A group of people from Fitzroy Harbour, in the rural west end of Ottawa, went to the city's corporate services committee, Tuesday, trying to stop a plan for a boat-lift system that would truck powerboats through their community on the Ottawa River.

The best they could get was a delay in the project.

• FROM JUNE 10, 2003: Fight brews over plan to bypass Chats Falls

Boat-lift system planned for Fitzroy Harbour area

Residents of Willola Beach say they love the river and their neighbourhood the way it is. Powerboaters love the river, too. Many of them pay to skirt the dams and rapids that make sections of the river unnavigable.

Just one more bypass — around Fitzroy Harbour at Chats Falls — would open the river from Ottawa through to Lake Nipissing. It's part of a project called Temiskawa — Lake Temiskaming/Ottawa River Waterway.

The city says the only good place for that bypass is through the community of Willola Beach.

After dozens of citizens made their case at the meeting, the committee voted to stall, and ask the provincial and federal governments for an environmental assessment.

A spokesperson for Willola Beach, Mike Campbell, says the community is disappointed.

"We're still scared about this situation," he says. "We're still concerned. If the federal and provincial governments don't do a proper environmental assessment, as asked by the City of Ottawa, then it sounds like Willola Beach is going to happen.

"So that's the way we see it ... and that's not what we were asking for," Campbell says.

The provincial and federal governments have already said they expect the City of Ottawa to take the lead on this project.