Group fighting Trent development
City councillors, Trent University administrators to feel the heat over feared impact of projects on natural areas
City council and administrators at Trent University may be about to receive postcards and letters from students and citizens unhappy with the pace of development on campus and the toll it is taking on natural areas there.
At Market Hall on Monday evening, about 60 people gathered to hear eight panelists talk about how forthcoming developments such as the Cleantech Commons and the city’s new twin-pad arena will destroy wetlands and natural areas.
The gathering was organized by a group called Trent Students for Responsible Development. Attendees were encouraged to send letters and postcards to council and to university administration to register their concern.
Basil Conlin, a third-year biology student and expert on moths, told the group that there are more than 800 animal species on campus at Trent University – 25 of them species at risk.
He mentioned Western chorus frogs and freshwater shrimp as species worth protecting, even as the university plans to flatten natural areas and fill wetlands.
Conlin also said there are 182 recorded species of birds on campus at Trent, as well as 700 species of moth that he’s personally identified.
“We have a lot to lose, at Trent,” he said.
Debbie Jenkins, a PhD student in biology at Trent University, spoke of how planned developments such as the twin-pad arena – with its 500 parking spaces – will cause fragmentation of natural areas on campus and also habitat loss.
“At Trent, we’re seeing our natural areas divided and replaced,” she said.
Jenkins mentioned how the city plans to fill in 11,862 square feet of wetland to build its twin-pad arena – and then make up for it by building a “compensation wetland” to replace it.
Jenkins said scientific studies have shown these types of manmade wetlands to be “risky”.
“They’re very risky because you can introduce invasive species,” she said.
Meanwhile city council gave final approval in November for a new municipal arena at Trent University, even after hearing objections from people such as Jenkins and Conlin at City Hall.
The vote was 9-2 in favour of the plan. The only two councillors who voted against it were Coun. Diane Therrien and Coun. Keith Riel.
The rest of council voted in favour, with Coun. Andrew Beamer saying the plan was well thought-out and follows all the directives the city received from Otonabee Region Conservation Authority.
“This arena is desperately needed,” he said.
No city councillors or Trent administrators were at the meeting at Market Hall on Monday.
At City Hall in November, Trent University vice-president Julie Davis said 60 per cent of the massive campus is made up of designated nature areas, buffers and corridors.
Davis said in November they considered all their land and offered the city land they thought was “most appropriate” for the development.
“This is area that is already occupied,” she said, adding that there’s a maintenance garage and a greenhouse on the site already. “We felt that was an optimal site.”