Letter from Barbara Wallace, 792 Base Line

The following is the full text of a letter sent to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment by Barbara Wallace of 792 Base Line:

**************************************************************** February 28, 2003 This letter is in regards to: City of Sault Ste. Marie Servicing of Industrial Lands Class Environmental Assessment Site 1B- Intersection of Base Line Road and Leigh's Bay Road

TSH Project No. 60264

I Barbara Wallace of 792 Base Line A, fully object to the proposed water and sewer servicing of site 1 B, this parcel of land is directly south of my residence.

I am classified rural. With this classification, which I chose when searching for property, it allows me to farm, in which this whole area is known for.

Currently I have two horses. This area is known as a farming community, with many livestock owners in this area.

We also have the greatest soil for hay and oats, which is also produced here.

From this area last fall, we were able to ship our hay to our Alberta friends who where in such desperate need.

In the city of Sault Ste. Marie our west end area, is our only farming area.

Slowly industry is trying to take over developing this crucial part of our eco systems. This is of great concern to me.

As a resident of this local area I, like many others feel that our concerns are falling on deaf ears.

For this reason I am writing to you, with hopes that this will be thoroughly investigated.

Here is the list of concerns that we are hoping that the Minister of Environment and Energy can help us with:

1. The site that is being proposed, is in my understanding, designated by the Provincial Government as Wetlands.

This I thought could not be changed by a municipality, but rather, be protected and preserved.

I would like to know if a study has been completed regarding this subject.

To date nothing that I have received from either the developers or engineers have mentioned this important part of their undertaking.

I feel this is something very important that the Ministry of Environment and Energy could help look into, to ensure proper measures are being taken, to preserve and protect our Wetlands.

2. The soil of this land, has it been tested by the Ministry of Environment?

If so, what has been found? When it starts getting stripped off the site, if it is not Wetland material, can it be disposed of properly?

To where will it be going? Is the odour of this swampy material hazardous? What about its contaminating properties?

I understand that the soil will be stripped off because nothing can be built on it. Is this also true?

Apparently the land is not ideally meant for building on it, but I am certain that if you have studies regarding this, that you could inform us of this.

Also, when this has been stripped away, and the construction begins, we are told that if they dig beyond the sandstone, this could adversely affect the quality and quantity of area resident's wells.

This is something I am sure the Ministry could help us with, because after all we have invested anywhere from $8000 - $10,000 for great quality wells and we certainly do not want another Walkerton!

Who will be monitoring or who takes responsibility of this important aspect of this proposed servicing.

Area residents are looking for the Ministry to took into this important issue.

3. The wells were the next area of concern regarding this endeavour. As I said in the previous paragraph, we have invested greatly in good quality water and more than adequate flow. A company by the name Hydroterra Limited investigated the potential impact of servicing and road construction activities to the ground water regime.

This study did not help area residents, because no clear-cut evidence showed us that this servicing would or would not adversely impact on the ground water.

If the digging went beyond the sandstone bedrock, which is not known at this point, how far the digging will go, this could adversely affect our wells.

The solution, according to this company, recommends that "plugs" be incorporated into the service trench to prevent the flow of water through the trench.

They say the plugs will prevent the draining of groundwater through the conduits created by the service trenches.

Is this true? What are the potential effects on our local well water supply?

Or what other effects could be expected from this servicing regarding our well systems?

4. Noise. This is another factor that concerns residents in this area, but also the surrounding area leading to and from this site.

The Base Line A Road, the Leigh's Bay Road, and Base Line, Allen's Side Road and also Second Line would be affected with increased traffic flow, heavy vehicles moving to and from this proposed site.

Our road is very quiet with just local resident use; it could not support heavy flow.

It is clay based. We have bush on the other side of the road, which buffers some of the noise from the lower Base Line.

We are also concerned with the possibility of a rail service that could be extended from the existing rail at GP Flake board.

This is not developing yet but is definitely something that is being considered.

We hope every effort would be made by the Ministry of Environment to ensure all appropriate measure would be enforced regarding noise and its effect on us, in this area.

5. This is also important to us, our waterfront. We feel studies should be conducted concerning our waterways.

These waters are a part of our Great Lakes and should also be monitored during any phase of servicing and building.

There is wildlife and ecosystems, that should not be disturbed, or a least be studied to ensure that proper procedures are followed in order to preserve this rare and natural part of our heritage in the Sault.

As you can see there are many concerns with the servicing of this site.

I am hoping that the Ministry of Environment and Energy will get involved and address all of these issues.

There are many ways that this could adversely effect residents, but also more importantly, our environment.

Some years back we had a large Mercaptan spill just below our hill, actually it would be in front of this proposed site.

Union Gas and Trans Canada occupy the same parcel of land.

We know that the Ministry was a big part of that clean up process, and we felt that most avenues were handled in a proper manner by the environment.

We are looking to you once again, to get involved with this project, to ensure that everything possible is done to protect our environment, water, land, and air.

We are hoping that your Ministry will be involved in every step of this procedure.

We as a community would like you to look into and participate in this process.

I thank you for your consideration, and hope that an order to comply with Part II of the Environmental Assessment will be enforced by your office.

Because notice has not been given to most area residents and time being of the essence, I can send signatures of support of this letter upon request.

All persons in this area were not adequately addressed with notice.

Thank you again for your consideration.

Yours very truly,

Barbara Wallace, Area Resident

Co: - Don McConnell, Planning Director - Rick Talvitie, TSH Engineers - Frank Manzo, Alderman - Chris Stockwell, Ministry of Environment and Energy