A group of concerned Niagara residents are camping out on a proposed development site, hoping to protect the wetlands in the Thundering Waters forest in Niagara Falls that covers half of the property. The $1.5 billion project would include a retirement community, restaurants and shopping.
“We never planned this from the beginning. We have been trying to work in the legal paramaters for a long time, we feel we haven’t been taken seriously.” Taylor Telford, concerned citizen.
They’re not getting any help from the city of Niagara Falls which supports the massive project by GR Investment Group out of China.
The snag in the plan, is 235 acres of provincially protected wetlands. The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority says the wetlands could be re-created somewhere else, but this group disagrees.
“90% of our wetlands have already been destroyed, we have to at some point say enough is enough. We’re the ones saying now is enough.”
A couple of people in the group have actually quit their day jobs just to do this. They’re hoping to convince the developer to build somewhere else.
“We want to keep it as peaceful as possible, we don’t want GR Investments to think we’re antagonising them. We want them to know we’re concerned and care about this forest and have dialogue with them about why we don’t want them to put the development here.”
The area is home to several species of butterflies, salamanders, snakes and even bats. The group will be camping here until Monday.
