[All] River Rd. extension goes to council Wednesday -- Ongoing Hidden Valley worries...

Sun Oct 2 20:28:51 EDT 2011

Thank you Michael for your email. I agree100%. All across Ontario there are projects putting farmlands, forests and water supplies at risk. I'm working on issues right now that are actually killing people with blatent policy non compliance evident. It really changes the view when you see how bad things can get. Normally I would put my faith in science but seeing that industry has no mandated test times or methods, even that fails to show reasonable data or baseline to warrent approval processes. It is a chronic problem these days.

You should ask if the completion of the construction heading to the 401 reduced wait times on Fairway road. Has a traffic study been completed since the bridgework was completed to see if traffic has improved. That issue was raised at the last GREN meeting. It's worth looking into.
Also a public Marchh would do well to raise much needed attention to the issue to show public support. A walk from Kitchener city hall to regional headquarters is doable if you work with police and use the sidewalks. I could help promote that sort of thing. Been there done that. It will give free publicity and showcase your end of the story if you initiate this. It's worth a shot.
Lulu

On Sun Oct 2nd, 2011 2:14 PM EDT Michael F wrote:

>Hi Daphne,
>
>Here are some brief answers to some of your questions:
>
>(1) If they find that the environmental studies show that the River Rd.
>extension (and subsequent development) is likely to pollute our drinking
>water, will they cancel the planned extension?
>====> The impact of the River Road extension and subsequent development will
>be on the Hidden Valley ESPA, and it will come in the form of a reduction in
>high-quality groundwater recharge as well as contamination by road salt and
>other such contaminants -- in addition to degradation and loss of sensitive
>habitat.  In this sense, the impact will be no different from that generated
>by urbanization of other areas.  And, urbanization is not considered to be a
>cause of drinking-water contamination (even though I would argue that
>anything that degrades the quality of our groundwater or surface-water
>resources is harmful).
>====> There are no Regional water-supply wells in Hidden Valley, but the
>Mannheim Water Treatment Plant takes its water from the Grand River at
>Freeport Weir.  However, the impact of the River Road extension on the Grand
>River's overall water quality (at the aforementioned intake) will be
>essentially zero, given that Hidden Valley area-wise comprises only an
>infinitesimally small part of the Grand River watershed upstream of the
>Mannheim water-treatment plant intake.
>
>(2) Construction of the road could begin, we were told on Tuesday, in
>2016.*Can construction begin in Hidden Valley as soon as the Phase 3
>is passed?
>*====> This is a regulatory-type question that is best answered by the
>people at the Region.  But as I understand it, once all the studies have
>been done and all the approvals have been issued (and assuming there is no
>appeals waiting period), then the diesel soot (from all the construction
>machinery) will appear.
>*
>*(3) At what point does the Ontario Clean Water Act come into being, or has
>it already been passed?
>====> All Ontario regulations can be found at
>http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca(click on Search or Browse Current
>Consolidated Law).
>====> The CWA is in effect, as has been in effect for a few years now.  Not
>that new regulations under the Act are still anticipated in the future.
>====> The Clean Water Act (CWA) deals with the protection of drinking-water
>sources (both groundwater-based and surface-water-based), and thus mandates
>certain protection measures such as bans on certain well-defined activities
>(e.g. cattle feedlots) for prescribed distances around municipal wells as
>well as intake-protection zones (IPZ) around surface-water intakes.  But it
>does not ban development outright.  I can't see any way that the CWA would
>have an effect on the proposed River Road extension and the proposed Hidden
>Valley developments.
>
>I think the strongest case for protecting Hidden Valley (i.e. not building
>anything in the ESPA itself as well as not building anything in the recharge
>area around it) stems from the ecological concerns and the importance of
>just leaving it natural and undisturbed.  It is physically impossible to
>fill the farm fields around the Hidden Valley ESPA with urban sprawl without
>significantly impacting the ESPA part.  And, the proposed River Road
>extension will slice off a piece of the ESPA habitat.  The ongoing
>whittling-away of natural areas (both ESPAs and non-ESPAs), as well as the
>construction of roads and buildings close to natural areas (i.e.
>insufficient buffers), is a serious problem that the Region is not doing
>enough to prevent.  (The only way the Region  could do enough for Hidden
>Valley is to buy up all of the remaining undeveloped Hidden Valley
>lands...and ideally, the Region would do the same for all the other natural
>areas.)
>
>Then again, the big problem is at the federal level -- the Government of
>Canada ushers in roughly a half-million people annually into this country,
>and the majority of them continue to crowd into the GTA as well as ancillary
>areas (such as Kitchener-Waterloo).  The Province, by declaring this area as
>part of the Places To Grow Act (which would more accurately be termed Places
>to Sprawl), is merely responding to the Government of Canada.  And, the
>Region of Waterloo, by encouraging and facilitating development, is
>responding to the Province of Ontario.  Hidden Valley is one of the victims
>of this antiquated, anachronistic trickle-down process.
>
>If the federal government would smarten up and just match the immigrant
>intake to the shortfall between births and deaths, then we would have a
>stable population -- which would very effectively stop the demand for urban
>sprawl development.  If all the municipalities (which are on the receiving
>end of the immigrant influx) would lobby the federal government for such a
>simple population-stability measure, and if the federal government would
>wake up and listen, then that would put a quick end to the mind-numbing
>torrent of environmental abominations that inevitably accompany all
>population growth.
>
>Michael.
>
>
>2011/10/1 Daphne NICHOLLS <gordanddaph at sympatico.ca>
>
>>
>> Hi Friends!
>>
>> Due to the hydro outage on Tuesday aft., The River Rd. Extension Committee
>> will hear delegations as part of the Regional Council meeting on Wednesday
>> Oct. 5 at 7 pm. It's the second item on the agenda.
>>
>> NOTE: Then Council will vote on Wednesday about giving more money to IBI
>> Group to continue with Phase 3 and 4 of the Class EA .
>>
>> Today Gord found some contradictory information comparing the Region's maps
>> with those of the consultant, LGL. LGL indicated that the Jefferson's
>> territory is larger than is shown on the Region and MNR maps. Puzzling??!!
>>
>> Gord and I have been contacted by people who live in Hidden Valley, and
>> they will be at the meeting and one of them will be speaking for Gord. A
>> neighbour of ours  will be speaking for me, perhaps, or for herself. We're
>> grateful for their help and think it's high time there were new faces and
>> voices carrying the "natural heritage area" ball! *Please go and support
>> them if you can, and and let others know about the meeting.* Neil will be
>> talking about Jeffersons.
>>
>> *Questions:* (1)If they find that the environmental studies show that the
>> River Rd. extension (and subsequent development) is likely to polute our
>> drinking water, will theyy cance the planed extension?
>> (2) Construction of the road could begin, we were told on Tuesday, in 2016.
>> * Can construction begin in Hidden Valley as soon as the Phase 3 is
>> passed?
>> *(3) At what point does the Onterio Clean Water Act come into being, or
>> has it already been passed?
>> (3) The Clean Water Act is designed to protect recharge areas, and surface
>> and well water used for drinking.
>> There was more info about this in the agenda from Planning and Workson
>> Tuesday (see p. 84)
>>
>> Sorry we won't be there in person, but we'll certainly be thinking of them!
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Daphne
>> 613-474-1501
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> All mailing list
>> All at gren.ca
>> http://gren.ca/mailman/listinfo/all_gren.ca
>>
>
>-- 
>================================================================
>Michael Frind, BSc
>School: MSc Candidate (Thermal Geophysics), Earth & Environmental Sciences,
>University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo ON CA N2L 3G1
>Home: 346 Marlowe Drive, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 5A4 519-885-4415
>frind at execulink.com, michael.e.frind at gmail.com, mefrind at uwaterloo.ca
>================================================================