Farmers push for highway changes

By LAURA CUDWORTH STAFF REPORTER

Farmers affected by the proposed highway expansion found some friends on Perth East council.

However, they were left wondering if they had any support for the bulk of the meeting last night. The Agricultural Business Community (ABC) of Perth East, Perth South and Wilmot West made a presentation at the start of the meeting, but council was tight-lipped about the controversy surrounding the highway expansion until the end of the meeting.

ABC asked council to reject the most recent route proposed by the MTO and "require they go back to the drawing board" and come back with a new proposal that addresses ABC concerns.

"I think it's in our best interests not to be the ones who pick a route," said Deputy Mayor Bob McMillan. "There's no right answer, someone loses along the way."

Council declined to accept the ABC recommendation, but did vote to add any points from the ABC report not included in council's own draft of concerns that was headed to the Ministry of Transportation.

"Their response was better than I had hoped, but I still have concerns," said Sharon Weitzel of ABC after the meeting. "No one knows how flawed the process is. There shouldn't be any route approval until there are answers to our questions."

There are many questions from farmers and from councillors too.

The route unveiled in January follows Hwy. 7/8 until about 2.5 kilometres east of Shakespeare. It drops south and follows the train tracks and eventually veers further south through a bush lot and farmland, then follows a municipal drain before it connects with Line 33 or Pork Rd., where it bypasses Stratford.

The newest route bypassed Shakespeare after residents there mounted a loud and consistent lobby against a proposal that had the highway go right through town.

While residents of Shakespeare were able to breath a sigh of relief, farmers had to regroup and sort out what the consequences of the new route will be on their homes and businesses. The route will take out 500 acres of farmland to start, but other land may be necessary, Weitzel said. What she doesn't know is how much land and what the land is for.

Twenty-two agricultural businesses with 14,000 acres will be impacted by the route, said Paula Niece, of ABC. Access to farms currently divided by county roads or spread across parts of the county could be impossible, ABC suggested.

"If 22 businesses in Stratford or New Hamburg were affected they would have to listen. We're talking about cutting people off. Transportation is vital to agriculture," Niece said.

Coun. Rhonda Ehgoetz insisted a comment about council being "generally in support" of the route be taken out of the letter to the ministry.

The amount of farmland and the lack of road access for farm vehicles were two of her concerns. Still, she stopped short of supporting the recommendation.

"We can't pick and choose a side. We haven't done that yet."

Council will revisit its latest draft of concerns at the March 22 meeting.

A short list of concerns highlighted by ABC include:

* The proposed route does not use land on the north side of the existing highway between Shakespeare and Stratford that was taken from agriculture 30 years ago for the highway.

* Access to farm properties will be eliminated.

* The route puts some farmers in noncompliance with the Nutrient Management Act.

lcudworth@bowesnet.com