Wetland dreams: Pointe Louise neighbours unconvinced

Some neighbours living in the area of the proposed Pointe Estates development are very concerned about the damage they believe the project will cause to a significant wetland.

"This is not an emotional issue," says one of the Pointes Protection Association founders, Rick Gartshore. "Our concerns are based on science. Solid science commissioned by Chant."

Chant Construction is waiting to hear from the Sault Ste. Marie Region Conservation Authority on whether it will grant or deny Chant the conditional approvals needed for its 200-acre development off Pointe Louise Drive to proceed.

Authority staff have been asked to provide a verbal update on the situation at a meeting scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

The Pointe Protection Association, founded in 2008, was initially rebuffed when it sought access to Chant's research on the 200-acre parcel of lands near the Sault Ste. Marie Airport.

Applying under freedom-of-information law, the group was able to access a draft environmental impact study and a preliminary hydrogeological impact assessment commissioned by Chant.

These reports did nothing to allay residents’ concerns about possible impacts on the wetlands in and around the Pointe Louise wetland.

In fact, those reports confirmed the worst fears of Gartshore and other association members.

In particular, they are concerned about the last section in the summary of long-term effects listed in a comprehensive report entitled Pointe Estates Subdivision Environmental Impact Study for Development in a Wetland (DRAFT).

Notwithstanding the mitigation methods proposed by Chant, the study predicted some long-term residual impacts:

- Phosphorus loading from septic beds may impact water quality in the canal.

- Construction of the canal system may result in stagnant water.

- Direct loss of vegetation and wildlife habitat due to removal of site vegetation.

- Direct loss of physical wetland.

- Loss of hydrologic function of wetland (quantity of water stored, reduction of flow velocity).

- Impact on water quality (wetlands function to trap sediment, control pollution and treat water).

- Loss of wetland habitat (provides food, water and shelter for fish, birds and mammals and serves as breeding grounds and nursery for many species).

"These residual impacts must be balanced against the benefits of a new waterfront development in the City of Sault Ste. Marie that will offer housing and recreational opportunities and an increased tax base," the report said.

The conservation authority's technical advisor, Frank Tesolin, echoed these and other concerns in his report to an April 20 hearing to consider Chant's application.

"The proposal will require that 78.5 acres (27.4 hectares) of the existing wetland will be destroyed," Tesolin said. "Additional loss could possibly add a further 43.2 hectares to the total wetland loss in that the complexed wetland could be affected by lower water levels induced by canal and peripheral drains."

Tesolin said the Pointe Louise wetland fulfills a wide range of vital functions in the area ecosystem, including attenuation of flooding, filtration, treatment and retention of water as well as erosion control.

"As an example," he said, "this wetland could treat the sewage from a town of approximately 11,000 persons to a degree better than a modern tertiary sewage treatment plant."

The wetland also serves as habitat for many species of fish, animals and plants, including deer, moose and many birds.

However, based on Chant's draft report, the Pointe Louise wetland was deemed not provincially significant.

Gartshore and Peter Gagnon, another association founder, think a closer investigation of the wetland's characteristics would likely change that designation.

Both have been living in that area for more than 30 years and their families have been there since the 1950s.

Gagnon's mother-in-law owned the first house built in the area in 1947.

Both men remember there being much more than the 78.5 acres currently identified as wetland in the proposed 200-acre development.

"They found evidence of it when they were putting in the roads," said Gagnon. "This whole area used to be wetland."

Both men say that a combination of low water levels in Lake Superior and damage already done to the Pointe Louise wetland from construction of the Alagash Canal and the Sault Ste. Marie Airport, as well as roads in the area, left a significantly smaller wetland when the area was surveyed for the study Chant is using.

That's why they, their families and their neighbours formed the Pointe Protection Association in spring of 2008.

To date, more than 35 area families have joined the association, which was established to provide a formal platform to promote the most enjoyable environment for country living and recreational activities, says Gagnon.

"The association has offered to act as a steward for the area, with its members committed to the natural and historical protection, preservation and promotion of the environment in and around the 'Pointes,' commonly referred to as Pointes des Chenes, Pointe Louise and Pointe aux Pins," he said.

To that end, the group has raised funds and undertaken studies of its own to prove that the wetland is at least locally significant and to protect it from harm from development.

"We are not against development, nor are we making emotional arguments that have no scientific merit," says Gartshore. "This wetland is 24 times the size of what the province says is significant and Chant's own numbers prove that it will be seriously damaged by this development. We have many scientifically supported reasons for concern."

Gartshore says the association raised several other concerns with the conservation authority as a result of its investigations and data it found in Chant's draft environmental impact study.

It is concerned about what it believes is a clear and significant risk to the water table and to shallow-depth wells that several residents depend on for household use.

Gagnon says the association is also worried about stagnant water in the canal, an existing problem residents fear will be exacerbated by the proposed development.

Members of the association have not been able to find a single working dead-end canal in the world that doesn't suffer large amounts of nutrient build-up, algae bloom and other detrimental issues because of stagnant water.

Tesolin shared that concern as well, even after Chant recently added a pump in the suggested design of the dredged and excavated new sections of the Alagash canal.

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