kinds of noise mitigation materials,” he says. “I haven’t heard of any complaints since 2008.”
But Krista Kealy, with the Airport Authority, says it’s not that simple.
“The land the Salvation Army wants to use is on the approach path of our busiest runway,” Kealy says. “That’s 72,000 flights a year. It will be loud.”
She says the Metropolitan Bible Church’s case is completely different.
“It’s important to keep in mind, with the Metropolitan Bible Church, it was in line with a lesser-used runway, and it was also the last piece of land in a parcel that has been developed,” Kealy says. “And it abutted a residential area that had been there for many decades, and the Ontario Municipal Board was very clear that this case cannot be used as a precedent.”
She says the Airport Authority is very supportive of the Salvation Army, but the Authority must “vigorously defend” the OAIZ.
“We are very interested in defending the OAIZ,” she says. “It’s vital to the community that the airport is able to operate. We’re a huge economic driver in the city, and anything that would hamper our ability to operate would have a significant impact.”
Mercer says this case may end up before the Ontario Municipal Board.
“I guess the reality is, there’s only one place at the end of the journey, and that would be the OMB, where many of these disputes end up,” Mercer says. “And these disputes cost a lot of money, not only to the taxpayer, but it costs a lot of money to the clients. We have all kinds of services that we offer, and that suffers at the end of the day.”