On Monday Feb 19 2007 Mayor Burton Has placed a motion on the agenda that highlights how much growth is costing the current taxpayers link to the motion

This is just one of the many notes I received from constituents as of Feb 19th

To members of council,

I writing to request that you support the mayoral motion entitled: Halton's Campaign for Fairness on February 19th.  The provincial growth targets will result in extraordinary infrastructure costs and burdens that will have to be shouldered by members of this community. This community will have to deal with issues around transportation, energy use and environmental degradation, to name but a few. The province has no clear strategy to address the problems we are being forced to incur. Under such conditions, the Town of Oakville cannot accommodate the growth targets specified in the Provinces Places to Grow Plan.

Gord Miller, our Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, spoke the following words to the Legislative Assembly when introducing his 2004/2005 Annual Report:

In his 2006 report, Miller noted:
 

…MAH has still not initiated any significant public consultation on the population growth modeling and projections which are integral to strategic land use planning decisions. (2006. Neglecting Our Obligations. http://www.eco.on.ca/english/publicat/ar2005_en_report_01.pdf )

Miller pointed to one particular aspect of population growth. Its significant impact on water usage.  Let me briefly describe a portion of that impact.

The infrastructure to supply water, manage waste and stormwater runoff will cost the area ratepayers millions. Kilometers of pipes and many pumping stations will have to be created to manage flow, including the construction of forcemains to take the effluent under Joshua Creek and Sixteen Mile Creek. According to the Preliminary infrastructure servicing review:  "the extensive areas of environmental features, creeks, tributaries and wetlands will provide a challenge to servicing the study area." (2003. North Oakville East of Sixteen Mile Creek  Secondary Plan  Preliminary Infrastructure Review http://www.town.oakville.on.ca/Media_Files/DevelopmentProcess/124e9TSHRevisedServicingRptSept0203.pdf   ). Such "challenges" usually mean that it will be quite expensive to do properly, and if it is not done properly it will result in significant environmental damage.

Besides laying pipes, our waste water treatment plants (WWTP) must be expanded. For instance, the Mid Halton plant has been approved for expansion from its current capacity of 50,000 m³/day to 75,000 m³/day. Ultimate capacity of the plant is expected to reach 166,000 m³/day.  As I understand it, the tender award for the Mid Halton Sewage Treatment Plant has been finalized and residents will now have to pay back debentures in the amount of $8,557,523. The full expansion of that facility is expected to cost $42 million.  Who is paying for this?

Even if the cost of providing this infrastructure is met, the hidden costs to the environmental can not so easily be redressed. The Mid Halton plant will be processing more than three times the current waste volume. What happens to all that waste? "Municipal Waste Water Effluent (MWWE) is one of the largest sources of pollution, by volume, being discharged to surface water bodies in Canada." (Jennifer Vigano. 2004. Municipal Wastewater Effluent Development Committee: Overview. http://www.ccme.ca/assets/pdf/mwwe_mncpl_mtg_ovrvw_rpt_e.pdf ).

The Mid-Halton plant currently releases over a thousand tonnes of nitrate ion along with tonnes of ammonia and phosphorus into Lake Ontario. (See National Pollutant Release Inventory http://www.ec.gc.ca/pdb/npri/npri_home_e.cfm )  One consequence of these releases is an increase in the growth of algae, like the nuisance string algae - Cladophora, along our shoreline.  The presence of these floating mats is not simply an aesthetic issue that leads to drinking water taste and odor, and unpleasant beaches. It is an indicator of general water impairment, a degradation of phytoplankton and zooplankton populations within the lake. The Lake Ontario Shoreline Algae Action Committee recommends tightening regulations to limit nutrient loadings to Lake Ontario and optimizing Halton's WWTP to reduce releases. (2006 Annual Report http://councilarchive.region.halton.on.ca/cdm/cdm/rppp/rp2006/agpp1106/ppw4006.pdf ) We can do this at a cost. Who will pay that cost? Even if we optimize our systems, there is no question that an increased population in Halton will lead to a degradation of water in Lake Ontario. Who will redress the community for these impairments?

I could continue by examining the impact of growth on storm water management and water purification, but the bottom line is that increased population will result in significant financial and environmental costs. Increased population will further impact air quality, through increased traffic, increased home heating, and increased energy usage in general. (We do not yet have a clear provincial energy strategy.) We know that increases in poor air quality will lead to increases in respiratory and cardiovascular problems. Can our hospitals accommodate this? Who will pay the costs? Enough said. 

Population growth will bring economic benefits, for some - that's certain. For the rest of us, it's not so clear. On balance will the quality of our lives improve? Will the environment we value be protected? Until it is confirmed that the population growth targets can be achieved while preserving the quality of life, character and values of each community within Halton, please, insist that we can not go "racing blindly ahead with hugely expensive and probably unsustainable growth plans."

Thank you for your time.