A proposed Department of National Defence (DND) radar antenna receiver site in Clearview Township is receiving strong opposition from local residents, who have formed a community group, Resident Owners Against Radar (ROAR), in response to the federal government’s purchase of bought 288 hectares of land in Clearview for an antenna receiver site
According to ROAR, there are potentially 50 families that will be uprooted from their homes, some that have been owned by multiple generations of the same family. The receiver site is part of a $6-billion project, an Arctic-Over-the-Horizon Radar long-range radar system to modernize NORAD surveillance equipment, will make detecting threats in Arctic airspace faster and easier.
Land for a transmitter site in Kawartha Lakes, about 70 kilometres north of Oshawa, has also been acquired.
According to DND, the radar project is not expected to activated until 2029, but won’t be fully operational until 2043.
Even though it will monitor Arctic airspace, officials say the installations themselves must be built south of the 46th parallel, which means south of the Trans-Canada Highway.
“It’s been a year since we received the letters, and while the DND has purchased a preliminary site of 700 acres, that property was on the open market before any of us received these letters,” she claims.
Sources: ‘Pieces of our history, culture will be lost’: Residents push back on DND radar plan – Barrie News.
