March 8, 2010 Shakespeare Workshop

Below is the Agriculture Business Community press release for this event.

March 8 Press Release

The Consultants respond to Vol. 4

The Consultant's team for the Highway 7 & 8 corridor study have provided the Agriculture Business Community with detailed responses to the recommendations made in ABC's Volume 4 submission . You can read them below.

Hwy 7 and 8 Response to ABC Recommendations_Feb26-10

MTO presents to Perth East

On Feb. 2, 2010 the Consultants for the Highway 7 & 8 study presented details of the revisit study phase to Perth East council. We are providing it here as part of the public record.
Council Pres Perth East Feb2-10

ABC delivers PIC3 Brief

Friday, October 30th, ABC delivered it's 4th Volume of material to the MTO. With the brief was the cover letter below. Many of the items and issues identified by our community and members make up this brief. We expect these issues will receive appropriate review and add to the body of compelling information and data necessary for an accurate Environmental Assessment.


Cover Letter Revised Oct09

Below is Volume 4, from the Agriculture Business Community. This is the ABC response to PIC 3 and its Reports.

Volume4Final_Edit3.1

ABC brings concerns to MPP

In April of 2009, ABC visited with John Wilkinson, MPP for Perth-Wellington. During our visit we provided MPP Wilkinson with some issues of concern to our members. We were invited to provide his office with a summary and our issues were passed on to the Minister as we had requested.

Much thanks to Mr. Wilkinson for moving these agricultural issues forward to the Minister.

Below are our letters to Mr. Wilkinson and his resulting letter to Minister Bradly.

MPP Wilkinson MTO Considerations


Appendix A



Suggested Changes to MTO Boiler Plate for Class EAs


Letter to Minister

Report F Checklist

IMFORMATION SHEET

In reviewing material ABC has found errors that relate to agricultural properties in the proposed corridor. The Consultants and MTO WILL USE the information they have in Report F OR the corrected information from YOU to identify the FINAL ROUTE for Hwy. 7 & 8.We urge you to verify your property status and descriptions in Report F.

See page 52 in the Report for Agriculture.Go to http://www.7and8corridorstudy.ca/ Look under STUDY DOCUMENTATION and then Working Papers ONLY IF you have a high speed connection (file size is 17.81 MG)!

Anyone who cannot access this report via the Internet, please contact hwy7and8@gmail.com for details .

Below is a form to help quide property onwers on the information they need to provide.

Check List


1. My Fire Code #:....................

2. The information on tile drainage is (accurate) or (inaccurate)

3. The description of my farm buildings: (accurate) or inaccurate)
............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

4. The proposed corridor will impact my farm transportation needs in the following ways:

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

5. My farm is located along an existing roadway. I estimate that the proposed loss of land will impact my operation in the following ways:
........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

6. I have reviewed the evaluation criteria proposed for Agriculture, and see that the proposed corridor will adversely affect my:

planting yes........... no .........
grazing yes........... no .........
nutrient management plan yes........... no .........
movement of farm equipment yes........... no .........
access to land and equipment yes........... no .........
field tile drainage yes........... no .........
harvesting yes........... no .........
total production due to loss of land yes........... no .........
other(.............)

Please provide details of each of the implications on your operation from the proposed corridor:

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

ABC Press Release for Sept. 9, 2009

MTO Answers to Farmers Over Highway 7/8 Corridor Study

The Agricultural Business Communities (ABC) of Perth East, Perth South and Wilmot West held an open information 'drive-shed' meeting on Wednesday, September 9, 2009, at the farm of Marg and John Van Nes. The community convened to discuss the consultant’s preferred corridor plan for Highway 7 and 8 (presented at three Public Information Centres this summer) as well as to inform landowners of the next steps in the planning process.

ABC is committed to ensuring that future highway 7/8 development proceeds in a timely fashion, minimizes the loss of high quality farmland and mitigates disruptions to agricultural businesses. The consultants and MTO have generally been receptive to our issues and to our participation in the process.

At Wednesday's meeting, the Ministry of Transportation’s study consultants made a brief presentation and then the Chair opened the meeting to questions. Issues that surfaced in this discussion included; general concerns about the long-term validity of traffic numbers on which the whole process is structured; questions about minimum distances the Ministry may need to follow for house and building set-backs; problems with excessive slopes on highway shoulders and the danger this presents when moving top heavy grain wagons; safety and access concerns in and around the New Hamburg to Shakespeare portion of the highway; and finally, the community wanted to know about the possibility that some portions of the road may be improved sooner than by 2031. ABC will continue working with its members to address these issues and others.

ABC regrets that the consulting study team continues to produce reports that sometimes utilize incorrect property information stemming from previous phases of the Environmental Assessment. Wednesday’s meeting provided an opportunity for property owners to make the highway 7/8 study team aware of corrected information regarding drainage and property use. These elements will inform the actual route selection in the next phase of the study this fall and ABC encourages all its members to continue to submit corrections and amendments to available property information in order to ensure sound decisions.

ABC is an all-volunteer group formed in August 2008 that works on behalf of over 300 farm and rural residential property owners to ensure that both adequate and informed input will be available for planning of the Highway 7 and 8 corridor. The group has two goals: we act to inform rural landowners within the study area about the planning process, and we act to influence the process by educating the consultants about the nature of modern agriculture and rural heritage.

ABC will continue to work on behalf of our community and our rural business owners and residents both while the environmental study is being finalized and then beyond to the road's construction.