[All] FW: Hanlon Creek Business Park

[John Jackson]

At our GREN meeting on Wednesday we had a presentation by those concerned
about the Hanlon Creek proposal in Guelph. We decided to contribute towards
a newspaper ad in the Guelph paper expressing concern ­ especially about the
Jefferson Salamander.

The next day I met the Guelph Mayor at a meeting in Cambridge. I told her
about the meeting the previous evening ­ not about the ad. She sent me the
following message after that. Note especially her comments on the Jefferson
Salamander in her 2nd blog.

Any comments would be appreciated.

John
-- 
John Jackson
17 Major Street
Kitchener, Ontario N2H 4R1
519-744-7503


------ Forwarded Message
From: Karen Farbridge <Karen.Farbridge at guelph.ca>
Date: Sun, 20 Sep 2009 16:20:31 -0400
To: John Jackson <jjackson at glu.org>
Subject: Hanlon Creek Business Park

Hello John, 

Nice to see you last week.  I hope the rest of the workshop went well.

Thank you for your interest in seeing some information on the Hanlon Creek
Business Park. 

The realization of this project has involved four terms of Council. While
there were several decisions along the way, the final decision by Council to
move forward on this project was made in 2006 when the OMB Minutes of
Settlement were signed by all parties including the City of Guelph. That
alone had a substantive public engagement process and our public process
went beyond the minimum requirements of the Planning Act which is our usual
practice. Since that time, city staff have moved forward to implement the
direction of Council and the conditions of the OMB. To date, $20.5M has been
committed with a further $12.5M committed through contractual obligations
with two private developers who have partnered with the City. These
developers have the legal right to move forward with the development of
their property within conditions established by the City, OMB and other
approval agencies. As well the City, developers and the Ministry of
Transportation Ontario have entered into contractual obligations related to
this project.

The $32M, referenced above, has been debt financed. The funding source for
this investment is the sale of the lands. The revenue from the sale of the
land will provide much needed capital funds and will release debt financing
capacity for other important capital projects in the community.

A Public Liaison Committee was established through the OMB Minutes of
Settlement to provide for continued public input during the development of
the project. 

Probably the best thing to do to provide some additional details about the
environmental protection, restoration and monitoring is to provide you with
three links to postings on my blog.  There is a little overlap between the
three postings.  While I do refer to the term "old growth forest",
technically it is not.  However, it is a moot point as the heritage grove is
being protected.

Of course there is substantially more written on the this issue and many
technical reports available on line but you asked for a summary.  We
continue to work with the GRCA and MNR to ensure we address any issues
related to the Endangered Species Act.

http://mayorsblog.guelph.ca/2009/07/29/hanlon-creek-business-park-2/
<http://mayorsblog.guelph.ca/2009/07/29/hanlon-creek-business-park-2/>
http://mayorsblog.guelph.ca/2009/08/07/myths-and-facts-about-hanlon-creek-bu
siness-park/ 
<http://mayorsblog.guelph.ca/2009/08/07/myths-and-facts-about-hanlon-creek-b
usiness-park/> 
http://mayorsblog.guelph.ca/2009/03/20/hanlon-creek-business-park/
<http://mayorsblog.guelph.ca/2009/03/20/hanlon-creek-business-park/>

Regards, 

Karen Farbridge 
Mayor 
City of Guelph 
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