Fall update: October 2017

As the end of October approaches, we are still awaiting contact from the Study Team re a meeting.  

They did contact us , the text of their letter is below. Emphasis is mine.

From: Jamieson, Brenda
Date: Fri, Sep 22, 2017 at 8:15 AM
Subject: RE: Study Update Meeting.
To: Agriculture Business Community

Good Morning Sharon,

Further to your July letter which we received via email on July 17, 2017, we look forward to meeting with ABC this fall to provide a study update and discuss the Recommended Plan Refinements which were made following PIC #6 in response to feedback received through the consultation process and further development of the preliminary design.  Please note the intent of the meeting is to provide an overview of the refinements to facilitate your review.

I’ll contact you in mid-October to schedule an appropriate meeting date for late October / early November.  If you have any questions in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards,

Brenda

Brenda Jamieson, P.Eng.

AECOM

Hwy Update Sepyember 2107

Update: 

The Agriculture Business Community (ABC) has been busy meeting with local politicians and communicating our concerns to the Study Team via MPP Randy Pettapiece. The Study Team did contact us asking for a meeting in July which we have consistently told them was an inappropriate time for the Agriculture community. Below is the text of our letter to them in response.

Brenda Jamieson, P. Eng.
Senior Vice President
Canada Transportation Business Unit Lead

AECOM
300 Water Street
Whitby, Ontario L1N 9J2,

Dear Ms. Jamieson:

We appreciate the request to meet. As you know this time of year is difficult. This is the busiest time in our business cycle. We have asked you in the past for more appropriate times to meet. We are disappointed that the meeting dates suggested are completely unrealistic. 

This four year abandonment of the study shows complete disregard for the value we place on community involvement in our future. It does not inspire confidence in this process.
To provide you with effective commentary we need time to review the recent report, meet and prepare a response. Otherwise, a meeting would make a mockery of the public consultation process. 

Since this is such an important issue to the agriculture businesses and rural areas affected, we feel strongly that meeting dates into the fall are more appropriate. The end of October is the soonest agriculture will be in a position to meet.

We urge you to consider this seriously. We feel strongly that the process we were all supposed to follow has been abrogated by the Study Team’s failure to follow through sooner. Your lack of response until now, to the many official comments and concerns, from the last Public Information Centre is not conducive to any meaningful process.
 
Yours truly:
Sharon Weitzel per

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

Cc: Randy Pettapiece, MPP Perth-Wellington

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

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.

Perth County 012013 by hwy7and8

Letter to the Editor

The past weekend ABC had a letter to the editor published in the Stratford Beacon (Saturday Jan. 21, 2012). It is in response to an editorial in the paper.

Letter to Editor 2

Another Letter to the Editor

Highway 7/8 expansion could lead to ruin for some farmers........ We are writing in response to our conversation at the Shakespeare Hall on Jan. 18 with representatives of the Ministry of Transportation and their consultants. We were shocked to learn that the proposed route for the Highway 7/8 corridor would run directly south of our property, Alpaca Acres (Lot 25, Concession 1, Perth East). The impact of this proposal would be devastating to our business and would shatter our dreams for our retirement and our plans of building a business that could be passed onto our son. more.....

Letter to the Editor March 22nd, 2011

Latest Highway 7/8 route not better


Contrary a Point of View which appeared in The Beacon Herald, most people are unhappy with MTO's path of least resistance.

The comments in the paper are beyond absurd that a swing road south of Shakespeare is the lesser of two evils as this path forces the road not just around Shakespeare, but to continue for 9 kilometres through highly- productive farm land all the way to Stratford.

This option not only destroys quality farm land, but also brings added cost to all the farm businesses, as it restricts normal farm movement to other properties which are vital parts of their operation.

Farms are no longer single parcels of land, but many parcels, both owned and rented. A farmer needs this to be competitive but most of all good land stewards; rotating crops and wise use of animal compost.

In terms that non-farmers can understand this section of road would take out approximately 530 acres. If it were all planted in wheat, at 42 loaves of bread per bushel, you would lose 1,335,600 loaves of bread per year.

As The Beacon Herald article said but reversed. Logic would dictate that it needs to take a route that will have the least amount of negative impact. To that end, the RURAL route should be off the table and enter Shakespeare instead.

As for other vital information on the MTO and the study team, they have a huge list of guidelines to help them find a preferred route. They have failed on almost every one!

Guideline #1. Efficient use shall be made of existing and planned infrastructure -(not making efficient use of existing hwy 7&8).

#2. Encourage more compact communities with services, shops, and businesses. -(Shakespeare will become a ghost town by redirecting traffic around the village).

#3. Curb urban sprawl as best possible -(they are encouraging urban sprawl with a new Highway 7&8).

#4. Preserve green space and agriculture lands - (they are doing anything but with this new route).


#5. Cut down on car dependency -(they are encouraging more commuters).

#6. Contribute to better air quality -- (encouraging more cars at a higher rate of speed, this goes totally against the government's Kyoto accord agreement.)

#7. Spur transit investment -(the highway discourages transit investment).

#8 Promote a culture of conservation -(they are failing by promoting commuters to go further).

#9. Reduce reliance on any single mode of transportation -(again, encouraging more car use).

#10. Revitalize downtowns -(neither Shakespeare nor the city of Stratford's downtowns will be revitalized with the new preferred route).

These guidelines are quoted from the Study Team's Report B. The most important guideline which is mentioned many times and is in their stated purpose is to address the needs of the analysis area.

Here we have a study group that is on their fourth try. At first they said we needed a 400-series style road going around New Hamburg, Shakespeare, and Stratford because that is what we needed!

When people questioned their logic they soon backed off. In reality we have a traffic count of 9,800 vehicles per day (VPD), on an existing road that can handle 17,000 VPD and if they do a good job of up grading the existing road to four lanes (they already own most of the land.) We would have a safer road that can handle in the range of 32,000-38,000 VPD. This will more than address the needs well past their 30 year projection!

Some may be upset, but this route beats the alternative!

Paul Gras

RR 4 Stratford

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

Study Team Weighting

In response to the Study Team's requests for "weighting" of criteria, ABC submitted the following letter and Annex.


Weighting Letter Pic3b