Sudbury

Controversial Ramsey Lake development approved by Ontario Municipal Board

The Ontario Municipal Board has approved the controversial development planned for the shores of Ramsey Lake in Sudbury, Ont. Developer Norm Eady wants to build 53 lots and three apartment condos off of Keast Drive, beside the city's main source of drinking water.

Norm Eady hopes to begin construction this fall on university project off Keast Drive

Sudbury developer Norm Eady has been trying to build his University Park subdivision on the shores of Ramsey Lake since 2011. (Erik White/CBC)

A major development, planned for the shores of Ramsey Lake in Sudbury, Ont. is moving ahead.

The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) has given the green light to the so-called university project, off of Keast Drive, near the Laurentian University campus.

The plan is to build 53 lots and three apartment condos of various heights beside the city's main source of drinking water.

There have been environmental concerns, but developer Norm Eady says they're unfounded. 

"The top of this property is bald rock as was most [of] Sudbury. We're going to regreen it just the way the back end of Moonglow [subdivision] is. It [was] the same situation," Eady says.

"If you drive through Moonglow today, it's homes and it's fully treed. That didn't exist ten, 15 years ago. It was bald rock back there."

Eady is thrilled with the outcome of the decision, but is not happy with the way the OMB process played out.

"Just the fact that you can challenge for $150, and put everything on skids. You're talking about millions of dollars, people's lives. I've already been at this for four, five years where we traded off, went back and forth and did all of the studies. Archeological studies. It goes on and on."

Eady says he hopes to get shovels in the ground by the fall.

With files from Olivia Stefanovich