Agriculture Business Community, Perth East, Perth South, Wilmot West
PRESS RELEASE
The Agriculture Business Community, Perth East, Perth South, Wilmot West is composed of approximately 300 members in the 3 townships who are or could be impacted by any future road development as proposed by the MTO and the Hwy 7 and 8 Study Team. At the recent Public Information Meetings (PIC) in Shakespeare, (Jan. 17th and 18th) many of our members were alarmed at the amount of agricultural land that will be lost to highway development if this proposal goes through. Others are concerned about the impact on century farm homes.
From our initial ABC member debriefing to review feedback from the January PIC we were disturbed by the number of different answers given to the same questions by the MTO and their consultants. This is generating confusion and misinformation among members.
ABC members are concerned about the producers directly in the path of this proposed route as well as the farm businesses that rely upon access, both north and south crossing Highway 7&8 and those using sections of the existing route to move equipment, forage, manure and animals across land holdings that contribute to the farm business unit.
The community is being asked to comment on this proposal without being provided with information on what north/south links will remain open to farm equipment and the nature of these crossings be they overpasses or underpasses. The design decisions will presumably take more land from agriculture.
All livestock producers within the proposed route would be at risk of being non-compliance of the Nutrient Management Act. This Act is designed to protect all of our water supply and farmers presently carry all the costs to be in compliance.
While the MTO has indicated that they recognize the Act in some respects, individual farmers and businesses should not have to accept this loss or cost on behalf of our society.
Also to date, in spite of repeated requests, the MTO has not agreed to provide for any engineering or oversight for the drains both private and municipal that run beside and through this area. They have been told repeated by ABC that their drainage information is a decade old and yet they have moved forward with recommendations based on it. Individual owners of properties and Municipalities should not be forced to accept this societal cost, either.
ABC continues to contact members and review Report H to try to assess the impact of the proposed route on the agricultural business of the three townships. We will present a final report to the MTO by their March 25th deadline.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Waiting for bulldozers, but don't hold your breath
By JOHN KASTNER Beacon Herald
It would appear that some of the major obstacles to improved access from Stratford to New Hamburg have been cleared.
One, it would appear that the Ministry of Transportation has settled on a route that would swing south of Shakespeare and spare the hamlet. That only makes sense and it's rather surprising it took this long to come to that conclusion.
Another scenario, which would have seen Pork Rd. (Line 33) and possibly Vivian St. improved to highway standards to alleviate the pressure on the main highway, was rejected out of hand and a report obtained by The Beacon Herald last week gave some reasonable explanations.
The premise would have been to make Pork Rd. and Vivian St. one-way roads with one having two lanes east, the other two lanes west.
The logistical challenges were cited as one of the main obstacles and that is a valid point. A farmer who wants to go 100 metres west but is on the east-only road would have to go around a country block to get to the neighbours or even to his adjoining farm property.
Plowing five lanes through Shakespeare made no sense, but making people go five miles to get next door is not much better. The structure of the roads was also cited, and they are, in their present form at least, certainly secondary roads in both construction and design.
Widening those roads and bringing them up to snuff would not only have required extensive improvements to the road but it would have required buying property from current landowners along Vivian St. and Pork Rd.
All that was deemed fiscally prohibitive.
That would appear to have been the first time money was seen as a factor in these plans.
Also of note, the province has purchased Lingelbach United Church which sits just a few metres to the north of the highway between Shakespeare and New Hamburg.
That means that when the highway is widened it can move slightly to the north and miss both the cemetery and the Fryfogel Inn, which are on the south side.
So with some of the major obstacles out of the way one is left to wonder just when this grand construction project will begin. Well, given that the expansion of this highway has been talked about for more than 30 years, one wonders. And the document obtained by The Beacon Herald cites projected traffic volumes in 2031 as a basis for choosing the preferred route.
So, as much as both the new and old routes have caused a lot of angst, it would appear the arrival of bulldozers and earthmovers along Highway 7/8 isn't exactly imminent.
It would appear that some of the major obstacles to improved access from Stratford to New Hamburg have been cleared.
One, it would appear that the Ministry of Transportation has settled on a route that would swing south of Shakespeare and spare the hamlet. That only makes sense and it's rather surprising it took this long to come to that conclusion.
Another scenario, which would have seen Pork Rd. (Line 33) and possibly Vivian St. improved to highway standards to alleviate the pressure on the main highway, was rejected out of hand and a report obtained by The Beacon Herald last week gave some reasonable explanations.
The premise would have been to make Pork Rd. and Vivian St. one-way roads with one having two lanes east, the other two lanes west.
The logistical challenges were cited as one of the main obstacles and that is a valid point. A farmer who wants to go 100 metres west but is on the east-only road would have to go around a country block to get to the neighbours or even to his adjoining farm property.
Plowing five lanes through Shakespeare made no sense, but making people go five miles to get next door is not much better. The structure of the roads was also cited, and they are, in their present form at least, certainly secondary roads in both construction and design.
Widening those roads and bringing them up to snuff would not only have required extensive improvements to the road but it would have required buying property from current landowners along Vivian St. and Pork Rd.
All that was deemed fiscally prohibitive.
That would appear to have been the first time money was seen as a factor in these plans.
Also of note, the province has purchased Lingelbach United Church which sits just a few metres to the north of the highway between Shakespeare and New Hamburg.
That means that when the highway is widened it can move slightly to the north and miss both the cemetery and the Fryfogel Inn, which are on the south side.
So with some of the major obstacles out of the way one is left to wonder just when this grand construction project will begin. Well, given that the expansion of this highway has been talked about for more than 30 years, one wonders. And the document obtained by The Beacon Herald cites projected traffic volumes in 2031 as a basis for choosing the preferred route.
So, as much as both the new and old routes have caused a lot of angst, it would appear the arrival of bulldozers and earthmovers along Highway 7/8 isn't exactly imminent.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Lingelbach United Church Sold
by Laura Cudworth Beacon Herald Staff Reporter
Lingelbach United Church has been sold to the province. The deal closed Thursday. Trustee Lorne Fink declined to say how much the province paid but did say the money would go back to United Church projects. more......
Lingelbach United Church has been sold to the province. The deal closed Thursday. Trustee Lorne Fink declined to say how much the province paid but did say the money would go back to United Church projects. more......
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