[All] Fw: Sensitive area at risk in Waterloo Region.
Lanteigne
water.lulu at yahoo.ca
Tue Dec 14 19:43:04 EST 2021
FYI
Lulu
----- Forwarded Message ----- From: Lanteigne <water.lulu at yahoo.ca>To: Dave Jaworsky <dave.jaworsky at waterloo.ca>; Royce Bodaly <royce.bodaly at waterloo.ca>; Karen Redman <kredman at regionofwaterloo.ca>; Catherine Fife - CO <cfife-co at ndp.on.ca>; MNRF Fish and Wildlife Policy Branch (MNRF) <mnrf-fishandwildlifepolicybranch at ontario.ca>; NRIC MNR (MNRF) <mnr.nric.mnr at ontario.ca>Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2021, 07:42:38 p.m. ESTSubject: Sensitive area at risk in Waterloo Region.
Dear Council Members
Mr. Howald wants to develop his property at 515 Erbsville Road between Colombia Forest Subdivision and Laurel Creek subdivision to the North
Erbsville Road property could help link neighbourhoods, bring more affordable housing to west Waterloo
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Erbsville Road property could help link neighbourhoods, bring more affor...
Permission to remove trees is required so development can eventually proceed on site zoned for ‘future determina...
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The area is attached to ESPA 19's Forested Hills aka the Sandy Hills due to endangered species in the area including area sensitive birds, salamanders, a wide range of endangered plants as well as primary recharge for the Waterloo Moraine which provides for our potable water and associated tax revenues from that. It's also part of the largest forest in Waterloo.
Last year I noticed logging of mature trees on the Howald Property and reported it to MNR who swiftly put a stop to it. Howald has done that before and I called them back then too.
July 2017 they were doing construction on the road across from the Howald Property. There was nosediment fence in place to protect the habitat and the primary recharge area. A large snapping turtle was trying to enter Howald's property and I guided it to enter by the driveway area. I reported the turtle to the Ontario turtle tally and contacted Guelph MNR who notified the GRCA to install a proper sediment fence to protect the wetland habitat. Turtles cross the street here because they are still attracted to Howald's property for nesting and food. It was Graham Buck and Ken Cornelisse at the Guelph MNR who provided assistance to me with that sediment fence. Ken is more than familiar with the endangered species of the area because he was an expert at the OMB hearing regarding the West Side Lands which is contiguous with this property.
In the attachment you'll see the monarch caterpillar I saw through his fence as well. His front yard is valuable for endangered butteries and bee species attracted to the wild pollinating plants.
Jefferson Salamander habitats exist in in ESPA 19 & 17 and in the attachment is a report RFP0640.pdf that confirmed both Endangered Jefferson Salamanders and Endangered Acadian Flycatchers etc. With the Endangered Species Act in Ontario there can be no net loss to species or their habitats. Canada signed the convention on Biodiverisity and is still bound to the SARA Act as well. We need proper salamander surveys with non lethal testing not egg samples. Other endangered/threatned animals in this area include Brown Bats (which I've witnessed at St. Nicholas School and Columbia Forest) meadow voles which I've also witnessed in my back yard, Ribbon Snakes, Canadian Warbler, Hooded Warblers, Snapping Turtles, Blandings etc. The runoff of his property leads to ESPA 19 and we need to protect the PH levels of the natural forest and soil produced here to maintain this delicate ecosystem.
It's not a good spot to build on for the grading, or geological water risks because it would disrupt the flow rate, water quality and water volumes heading to both Clair Creek's fisheries and our aquifers. There are physical samples of the endangered mussels found in Clair Creek during the Laurel Creek Watershed Study at Wilfrid Laurier to this day. The houses on basswood had issues of flooded basements in my area and my neighbour's house shifted at the foundation leaving crooked brickwork. It moaned when it moved. The lady who lived there, Diane Lord Cotton who is an architect, evacuated her home with her family for fear it could collapse. Experts at UW told me we are geologically "floating" over the moraine. I'm still good friends with Diane who can speak further on this issue. Ken Crawford, a construction worker and brick layer complained about it with the City of Waterloo as well because he owned the other half of that duplex.
If they were to build on the Howald property where would the storm water runoff go without leading to structural risk? What about the impacts of road salts and contaminates in Clair Creek and the Grand River. This is in the wellfield of the Greenbrook well system and that well is already at risk of closure due to high road salt levels when the West Side Lands was developed. We already have salt levels so high it puts people at risk for heart and stroke diseases and the Region of Waterloo did media releases on that in the past. Folks like my husband who just had a Quintuple bypass on his heart are at an increased risk because of that. Why add more salt into the recharge zone?
We just paid to remediate Clair Creek and now they want to go beyond the design constraints to allow this further expansion? That's a waste of tax dollars.
We must also consider the additional traffic, noise and emissions and the impacts on the health of area residents and the kids using the sidewalks to go to and from three schools in the area. Do we want heavier traffic and more emissions when the place is already chock full of cars from 8 to 9 every morning? Wouldn't it be better to simply create a walking trail from Royal Fern to Wild Ginger Ave to allow kids to go to to and from school away from the traffic and emissions and simply leave the rest of the property as an extension of ESPA 19?
I spent years walking in ESPA 19 watching and talking with Mr. Howald's grand children who loved his forests. He's a hypocrite to not value the lands as is when he spent his whole life there with his family enjoying it. The reason the farmer sold the lands in Colombia Forest is because his tractor kept sinking into the muck. I spoke with Mr. Howald about that. We met a couple of times at the Starbucks in Laurelwood. My girlfriend ML Hale owns a house that backs onto his land. She saw many of the residents cried when he removed his pond. We both spoke of that with him. Her yard filled with the frogs and salamanders and other creatures fleeing the damages. He claimed area kids were tresspassing and swimming in his ponds and that is rubbish. She lived closer to the water's edge and being physically disabled and unable to drive she was always home and never saw such a thing. He knows these are undevelopable lands just like Peter Benninger and Hidden Valley. My view, these developers are more interested in land banking on the prospects of building here. They seek approvals to free up funds and let the money grow for some 10 years as environmental groups and others try to stop the project. They don't care if it's built or not because the scam makes money anyway. Same technique is seen in the book Putin's People. I know how Waterloo properties linked to illegal banking and fraud in Germany. I reported that to the OPP many years back. Still have all those reports. The mob was laundering money through Germany in Canada using land banking schemes. My view it's still happening.
You have the legislative right to simply say no using the Provincial Policy Statement and the ROPP because this property of Howald's is primary recharge. The map is in the attachments. I used it to win my concessions at the OMB. This is not the kind of lands you should be building in. Pipe's sink on lands like this. If you have a natural gas line on lands like this you could literally see house explosions like this. Howald's lands is in an area filled with kettle ponds.
Four injured in house explosion in Kitchener
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Four injured in house explosion in Kitchener
<p>A family of four was in bed sleeping when their home was levelled by an explosion and fire Sunday night.</p>
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I have photos and maps and evidence from my OMB appeal for PL071044 that I can very easily use again to illustrate the risks. I have studies to show Clair Creek is a serious flood risk downstream if we are not careful with how we plan. I have a photo of what Clair Creek looks like when it floods as seen in the attachments for your reference. Bore hole testing often shows sloped hills like Howald's property as clay covered but ground penetrating radar aka GPR readings are more accurate for hill slope recharge zones like this because his property is part of an outwash moraine systems. The hill itself is the recharge zone on the slope.
I also include a photo of what the sidewalk looked like outside of Howald's property when they first installed it. There was so much water in the area it was like a suspension bridge.
If Howald could reasonably develop the land he would have years ago. He never could and he still doesn't feel right about it. He never dreamed they would remove so much of Colombia Forest's tree cover to build the subdivision as far back as they did. That always made him feel sad. He's a better man than that. I don't know what game he's playing right now but please, simply apply the laws as written and say no. We don't need more smog, emissions or water damages around here. It's time to take our climate commitments seriously. Include his lands into the ESL. The biota and biodiversty is still there to warrant it. Just because he knocked down some big trees doesn't give him card blanche to destroy known endangered species habitats.
Thank you
Louisette Lanteigne700 Star Flower Ave.Waterloo OntN2V 2L2
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