On November 15,2013 the Agriculture Business Community (ABC) submitted its response to PIC 6. Entitled Volume 9, it is available below and on our website under its own page for anyone interested to view, copy or download.
It is short, direct and to the point, and lists a variety of concerns that have been problems from the inception of this Environmental Assessment (EA).
ABC has distributed this document to all the affected municipalities for their information.
Showing posts with label Council. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Council. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Municipalities have a role to play
The municipal governments of Perth County are certainly going to be heavily impacted by any future highway. The members of ABC decided to ask Perth East and Perth County to respond with as much vigour as they had in 2012. ABC asked for and received time on the agenda's of Perth County and Perth East.
The letter below to Perth County is similar to the letter provided to Perth East.
The letter below to Perth County is similar to the letter provided to Perth East.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Perth East Has Concerns
Perth East took a lot of time to review the last material presented by the Consultants. Below are their itemized concerns.
Perth East Comments on HWY 7 Corridor Update April 2012 - Follow-Up to Special Meeting (1)
Monday, October 24, 2011
Perth East asks MTO for an update
The following report was shared with the groups in Perth County, who have been involved in the Highway discussions and EA process. It was solicited by Perth East Council.
From Glenn Schwendinger, COA:
It had been some time since we had received an update from the MTO and it appears that some of the target dates which the MTO had referenced in the past had come and gone without any additional information or notice being received.
As such, the decision was made to send a request on behalf of the Township to the MTO to request an update. A response was received, and this was forwarded to Council last evening. The attached report was received for information by Council.
7 2 1 Cao Report Highway 7 8-1
From Glenn Schwendinger, COA:
It had been some time since we had received an update from the MTO and it appears that some of the target dates which the MTO had referenced in the past had come and gone without any additional information or notice being received.
As such, the decision was made to send a request on behalf of the Township to the MTO to request an update. A response was received, and this was forwarded to Council last evening. The attached report was received for information by Council.
7 2 1 Cao Report Highway 7 8-1
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Perth East Responds to PIC 4
The Municipal Council for Perth East has issued it's response to the March 25th deadline for comment on PIC 4. This was held in Jan. 2011 in Shakespeare.
Perth East Comments on HWY 7 Corridor - March 2011 FINAL
Perth East Comments on HWY 7 Corridor - March 2011 FINAL
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Perth South responds Feb 2009
As noted above this is the response regarding the drainage issues raised by ABC at each municipality. Our research provided us with several recommendations and a special ANNEX on drainage.
What is not well understood is that the Municipality must ask for these drainage items. Individual landowners cannot. We needed our Municipalities to speak for us and they have.
img-2191016-0001 Perth South
What is not well understood is that the Municipality must ask for these drainage items. Individual landowners cannot. We needed our Municipalities to speak for us and they have.
img-2191016-0001 Perth South
Perth South Council - Sept 2008
Earlier attempts to ensure these documents were on this web site were unsuccessful. We now have those issues resolved and the responses from the municipality of Perth South are now available. They will be posted under separate dates for convenience. This is the response to the consultants and MTO to the PIC's beginning in June and July.
These were scanned documents so are loaded here, one page per window.
Perth South page 1 is below.
Hwy7&8Perth South
Hwy7&8 Perth SouthB
These were scanned documents so are loaded here, one page per window.
Perth South page 1 is below.
Hwy7&8Perth South
Perth South page 2 is the next document.
Hwy7&8 Perth SouthB
Monday, February 9, 2009
Perth East Council
Friday was a busy day! Perth East Council also submitted their response to issues we raised and to the MTO and consultants. -ABC
Perth East Position on HWY 7 Corridor Update Feb 6 2009[1]
Perth East Position on HWY 7 Corridor Update Feb 6 2009[1]
Publish at Scribd or explore others:
href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/11986063/Volume3-Final422">
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Township staff to meet with MTO this week over highway project options
Local farmers demand drainage concerns be addressed along corridor
By Doug Coxson, Independent Staff
News
Feb 04, 2009
Wilmot Township will be on the offensive this week when planning staff meet with Ministry of Transportation officials to discuss its proposed options for highway corridor improvements in and around New Hamburg. Click here for complete article.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Agriculture Business Community Alerts Councils
The issue of thenumbers of vehicles on our portion of highway 7 and 8 has come up before. A recommendation was made to councils. Since that time ABC has found out more detailed,technical information that we feel is critical to all of us in this discussion. To see our entire letter to councils just follow the link below. If you would like a print out of the letter just place your mouse over iPAPERS in the top frame of Scribd.
Letter Re Traffic Counts Councils
Letter Re Traffic Counts Councils
Monday, January 19, 2009
ANNEX on Drainage
Annex
The consultants to MTO have minimized the role of drainage in the development of various corridor options and almost completely ignored the Municipal responsibility for drainage. This is a major missing factor in the Class EA assessment as undertaken to date.
It is imperative to all tax-payers that the effective movement of rain-water and snow melt be a major component of any environmental assessment. At present, it is not. In the background report, prepared by MTO consultants - Report F (Part 1) Environmental Conditions and Constraints - watersheds, creeks and drains are placed under the heading Fisheries and Aquatic Ecosystems. They are given only passing attention in a brief one page description (p.31) about surface water movement into the Grand and the Thames. Water drainage is also missing as an element of municipal infrastructure and public service (p. 46 ).
Municipal drains are an important element of municipal infrastructure requiring constant care and attention to avoid liability disputes. They are a community resource requiring long-term stewardship. Good municipal drains are essential for discretionary private drainage decisions, and both have an enormous impact on land use and its valuations.
In recent years, heavy storm water management as well as the movement of snow-melt during successive winter thaws have become prominent features of regional weather. There are always up and downstream implications, often covering many jurisdictions. Any newly paved corridor, but particularly a four lane paved highway, will have significant drainage requirements and will affect both agricultural drainage patterns and municipal drainage infrastructure in villages and towns. Four lane paved highways always produce escalating volumes of surface water and increase flash flood loads.
Municipal drainage maps indicate the existing 7/8 corridor from New Hamburg to Sebringville, as well as the recently proposed corridor just south of the railway line, require highway corridor water to move east, west, north and south. Seven watersheds are affected; the Nith River, Horner Creek, North Woodstock, Trout Creek, Avon River, Black Creek and the North Thames Branch. Countless municipal and private drains are included in these proposed corridor areas some being headwaters to the seven watersheds, and, therefore, at the top of the flow.
The local experience of agricultural business operators with farm drainage and expanded highway development has not been uniformly positive. Often an increase in highway surface water flow involves surprising turns of events and hidden costs that can take years to resolve.
. Private drains may become overloaded or crushed or cut off from their outlets and ditches;
. Sub-mains and extensions may need to be developed across large cultivated fields;
. The recharge of deep wells may be affected; and
. The availability of water in shallow wells and stock ponds may be affected.
It is our understanding that under common law surface water generated by large infrastructure projects, such as highway construction, has no natural right of drainage. The key factors under consideration then are the concept of ‘sufficient outlet’, as referred to in Section 15 of the Drainage Act and ‘subsequent connection’ to drainage works which is affected by a change in land use as noted in Section 66 of the Act.
The main points noted in this annex will be utilized in a second brief to MTO being prepared by the Agricultural Business Community for submission by February 8th. The Reeve and Council are invited to use any of the text or information provided above for purposes of their correspondence with MTO.
The consultants to MTO have minimized the role of drainage in the development of various corridor options and almost completely ignored the Municipal responsibility for drainage. This is a major missing factor in the Class EA assessment as undertaken to date.
It is imperative to all tax-payers that the effective movement of rain-water and snow melt be a major component of any environmental assessment. At present, it is not. In the background report, prepared by MTO consultants - Report F (Part 1) Environmental Conditions and Constraints - watersheds, creeks and drains are placed under the heading Fisheries and Aquatic Ecosystems. They are given only passing attention in a brief one page description (p.31) about surface water movement into the Grand and the Thames. Water drainage is also missing as an element of municipal infrastructure and public service (p. 46 ).
Municipal drains are an important element of municipal infrastructure requiring constant care and attention to avoid liability disputes. They are a community resource requiring long-term stewardship. Good municipal drains are essential for discretionary private drainage decisions, and both have an enormous impact on land use and its valuations.
In recent years, heavy storm water management as well as the movement of snow-melt during successive winter thaws have become prominent features of regional weather. There are always up and downstream implications, often covering many jurisdictions. Any newly paved corridor, but particularly a four lane paved highway, will have significant drainage requirements and will affect both agricultural drainage patterns and municipal drainage infrastructure in villages and towns. Four lane paved highways always produce escalating volumes of surface water and increase flash flood loads.
Municipal drainage maps indicate the existing 7/8 corridor from New Hamburg to Sebringville, as well as the recently proposed corridor just south of the railway line, require highway corridor water to move east, west, north and south. Seven watersheds are affected; the Nith River, Horner Creek, North Woodstock, Trout Creek, Avon River, Black Creek and the North Thames Branch. Countless municipal and private drains are included in these proposed corridor areas some being headwaters to the seven watersheds, and, therefore, at the top of the flow.
The local experience of agricultural business operators with farm drainage and expanded highway development has not been uniformly positive. Often an increase in highway surface water flow involves surprising turns of events and hidden costs that can take years to resolve.
. Private drains may become overloaded or crushed or cut off from their outlets and ditches;
. Sub-mains and extensions may need to be developed across large cultivated fields;
. The recharge of deep wells may be affected; and
. The availability of water in shallow wells and stock ponds may be affected.
It is our understanding that under common law surface water generated by large infrastructure projects, such as highway construction, has no natural right of drainage. The key factors under consideration then are the concept of ‘sufficient outlet’, as referred to in Section 15 of the Drainage Act and ‘subsequent connection’ to drainage works which is affected by a change in land use as noted in Section 66 of the Act.
The main points noted in this annex will be utilized in a second brief to MTO being prepared by the Agricultural Business Community for submission by February 8th. The Reeve and Council are invited to use any of the text or information provided above for purposes of their correspondence with MTO.
ABC Visits Perth South Council
ABC will be visiting several Councils in the next few weeks. Below are some recommendations we are taking to them. In addition we have an ANNEX on Drainage, common to them all.
Recommendations to the Reeve and Council of Perth South for Consideration on the Proposed Development of Highway 7& 8
The Agricultural Business Community (ABC) Chapters suggest there are two areas deserving your consideration.
A Drainage
B Traffic Counts
We have prepared four recommendations and support material is provided in the Annex.
A Agricultural Drainage
There are important implications to this Municipality and its tax-payers concerning municipal and agricultural drainage pending the selection of a final corridor and route for the proposed expansion of Highway 7/8 by MTO.
From the perspective of the Agricultural Business Community the potential drainage issues are three-fold:
. The impact of a four lane highway corridor on municipal drains;
. The impact on private drains; and
. The associated drainage costs to individual landowners resulting from highway development.
A drainage specialist with OMAFRA informs us that the widening and expansion of Highway 16 in Eastern Ontario into Highway 416 parallels circumstances of the proposed new Highway 7/8 corridor. The development of Highway 416 set a precedent for MTO where financing for municipal governments and individuals was made available on matters of drainage.
Therefore, We Recommend the Township of Perth South:
1. Submit a formal notice and request to MTO, specifying that drainage is a serious municipal concern, particularly for any four lane expansion, and that assurance will be required, before any approval of the selected route, that surface water volumes from the proposed route are manageable and not disruptive to municipal drains. In other words, assurance is needed that surface water can be brought to sufficient outlet.
2. For each existing municipal drain impacted by the highway project, the municipality should appoint an engineer under the Drainage Act to investigate the impacts of the highway project on the municipal drain, specify in the engineer’s report any necessary changes to the drain and ensure that the drain has the capacity to accommodate the additional flows. MTO should be required to pay the full cost of this work.
3. Request that MTO cover the entire costs for every adjacent landowner and agriculturalist whose private drains may be affected by the selected route to facilitate them in selecting and hiring the services of a tile drainage contractor, licensed under the Agricultural Tile Drainage Installation Act, to assess and resolve any potential impacts on private drainage systems including laterals, ditches, culverts, sub-mains and other items associated with any potential new drainage demands.
4: While there are many municipal drains in the area, it is possible that the additional runoff generated by this project may create areas that have no suitable drainage outlet into an existing municipal drain. In those situations, MTO must not be permitted to direct their water onto the adjoining land. They must be required to petition under the Drainage Act for a drainage system that will properly drain the water generated from the new highway.
We trust that our Municipality will want to thoroughly assess the implications of the proposed highway expansion for our drainage infrastructure prior to further decisions.
B Traffic Counts
Traffic counts, existing and projected, are a fundamental fact of information driving the planning process. Wilmot Township, with technical support provided by the Engineering Department of the Region of Waterloo, questioned the traffic counts and population projections provided by the consulting team. They recommended that the consultants look at revising and lowering figures in their analysis. As volunteers we do not have the expertise to evaluate these figures. We believe, however, that these projected numbers are driving the plans for a proposed ring road, south of the City of Stratford, and across many of our farms in Perth East and Perth South.
We Recommend the Township of Perth South:
5: Contract an independent consultant to confirm or disconfirm the validity of the traffic numbers being used, both existing and projected, before the Ministry considers a route for a Highway 7 & 8 corridor south of Stratford connecting to Sebringville.
We trust that our Municipality will also want to be assured of the actual need for a four-lane corridor based on traffic numbers through our Municipality.
Recommendations to the Reeve and Council of Perth South for Consideration on the Proposed Development of Highway 7& 8
The Agricultural Business Community (ABC) Chapters suggest there are two areas deserving your consideration.
A Drainage
B Traffic Counts
We have prepared four recommendations and support material is provided in the Annex.
A Agricultural Drainage
There are important implications to this Municipality and its tax-payers concerning municipal and agricultural drainage pending the selection of a final corridor and route for the proposed expansion of Highway 7/8 by MTO.
From the perspective of the Agricultural Business Community the potential drainage issues are three-fold:
. The impact of a four lane highway corridor on municipal drains;
. The impact on private drains; and
. The associated drainage costs to individual landowners resulting from highway development.
A drainage specialist with OMAFRA informs us that the widening and expansion of Highway 16 in Eastern Ontario into Highway 416 parallels circumstances of the proposed new Highway 7/8 corridor. The development of Highway 416 set a precedent for MTO where financing for municipal governments and individuals was made available on matters of drainage.
Therefore, We Recommend the Township of Perth South:
1. Submit a formal notice and request to MTO, specifying that drainage is a serious municipal concern, particularly for any four lane expansion, and that assurance will be required, before any approval of the selected route, that surface water volumes from the proposed route are manageable and not disruptive to municipal drains. In other words, assurance is needed that surface water can be brought to sufficient outlet.
2. For each existing municipal drain impacted by the highway project, the municipality should appoint an engineer under the Drainage Act to investigate the impacts of the highway project on the municipal drain, specify in the engineer’s report any necessary changes to the drain and ensure that the drain has the capacity to accommodate the additional flows. MTO should be required to pay the full cost of this work.
3. Request that MTO cover the entire costs for every adjacent landowner and agriculturalist whose private drains may be affected by the selected route to facilitate them in selecting and hiring the services of a tile drainage contractor, licensed under the Agricultural Tile Drainage Installation Act, to assess and resolve any potential impacts on private drainage systems including laterals, ditches, culverts, sub-mains and other items associated with any potential new drainage demands.
4: While there are many municipal drains in the area, it is possible that the additional runoff generated by this project may create areas that have no suitable drainage outlet into an existing municipal drain. In those situations, MTO must not be permitted to direct their water onto the adjoining land. They must be required to petition under the Drainage Act for a drainage system that will properly drain the water generated from the new highway.
We trust that our Municipality will want to thoroughly assess the implications of the proposed highway expansion for our drainage infrastructure prior to further decisions.
B Traffic Counts
Traffic counts, existing and projected, are a fundamental fact of information driving the planning process. Wilmot Township, with technical support provided by the Engineering Department of the Region of Waterloo, questioned the traffic counts and population projections provided by the consulting team. They recommended that the consultants look at revising and lowering figures in their analysis. As volunteers we do not have the expertise to evaluate these figures. We believe, however, that these projected numbers are driving the plans for a proposed ring road, south of the City of Stratford, and across many of our farms in Perth East and Perth South.
We Recommend the Township of Perth South:
5: Contract an independent consultant to confirm or disconfirm the validity of the traffic numbers being used, both existing and projected, before the Ministry considers a route for a Highway 7 & 8 corridor south of Stratford connecting to Sebringville.
We trust that our Municipality will also want to be assured of the actual need for a four-lane corridor based on traffic numbers through our Municipality.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)