A Commentary by John Bacher
Integral to efforts to bulldoze the path for the proposed Canadian Motor Speedway in Fort Erie has been an assault on the basic land-use planning framework of the provincial government.
A Black-Crowned Night Heron, one of the rarer species of birds that visits the Frenchman's Creek watershed now. To what extent will the impact of a motor speedway on the diversity of life in this area be taken into account?
This began with the first “public meeting” of the Niagara Region and Fort Erie on this issue, which did not even mention one of the biggest points of contention with the proposal. This is that the 827 acres proposed for the speedway is currently both agriculturally zoned and designated. Then came another bizarre twist.
Rather than designating the proposal as an urban boundary expansion, it became referred to as a “Special Policy Area.” This provides an exemption from the province’s Growth Management Plan, which is currently holding up urban re-zonings of agricultural land in Smithville and Niagara Falls.
For a while, despite having manipulative public meetings and confusing official plan terminology, there was a firm stand taken by the Niagara Region and the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority on the matter of provincially significant wetlands. Amendments to the Fort Erie and Niagara Region’s official plans, had language that did not approve encroachment of the provincially significant Frenchman’s Creek Wetland complex.
This is because under the Provincial Policy Statement, which is supposed to guide land use planning in Ontario, what are termed “site alterations” to provincially significant wetlands are prohibited.
Had the province stood firm on its previous policy of no encroachments on the protected Frenchman’s Creek wetland complex, major alterations of the motorway proposal would have
been required, although it could have been accommodated somewhere within the massive 827 acre site. Had this been done the actual motorway would have been forced to relocate to the north of the south, away from the protected wetland on the southern edge of the property. That the developer has been so determined to fight to remove the wetland obstacle, has led to suspicion that the motorway proposal, with its purported Arabian investors from fabled Dubai, is simply a ruse to wrest approval for another big box store on protected agriculturally zoned land near a QEW interchange.
The province dropped its objection to the encroachment on the Frenchman’s Creek wetland a few weeks after the zoning amendments for the motorway were approved by Fort Erie Council. In a one page, September 22, 2010 letter, Ian Hagman, district manager for the Guelph District of the Ministry of Natural Resources, announced that the part of the previously provincially Frenchman’s Creek wetland that clashed with the motorway had been downgraded.
Hagman said he believed in the conclusions drawn by the developer’s ecological proponent Colville Consulting. This provided evidence to him that the proposed crossing of the motorway with a bridge over an Oak Mineral Deciduous swamp ecosite “will not have an adverse effect and will maintain important hydrologic and ecological functions between two portions of the Frenchman’s Creek provincially significant wetland (PSW) complex.” Hagman also in this letter removed PSW protection from the part of the wetland, which previously, had
been blocking the motorway. He announced that, “review of the data’ from Colville’s report showed that these lands were now shown “to exhibit a greater degree of upland vs. wetland characteristics. “ This is despite the presence of a rare swamp species, the Pin Oak.
When asked why the province did not supply copies of the Colville report, Hagman indicated that it could not be released since it was “the proponent’s proprietary information.’ On November 10th I attempted to obtain a copy of the report by phoning Colville’s office in St. Catharines. A man on the phone replied that I could not obtain a copy of the report since it was the property of his client. He assured me that he would phone me back if the situation changed. He also indicated that MNR had also asked for a copy of the report.
Eventually Hagman’s office did release what they termed the up to date wetland evaluation of the Frenchman’s Creek Provincially Significant wetland complex. Completed in 2007 it does not contain any information that would degrade any portion of then designated provincially significant Frenchman’s Creek Wetland Complex.
Rather than providing comforting proof that an error was made in the 2007 wetland mapping, the evaluation provides for opponents of the motorway, new concerns. The scoring sheets indicate that the wetland is an important food source for the Black Crowned Night Herons, which breed on the adjacent Niagara River. Page 27 of the evaluation also indicates the significance of Miller Creek, whose headwaters if the motorway were approved would be entirely urbanized, for the endangered fish species, the Grass Pickerel. A comment attributed to MNR biologist Anne Yagi here reveals that the Grass Pickerel is confined “to wetland creeks of this type in Niagara and is very vulnerable to dredging, and channelization activities.” If the motorway was to be approved, massive channelization of Miller Creek would be carried out around the proposed motorway. It would also discharge sediments and new sources of pollution from the raceway and adjacent parking lots.
Fort Erie’s Carolinian forests, and wetlands, full of rare species such as Pin Oak, need vigilant defence. It is a tragedy of epic proportions that the motorway should be a battering ram to break them down.
John Bacher is a resident of Niagara, Ontario and a long-time researcher for and member of the Niagara-based public-interest group Preservation of Agricultural Lands Society.
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I’m hearing through very good sources that the car track is dead. People who “sold” their land to the speedway have not received compensation slated for December and are looking for lawyers for a lawsuit. Sources say that the financial collapse in Dubai is the reason. The guy from the raceway who spoke at tonight’s council meeting is warning that the repeal of the Bay Beach zoning sends “an alarming signal.” Will probably blame the collapse of the Bay Beach Project for the reason they will bail. However, keep vigilant. Developers are very clever and they have found the administration at Fort Erie’s town hall to be easily duped.
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I understand that the Motor speedway project proposed for Fort Erie self proclaims itself to be the world’s first “carbon neutral” speedway . If I understand this concept correctly the promoters would purchase “credits ” for clean air from some location elsewhere in the world to offset the pollution it will spew into the air that everyone in Fort Erie will breathe.
In order to obtain more horsepower for their cars, speedway vehicles have an exemption to the Canadian ban allowing the vehicles to burn leaded gas. Why was leaded gas banned years ago? because it is dangerous to breathe the fumes !
Listen up Fort Erie residents , sure you want your sons and daughters to have part time jobs at the track but we ALL breathe the same air and it does not stay on site !!!
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Thanks Fort Erie Council and residents, we in Niagara Falls will welcome the tourists you send us from your speedway efforts. It takes years and years and lots of money to become a tourist destination. You in Fort Erie will suffer the noise, pollution and infrastructure costs while we in the Falls open our arms to the tourist dollars.
What a shame for your beautiful community. I would not call this type of development progress.
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Urban boundary expansion is a slippery slope. Recently Regional planners filed a report that recommended against allowing a Queenston quarry reclamation plan to transform the 240 acre limestone quarry (now a dump site) into condos and associated uses, a recommendation not taken by Regional Council. Planners cited the provincial policy as well as Niagara’s long term growth plan as both being against urban boundary expansion.
Yet, in Fort Erie the extension of sewers and water services as well as extensive road expansions through what the Region itself categorizes as “good general agricultural land” is ok with the Town and Regional planners and politicians alike.
True, in Fort Erie we don’t grow grapes but the farm land is no less important. We produce wheat, corn, soy and hay amongst other crops and livestock. To destroy this land and valuable wetlands for a speedway along with its associated commercial and light industrial uses is ludicrous. This is not a used up quarry harbouring landfill waste, or an abandoned brownfield, this is non-replaceable fertile land.
Once the speedway is built, it will be no time at all until more and more commercial units will be added on what used to be farm land. Although the initial approval of the speedway comes with some commercial limitations, the Town of Fort Erie and Region of Niagara, hungry for tax income, will ultimately agree to what ever expansion the operators of the speedway want. Will this result in Fort Erie ratepayers seeing great tax reductions? I will bet not. Once services are expanded they cost money to maintain. Treatment plants must be updated, roads resurfaced, policing and essential services broadened.
With restaurants at the speedway site, are the race fans likely to wander off to Crystal Beach for lunch? Will Jarvis Street see a rebirth when there are plenty of shops at the speedway?
Look around your towns and cities now, how is your downtown area doing? Where do folks prefer to shop? The Mall!
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Stephen Harper is waging a war against Dubai he denied landing rights to a U A E airline at Toronto citing it would be competition to Air Canada, in return the U A E has told Canada to get out of their base in the Emirates which will cost us all big bucks, also Canadians now need a visa which costs $18 hundred dollars, I think they, Dubai will kill the Speedway.as the war contiues. the war of words.
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John this is the biggest piece of one sided crap I’ve ever read. No grass pickerel there, no night herons at the disputed site and the small piece of wetland they are seeking the variance for was most likely caused by farm equipment changing the grade. The Creek itself is primarily invasive buckthorn and purple loostrife and is about 15 feet wide! Why must we insist on degrading the integrity of the environmental community by stretching the truth and sensationalizing. This reminds me of the global warming scandal that saw fudged data to achieve certain results.
These headwaters are plugged with farm erosion run off and there are a lot bigger problems down stream. There’s no way after reading this that you can convince me that you either visited the site or know the hydrology. Your making mountains out of molehills. This will not have any significant impact on Fort Erie’s Carolinian forests. This projects benefits to the community however are huge.
John any time you would like to meet and actually tour the site or see some of the crap happening downstream then call me. The only fish I’ve been able to find there are fatheads under the service rd because it’s the only water that doesn’t freeze to the bottom in winter.
If you want to protect farmland then do so on its own merits if you can find any but don’t turn this into some environmental drama that doesn’t exist and no there is no job waiting for me at the speedway.
Dan Andrews
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