Citizen research forces delay of Waterdown road plans
November 12, 2005

Proposals to build a new east-west road north of Waterdown are being challenged after citizen research revealed that the city's transportation planners had failed to inform the conservation authority that oversees part of the affected area. In addition, the proposed road apparently goes through a provincially significant wetland. As a consequence, approval by city council that was scheduled for October has been delayed.

The east-west bypass is part of a draft Waterdown-Aldershot transportation plan that has been dogged by controversy. A proposed $50 million in road construction and widening is being driven by an earlier approval of 6500 new houses that will double the population of Waterdown. A north-south dog-leg proposal that includes widening of Waterdown Road has drawn widespread resident opposition, and major funding challenges because much of this work lies outside Hamilton's borders where development charges can't be utilized.

The selected option for the east-west section loops north of the town and passes through the provincial Greenbelt and a city-designated Environmentally Significant Area (ESA). The city's planners got agreement from the Halton Conservation Authority for the route, but didn't do the same with the Hamilton Conservation Authority which oversees most of the area immediately north of Waterdown.

The mistake was pointed out by Rick Breznik at an October 5th meeting, and has forced Hamilton's road planners to scramble for the required conservation authority approval. A letter sent to the authority has asked for a response by early November.

Breznik has discovered that the road will plough through an apparent provincially significant wetland. He has been told by officials at the Ministry of Natural Resources that the wetlands haven't been formally evaluated but almost certainly fall into the highest provincial category.

The provincial officials initially promised Breznik they would evaluate the wetlands, but they apparently changed their mind after being contacted by Hamilton officials. The presence of the wetland is indicated in a 1993 ecological report and a follow-up 2002 document that together led the city to define the area as an ESA which includes the headwaters of Borer's Creek.

Provincial legislation allows for the construction of new roads in the Greenbelt lands, but says environmentally significant areas must be avoided unless there is no reasonable alternative. The legislation says: "New or expanding infrastructure shall avoid key natural heritage features or key natural hydrologic features unless need has been demonstrated and it has been established that there is no reasonable alternative."

Two other rejected east-west options do not affect the Greenbelt. Breznik points to minutes from a public information centre in April where it was stated by city planners that "there is no impact" on the Greenbelt.

He is also frustrated by the fact that subdivision planners in Waterdown have been assuming the proposed east-west alignment in their designs, even though it hasn't been finalized. Indeed, they were told by city officials last June to make this assumption on the basis of draft conclusions that had been reached at that time.