[All] some good news!

[Yvonne Fernandes]

Hi Everyone,
Not sure if this will help anyone working on development issues but I was pleased to received this information this weekend.  I am hoping that this will be information that we can use to stop the Strasburg Rd expansion as well as challenge the developers who have filled in wetlands.
Take care.
Yvonne


Grand River Conservation Authority


Friday, July 29, 2011
Release ON RECEIPT
News Release
Woolwich Township landowner
ordered to remove fill, restore property
The owner of a Woolwich Township property has been ordered to restore land where he illegally dumped fill in the spring of 2010.
Silviu Buta of Holborne Drive, Kitchener was ordered to remove the fill, regrade and revegetate property he owns at 2721 Shantz Station Rd., west of the village of Maryhill.
Buta pleaded guilty in provincial offences court to one count of undertaking development on the property without obtaining a development permit from the Grand River Conservation Authority.
In addition to restoring the property, Buta must also pay a fine of $1,000.
The fill was placed in a wetland on the Shantz Station Road property. Under the Conservation Authorities Act, the GRCA has the authority to regulate development activity within and up to 120 metres from a wetland. The purpose of the regulation is to protect the flow of water into, from and near the wetland.
The GRCA received complaints in May and June 2010 that fill was being placed on the property. GRCA staff met the owner, provided information about the regulation and asked him several times to stop.
The rehabilitation order issued by Justice of the Peace Zeljana Radulovic  requires Buta to remove up to 20 full dump truck loads of fill and then restore the property within 10 days of the fill removal.
The GRCA and other conservation authorities in Ontario administer regulations that control development near wetlands, along watercourses and their flood plains, steep slopes and the Lake Erie shoreline. Regulated areas make up about one-third of the Grand River watershed.
In recent years, the GRCA has hired two enforcement officers to investigate complaints. Most cases are resolved through negotiation between the GRCA and landowners without court action.
Landowners planning to undertake a project near a wetland, stream, river or other regulated area should contact a resource planner at the GRCA. E-mail addresses and phone numbers are available in the Planning and Regulations section of the GRCA website at www.grandriver.ca 
They can also use “Map My Property” – an interactive mapping tool on the GRCA– to see if any parts of their property are regulated.
-30-
Further information: Dave Schultz, GRCA Manager of Communications
Phone: (519) 621-2763, Ext. 2273; Cell: (519) 658-3896
E-mail: dschultz at grandriver.ca Website: www.grandriver.ca

  
             Yvonne Fernandes                   
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,committed people can change the world, indeed it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
 
 
  		 	   		  
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