The construction of about 100 homes in Kanata West should be put on hold while city engineers investigate flooding in two other west-end neighbourhoods in July, an Ottawa committee recommends.

The planning committee voted Tuesday to recommend temporarily suspending construction on lands drained by the Carp River or its tributaries.

That is to give city staff time to run simulations of water levels in the Carp River using data from the storm on July 24 that led to flooding in the Glen Cairn and Stittsville neighbourhoods and assess the impact of major storms on both existing and proposed developments in the area.

A report would be expected back on Oct. 13.

If the proposal is approved by city council, it could slow the construction of about 100 homes in the planned Kanata West development.

Landowners blame sewers

Mike Green, a spokesman for the Kanata West Owners Group Inc., representing 40 property owners in the area, opposed the recommendation.

"To roll up Kanata West and Fernbank into this great big ball of wax that you've created is unwarranted and unnecessary," he said.

Green said the flooding in the Glen Cairn neighbourhood wasn't caused by the swollen Carp River, but by inadequate infrastructure.

"It's their own storm sewers," he told city councillors. "It's an issue that has been longstanding, and it's an issue that the city needs to deal with."

Green called the drainage study "redundant," as a third-party review of another drainage study for Kanata West has already been carried out.

But Kanata South Coun. Peggy Feltmate said homeowners who have suffered three floods in 14 years deserve to know for sure the cause of the flooding and whether the land draining into the Carp River can withstand more development.

"It's easy to say, 'Oh, we're not the cause of this and we're not going to have anything to do with it, just let us go ahead and build more homes,' " she said.

"But when the water is backing up and backing up into their basements, I think they have the right for the city to take a bit of a pause, do some checking on some data, and making sure that the direction that we're taking is the right way."