Beaver Pond is to be surrounded by a housing development, with 3,200 homes to be built on 200 hectares of forest. (CBC)

The developer planning to build a subdivision in Beaver Pond Forest in Kanata said it would try and address the City of Ottawa's concerns about the project before beginning work on the project.

Urbandale Construction and KNL Developments Inc. bought the land six years ago after city council approved the area for use as a subdivision and said they were prepared to begin cutting down trees next week.

The developer plans to develop two square kilometres of the forest west of March Road into a 3,200-home subdivision, but has vowed not to touch Beaver Pond and eight hectares of forest lining it.

But Kanata North councillor Marianne Wilkinson said city staff told her not all the pre-development conditions have been met.

Wilkinson put forth a motion that city council carried on Wednesday that directed city staff to send a letter to the developer advising them that until all the conditions had been met and "explicitly approved" by the city, no clear cutting could begin.

The motion said if the developer fails to comply, the city could pursue legal action, including an injunction.

City sets conditions

Among the 89 conditions that need to be met include an archeological plan if diggers uncover historic objects, a storm water management plan and a plan to preserve natural features and vegetation.

Urbandale director of planning land development Mary Jarvis said the company would look at any deficiencies and address them.

A public meeting was held in Kanata Thursday night and drew hundreds of residents, many of whom have been trying to block the development.

Jarvis said Urbandale did not attend the meeting because the developer did not yet know what specific issues the city needed addressed.

"Had we had the list of deficiencies and the opportunity to review what steps need to be taken, we could attend the meeting and provide a little bit of an update to the community," said Jarvis.

With no developers to speak directly to, some residents at the meeting expressed their frustration at the process.

"This issue as with many others seems to be almost on the backburner until it turns into a crisis which is what we are seeing here with the meeting," said Kanata resident Alexandra Macaulay.

Wilkinson said her hope is that with the right modifications the development can proceed properly.

"If they do that then if it does develop at least it can be done in more harmony with the land," she said. "Right now what they are going to do is butcher it."

With files from the CBC's Robyn Miller