Skip to content

Pointe Louise development still under consideration

Chant Construction is continuing to pitch the Sault Ste. Marie Region Conservation Authority for a proposed development to be called Pointe Estates.
AlagashBridgeSpring-01

Chant Construction is continuing to pitch the Sault Ste. Marie Region Conservation Authority for a proposed development to be called Pointe Estates.

This past week, members of the authority's board conducted a formal hearing to decide whether they should grant Chant conditional approvals necessary for the firm to proceed with the 250-acre development in the area of Pointe des Chenes park.

The board deferred its decision pending advice from its independent legal advisor.

Chant's development would include alterations to the Alagash canal, construction of a new section of canal.

The project would consume about 100 acres of wetland.

Chant wants conditional approval so it can proceed with more detailed habitat studies and engineering plans.

Controversy around the project focuses largely on the fact that at least 45 percent of it would be on wetlands that drain into the St. Mary's River.

The authority is mandated by the Conservation Authorities Act to prohibit, regulate or at least require permission to develop land if, in the opinion of the authority, the control of any of five things may be affected: flooding, erosion, dynamic beaches, pollution or land conservation.

The proposed Pointe Estates development falls within the jurisdiction of the conservation authority, which may grant a permit to develop the land if it feels the development won't have a significant negative impact on any of those five areas, says Sault Ste. Marie Region Conservation Authority Manager Linda Whalen.

Consultants hired by Chant say they believe the project meets or exceeds all criteria set out by the Conservation Authorities Act.

According to Dr. Mike Davies of Coldwater Consulting, it all comes down to this question: How significant is the wetland that would be used by the proposed development?

Coldwater is one of at least three environmental consulting firms hired by Chant to assess the project against the act's standards.

The area of the proposed development was surveyed three times by Great Lakes Environmental Services, Davies said.

This process is required by the province to determine whether an area of land is a provincially significant wetland.

"The ranking was well below significant on the provincial scale," Davies said. "Determining the local significance of that area is very much an opinion call."

Davies said he believes that technical issues surrounding the local significance of that parcel of land have been addressed, but for some it's an emotional issue.

"There are some who believe there should never be development on any wetland, that all wetlands are significant," Davies said. "We will not be able to satisfy everyone."

The design has changed over the three years since planning was initiated for the proposed estate development.

The plan still calls for 91 lots with an average size of .611 hectares, but the two lots at the mouth of the canal have been taken out of the design and a one- to two-foot deep sediment trap has been added at that part of the canal.

A pumping system has also been incorporated in the design of the upgraded canal, in case the natural oscillating wave action of the St. Mary's River proves insufficient to fully circulate the water in the canal.

The plan calls for dredging of the canal, floating docks on many of the estate lots and a 60-ton boat-launch facility.

The culvert at the mouth of the canal would have to be removed to allow marine traffic access to the St. Mary's River, a primary element of the project.

This would also sever Alagash Drive at that point.

But Chant says it will be building a full bridge and new roads as part of the project.

The canal is not a natural feature of the area.

It is, in fact, a waterway that was excavated more than 50 years ago.

The canal was not maintained and over the years the mouth by the west end of Pointe Louise Drive was filled in by silt and sediment from the St. Mary's River.

The remaining section was reclaimed by the natural environment.

The east end of the canal currently connects to the St. Mary's River through a six-foot culvert under the bridge on Alagash Drive.

That mouth of the canal is protected from sediment build-up and erosion by a small peninsula.

If the project goes ahead, it will use about half the existing canal.

The west side will be left in its present state but water circulation to that end of the existing Alagash canal is expected to increase when the bridge and culvert on the east end of the canal are removed and a greater volume of river water can pass through the canal's mouth.

The east section of the existing Alagash canal will be deepened, widened and lined with a membrane and blast rock to prevent erosion.

Shoreline details such as fish habitat structures are planned for later in the project.

A new section of canal will be excavated to create a loop with a man-made island in the centre.

During a SooToday interview in 2007, Bill Weirzbicki, Chant's lead planner on the project, said this island will be used to restore some of the wetlands that will be filled in for the estate lots.

Weirzbicki said that a hydrogeological study was commissioned from Peter Richards of Waters Environmental Geosciences.

That study said that the water table, water quality and wells in the area would not be negatively impacted by the proposed development, because they are fed and refreshed by runoff and the St. Mary's River, not by the canal.

The study also concluded that the volume of water flowing through the St. Mary's River is sufficent to ensure water tables and wells will be unaffected by the proposed extension of the canal.

The Pointe Estates development would include new roads and a full bridge that Weirzbicki says will improve access to most homes in the area.

Chant and the conservation authority were in continuous pre-consultations from August 2006 and through much of 2007.

Authority staff made a number of recommendations on the project, which Chant incorporated in its plans, working to address concerns from both the authority concerns and area residents.

In December 2007, the authority submitted a list of recommendations to Chant.

Chant returned to the authority seeking conditional approvals to move forward with the project this January.

Public input on the project was invited beginning in February and Linda Whalen, the conservation authority's manager, said almost a dozen written submissions were received.

"They were split with about half the submissions in favour of the project and half against," Whalen said. "The submissions were given to board members along with the presentation from Chant."

Mike Davies of Coldwater Consulting hopes the authority will be able to complete its consultations and make a decision by its next meeting in May.


What's next?


If you would like to apply to become a Verified reader Verified Commenter, please fill out this form.