The MTO and Hwy 7 & 8 is back-2017

Earlier this year the MTO team showed up at Perth County Council, Perth East Council and the other municipalities impacted,  with another edition of  the EA study on Hwy 7 & 8. The presentation can be viewed  from the Perth East Agenda for March 7th, pg. 47  at:http://www.pertheast.ca/uploads/5/Doc_636241390472190879.pdf

 Perth East has responded officially to the presented material. Details of their concerns are outlined in the document below.  Attached is a letter from the Project team with their responses and everyone should read that material carefully.

8 2 1 CAO -MTO - March 7 2017 Delegation by hwy7and8 on Scribd

New Letters to the Editor

The letter below was submitted to the Stratford Beacon Herald in response to an article entitled: Farmers best served by South route, published on July 25th. 

The letter  was subsequently published.

LTEAug2013 by hwy7and8

News Release from MPP

NEWS RELEASE

Randy Pettapiece, MPP

Perth-Wellington

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 5, 2012

Province must listen to Highway 7/8 concerns, says Pettapiece

(Queen’s Park) – Perth-Wellington MPP Randy Pettapiece spoke again today in the Ontario legislature about the future of Highway 7/8.

Pettapiece made a statement to call the government’s attention to their project. He wanted to stress the need for the Minister of Transportation to show he’s listening to the wide-ranging concerns that his constituents have expressed. The following is the text of his statement:

“Many of my constituents have concerns about the government’s plans for Highway 7 and 8. It matters especially to those who live along the route between New Hamburg and Stratford.

“Here are just a few of the issues that matter to them: heritage preservation, safety considerations, the environment, regional traffic flow, movement of agricultural equipment, the impact on residents and businesses in Shakespeare, fair consideration of property values, among many more concerns.

“These issues matter to them, and they matter to me.

“In December, I requested a comprehensive briefing by Ministry of Transportation officials on the plan for Highway 7 and 8. In January, that briefing took place. I expressed many of the views and concerns I’ve heard from constituents. In February, I met with ABC – the Agriculture Business Communities Group.

“In March, I attended Perth County Council’s joint meeting with the councils of Perth East and Perth South. I listened as councillors spoke up with tough questions for ministry staff and AECOM staff.

“Here’s what I’m asking of the Minister of Transportation: He needs to listen carefully to my constituents’ views. The minister needs to do his homework. He needs to show he’s listening, and he needs to show us that our concerns are being addressed.

“Thank you, Mr. Speaker.”

- 30 -

Randy Pettapiece, MPP

Phone 519-272-0660 / 1-800-461-9701

Email randy.pettapiececo@pc.ola.org

The numbers don't add up- Stratford Gazette

Wednesday, April, 11, 2012 - 11:11:43 AM

Highway 7/8 projections, numbers called into question

Jeff Heuchert, Stratford Gazette

The figures that have been presented to the public to support construction of a new Highway 7/8 don’t add up to Paul Gras.

The Perth South resident said the Ministry of Transportation and its consultants have used inaccurate data to justify a new four-lane highway between New Hamburg and Stratford.

And, he suggested, once projections around population growth and traffic volumes have been properly adjusted, the need for the project isn’t as evident.

Gras addressed members Perth County council last week, where he asked them to withdraw their support for the highway study, noting the ministry and its project team have “fallen out of acceptable levels of accuracy” and have “never proven the need (for a new highway).

“If there’s something in this deal we don’t like, politically, we have to put pressure on them and put a stop to that,” he added.

Rather than endorse the request from Gras, council agreed to send his research to the ministry for comment and to verify the accuracy of his claims.

According to Gras, the ministry anticipates Stratford’s population hitting 35,600 by 2031 – the highway’s target date. But, based on Statistics Canada’s 2011 report and the area’s growth rate, he suggested that number is likely to be around 32,390.

The ministry is also projecting about 35,000 vehicles will travel the new highway each day, and, depending on its design, the road will be able to accommodate up to 40,000 vehicles per day.

But, “with population predictions too high, these volume predictions are still high,” Gras argued, noting even with exaggerated numbers, a four-lane road would exceed traffic predictions.

Gras also questioned whether a new highway would be much safer, noting the corridor is already below the provincial average in collisions.

The ministry and its team are in the process of finalizing a preliminary design for the highway, which would run west along the existing 7/8 before dipping south to avoid Shakespeare, eventually connecting with Line 33 into Stratford.

In the summer, the ministry will hold additional public information centres to gather feedback.

But given the one-on-one nature of those meetings, Gras said he would like to see the addition of question and answer sessions. These would give the public, media and politicians an opportunity to hear all of the questions and concerns, and hold the project team more accountable, he added.

Also last week representatives from the ministry and AECOM visited Perth East council to further respond to councillors’ questions. They previously attended a county-wide meeting back on March 22.

Perth East councillor Bob McMillan said it was with “guarded optimism” that he believes there is room for future discussions between the team and municipal leaders as the project proceeds.

Numbers call everything into question

Pressure grows on MTO plan
MIKE BEITZ Staff reporter
The Beacon Herald
7 Apr 2012

A Perth South man is urging county council to help “turn back the clock” on the proposed Hwy. 7/ 8 expansion between Stratford and New Hamburg. In a presentation that leaned heavily on numbers, statistics, charts and tables, Paul Gras suggested the... read more...

HIGHWAY Traffic volumes questioned
Mike. beitz@ sunmedia. ca
The Beacon Herald
7 Apr 2012

Specifically, Gras complained about “inaccuracies” in the ministry’s numbers relating to projected population growth in Stratford, traffic volumes anticipated between Stratford and New Hamburg and collision rates along that stretch. Referring to 2011... read more...

MTO seeks highway design guidance

By LAURA CUDWORTH, Staff Reporter (Beacon Herald)

The Ministry of Transportation is seeking information from the agricultural community regarding farm equipment and travel patterns for farmers before starting the design phase of the Hwy. 7/8 expansion.

The chosen route follows Hwy. 7/8 until about 2.5 kilometres east of Shakespeare. At that point it drops south and follows the train tracks and eventually veers further south through a bush lot and farmland. It then runs along a municipal drain before it connects with Line 33 (Pork Rd.). Read MORE

MPP sends letter to Minister

John Wilkinson, MPP sent the letter below to Minister Wynne. Along with the letter from Mr. Wilkinson, the material sent to Minister Wynne included a Summary of the issues ABC still has and a copy of the mapping presentation, which was presented at the March 2010 workshop. A copy of the Issues is also below.

JW Letter to Minister 062010

June 24 Final

ABC meets with MPP

In March of this year, ABC participated in a workshop sponsored by the Study Team for a special review of Shakespeare and area. In response , ABC put together another detailed report consisting of maps for the area defining an integrated agriculture business unit, visually showing the positioning of 10 sample units and demonstrating travel patterns for nutrient management etc.

Since this explained so well what the MTO and the study team has to date failed to grasp, ABC took this and portions of the Study Team material, to our MPP, John Wilkinson to ensure he was well briefed on the process issues we have been dealing with.

We had a very good and detailed meeting. Below is the letter ABC sent to Mr. Wilkinson after the meeting.

May 2010 MPP Wilkinson

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:

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

New Deadline for PIC #3

This information was sent to a number of organizations and individuals, today. This was NOT an ABC request. We will be responding to this PIC as we have responded to all others in the past 13 months and are preparing our members and documents, accordingly. -ABC

&&&&&

Re: Highway 7&8 Transportation Corridor Planning and Class EA Study, from Greater Stratford to the New Hamburg Area (GWP 13-00-00)

Good Afternoon:

Please be advised that the submission date for comments has been extended to October 31, 2009 for the following study documentation which was presented at Public Information Centre #3 held in July and August of 2009:

Draft Report E: Transportation Corridor Needs Assessment
Draft Report F (Part 2): Environmental Conditions and Constraints
Draft Report G: Generation of Detailed Planning Alternatives for Provincial Roadways

In addition, please note that the next round of Public Information Centres (PIC #4) originally planned for this fall will be shifted to early in the New Year to allow sufficient time for the study team to review and address the comments received prior to proceeding with the assessment and evaluation of the widening / new route alternatives.

If you have any questions about the study in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me at the contact information provided below or Charles Organ, the MTO Project Manager, at 1-800-265-6072 ext. 4591 or via e-mail at Chuck.Organ@ontario.ca.

Regards,

Brenda Jamieson, P. Eng. Manager,
Ontario GTA District, Transportation
D: 905.668.4021 ext. 2251

AECOM300 Water St.
Whitby ON L1N 9J2
T: 905.668.9363 F: 905.668.0221
www.aecom.com

ABC Replies to Consultants

Hi everyone.

Below is the letter of response ABC sent to MTO and the Consultants. It is our reply to the April 22nd response from the Consultants in which they attempt to answer the Recommendations ABC submitted for PIC 2b.

Charles Organ C.E.T.
MTO South Western Region
Project Manager
Planning and Design Section
659 Exeter Road
London ON
N6E 1L3

Brenda Jamieson, P.Eng.
Consultant Project Manager
AECOM
300 Water Street,
Whitby, Ontario
L1N 9J2


In response to your letter to the Agricultural Business Community (ABC) dated April 21/2009 in which you formally respond to our Volume 3 comments regarding PIC #2B. For purposes of clarity our further comments found below reference specific pages of your April 21st letter.

Initially we must say that ABC applauds the consultants and MTO for maintaining an open dialogue around key agri-business issues pertaining to the corridor's planning. Secondly we very much appreciate the time and effort devoted to input and concerns of ABC including your detailed letter of April 21st. We recognize that you have many conflicting stakeholders to serve and satisfy. However some of these stakeholders are directly affected, most notably the agricultural landowners, so we expect you will understand our need to firmly reiterate our main positions.

1. Screening Criteria for the Long List of Corridor Alternatives (Pages 3,4)

“The screening used a 'reasoned' approach in which there was no weighting of the screening criteria against one another. The results in all screening criteria have the same weight. ...... Potential impacts are not quantified at the corridor evaluation stage.”

While we understand the methodology referred to above, we still firmly believe that any 'reasoned approach' which lacks quantifiable data must inevitably involve a hierarchy of subjectively preferred values. The trade-offs in any list of 7/8 corridor options is not enviable. Does the province wish to further advocate food production or pavement? Is a wetland more or less important than heritage buildings? These decisions ultimately involve value preferences. ABC is not opposed to the application of value preferences. Indeed, all difficult decisions require value guidance. We only ask for their recognition and transparency when applied.

2. Agriculture Land Receives Lower Weighting in Decisions (Page 5)

“We are enhancing our approach by giving agriculture its own evaluation factor and by splitting agriculture into two evaluation criteria: a) the CLI Class; and b) the type of farm operation/infrastructure.”


ABC views that this is a significant enhancement to the evaluation methodology and we are pleased with your creative flexibility given the overwhelmingly tight parameters which constrain the EA study. As we understand the methodology, these new relative weightings will be applied to agriculture in the next detailed planning phase, where quantifiable trade-offs can be assessed for specific route planning.

3. Rural Heritage is Absent (Page 6)

ABC will continue to advocate for protection of agricultural and rural heritage, both built heritage and cultural heritage. The biases we noted in our two earlier briefs regarding rural heritage remain un-addressed. Therefore, this points to a serious flaw in the current design of MTO Class EA studies, which will need to be rectified.

“It should be noted that it is premature to assume location-specific potential heritage impacts since a preferred corridor has not been selected.”

ABC wishes to advise you that when route planning begins we will be monitoring and acting on any perceived threats to rural heritage presented by either the selected corridor or routes within it.

4. Questions of Need (Pages 7, 8, 9)

We continue to respectfully disagree about estimates made by both your firm and MTO regarding population and transportation needs.

a) The population projections for regional growth are based on questionable estimates for the Greater Golden Horseshoe and are not credible.

b) The 7/8 transportation survey, done in 2004, has a 'summer-traffic' bias and precedes the recent oil and energy crisis which is adjusting travel patterns.

c) Truck and commercial vehicle surveys for the province may have been considered but any that specifically apply to this corridor have not been done.

d) Your traffic projections have already been challenged by municipal experts and yet your estimates continue to remain un-revised.

“Widening Perth Line 33 ... may provide sufficient theoretical capacity to accommodate future demands .... [But] the use and widening of municipal roads is an area transportation option that is not being carried forward ...” (your emphasis)

For most local residents further upgrading of Line 33 is a logical traffic management technique for reducing density on the existing 7/8 corridor and this has been so for decades. Yet this option was unwisely ruled out even before the first set of corridor options were presented in the summer of 2008.


5.Drainage (page 10, 11)

“The engineering standards for this work are rigorous state of the art requirements of the MTO Drainage Manual, which is used as a reference by many authorities including many municipalities.”

ABC does not dispute the quality of professional engineering standards to be applied but ABC is concerned about their actual field implementation. The experience of many farmers is that MTO road contractors do not satisfactorily complete drainage obligations or else they do not understand their central importance.

ABC very much appreciates the undertaking and commitment by MTO to pay for the costs associated with system modifications by licensed drainage contractors to mitigate impacts on agricultural private tile drainage systems.

However, MTO is asking all affected municipalities and private land owners to 'have faith' in its professional staff regarding their planning for drainage and to 'believe' that road contractors will understand and complete all the work to the satisfaction of affected parties. To protect affected parties, ABC will continue to press for a viable option for 'peer review' of any drainage plans devised for the selected corridor and route.



6. Public Consultation (Page 11, 12, 13)

Despite your protestations about the reputed efficacy of the PIC's, ABC will continue to ask for formal presentations by the consultants and MTO followed by question and answer sessions as an alternative to the PIC’s. We believe that communities need to hear their voices together. We very much appreciate that the consultants and MTO staff have from time to time agreed to such formal meetings and hope they will be open in future to such alternatives.

The extension of PIC's to 9:00 p.m. was duly noted by ABC and was seen as a positive step to encourage rural participation. The consultants and MTO should also be mindful that the end of June is one of the most hectic periods in the farm calendar.

Conclusion

ABC remains committed to seeking solutions for Highway 7/8 alternatives that will minimize the impact on the agricultural land base and on agricultural businesses while still encouraging future road development and enhancing public safety. We thank you for your attention and for this opportunity to express our positions.



Linda Dietrich p.p.

Agriculture Business Community of Perth East, Perth South and Wilmot West

Scribd document coming soon!