Volume 8 Final

7/30/2019 Volume 8 Final

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AGRICULTURE BUSINESS COMMUN ITY

Chapters: Perth East, Perth South & Wilmot West

Community Report

Volume

8


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Table of Cont ent s

Introduction

1. Land loss Resulting from Various Design Options

2. Road Safety from and Agricultural Perspective

3. Future Viability of Affected Agricultural Properties

4. ABCs recommendation for the Selected Corridor

5. Conclusions

Annex 1 Farm DefinitionsAnnex 2 Letter


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In t roduc t ion

The purpose of this Report is to provide a formal response from the Agriculture BusinessCommunity (ABC) to the Ministry of Transportation Ontario (MTO) regarding thepresentation of planning and road design options arising from the PIC #5 series of meetings.

Subsequent to the PIC #5 meetings, and in a letter to MTO dated August 13th, ABC

requested that further information be compiled by the consultants relating to the overallreduction of farmland, road closures, farm buildings to be lost and so on for each of thedesign options presented. This material was provided in a letter dated August 30th and thenrecompiled into our Table 1.1.

It is beyond the resources of ABC to review all the road design details covering the proposedeight sections of highway.

Therefore, our response will only focus on a few issues central to the mandate of ourorganization. These issues are:

the impact of land loss on agricultural business units arising from various designoptions

the relative safety of certain design options from the point of view of farmbusiness users

the ultimate impact of final design and corridor options on the future viability

and sale ability of certain properties for farm business use.

Furthermore, while ABC previously sought onlyto inform and educate the planning team onthe business of agriculture, we are now recommending a final corridor based on severalcommon sense considerations as well as an agricultural perspective.


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Land Loss Resul t ing f rom Var ious Design Opt ions

The Agriculture Business Community (ABC) will not budge from its long stated position that theminimization of farmland loss and the preservation of Class 1 and 2 agricultural land, in thisspecific study area, must be the paramount priority governing all other considerations.

We believe that food landin this part of Ontario must always have higher priority than asphaltand tourist convenience.

The data compiled in Table 1.1 demonstrates the direct land loss and other impacts of each ofthe eight segments of the planned highway expansion.

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A G I R C U L T U R E B U S I N E S S C O M M U N I T Y

4

Table 1.1Summary of Information Provided by AECOM September 2012

Segments

ura rban es ences

Displaced

arm u ngs

Displaced

a g an

Displaced

egment

average

grcut urea

Propert ies

an ocke

parcels

o severe arm

proper t ies # of Road Closures

A1 2.7 9

A2 2.9 9

A3 2 rural 2.7 9

A4 3.5 14

A5 3.8 14

A6 2 rural 3.6 14

Sect ion A 3.2 ha

B1 2

B2 0.1 1 2

Sect ion B 0.1 ha

C1 2 urban 0.8 5 2

C2 3 urban 1.9 5 2

C3 3 urban 1.9 5 3

Sect ion C 1.5 ha

D1Sout h Bypass 12.8 14 1

D2 South Bypass 13.1 14 1

Sect ion D sout h 12.9 ha

D3 Nort h Bypass 2 barns 20.2 18 4 2D4 Nort h Bypass 2 barns 20.9 18 4 2

Sect ion D Nort h 20.5 ha

E1Sout h Bypass 52.6 26 7 13 1

E2 Sout h Bypass 53 26 7 13

E3 South Bypass 53 26 7 13

Sect ion E sout h 52. 8 ha

E4 Nort h Bypass 1rural 1barn 26 26 4 6 2

E5 Nort h Bypass 1rural 1barn 27.3 26 4 6

Sect ion E Nort h 26.6 ha

F1 7 15.2 29

F2 7 15.2 29

Section F 15.2 ha

Summary of Information Provided by AECOM September 2012

Segments

Rural/Urban Residences

Displaced

Farm Buildings

Displaced

Ag Land

Displaced

# of Agricultureal

Propert ies

# Landlocked

parcels

# of severed farm

properties # of Road Closures

G1 3.9 10 2

G2 4 3.9 10 2

Section G 3.9 ha

H1 4.5 5

H2 2.3 4

H3 3.2 5

Section H 3.3 ha

Summarized:

The total for Sections A, B, C, E (Rd 106 west to village of Shakespeare) F, G, H is 30.2 ha.The totals for Sections D (Line 110) are 20.5 ha.The totals for the Southern Bypass (Sections D and E) is 92.9 ha.The Totals for Northern Bypass (Sections D and E) are 74.3 ha.


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It is important to note that ABC has serious issues with the way the land loss impacts werecalculated by the consultants. Our objections, particularly in regard to the definitions of agricultural

properties' used in their calculations are detailed in

Readers must be cautioned that these calculations are at best rules of thumb. However, thisdata, while flawed, is all that is currently available, and should at minimum allow us to make

certain rough comparisons between design options. It is important to understand that these lowestimated figures do not include the additional agricultural land that will be taken for thedevelopment of overpasses, underpasses, ramps, etc. The community has not been presented

with an accurate estimate of the land to be taken for highway development.

Table 1.1 details the displacement of farm residences, farm buildings and agricultural landrequired as well as potential severances of farm property, and road closures. The level of detailoffered applies to all segments of the planned corridor, including the two by-pass options, andto specific road design options within each segment.

The average losses across each sections design alternatives will be discussed. Averages are usedas there are often only small variations in the figures. This allows us to see, in aggregate, thepotential losses. The contentious parts of the current plan of highway development cluster onsections D and E.

If a northern by-pass route around Shakespeare were followed and if it entails a link to LorneAve. down parts of road road 110, then 74.3 hectares of land (plus land forroundabouts/overpasses etc.) will be required and 44 agricultural properties will be affected..

If the southern bypass were followed, which does not use Road 110, 92.9 hectares of land(plus land for roundabouts/overpasses etc.) will be taken and 40 agricultural properties affected.

ABC previously requested these calculations as we beleive that land loss was the major factorfor our area. We were told our request was premature and that we needed to wait for the designphase. On the basis of our new data calculations (which only arrived at the end of August after


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we specifically and formally requested them), we believe that a complete rethinking of thepreferred corridor is required.

The suggested northern by-pass route makes no sense at all to our community. The proposedsouthern by-pass route heavily affects the business of agriculture. The existing corridor, end toend, offers by far the most efficient use of farm frontage and other severed land.

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The Fut ure V iab i l i ty o f Af fec t ed Agr ic u l tura l

Proper t ies

In the early days of the study the Agriculture Business Community (ABC) stressed the need for theconsultants to become conversant with the legislative requirements of the Nutrient Management Act

and its implication on the land requirements of individual livestock producers.

We carefully explained the link between livestock production, land, individual nutrientmanagement plans and farm financing. We also made it quite clear that agricultural land is at apremium in the study area and not a readily available commodity to replace if sections are takenfor highway development.

In 2008 ABC pointed out other problems with highway development and its impact on farm

drainage, if there is limited oversight during the development stage of the highway and providedongoing examples of drainage issues in the study area that have not been resolved over the past17 years.

In 2010 ABC introduced MTO to the concept of Integrated Farm Business Units with a seriesof commissioned maps produced by the University of Waterloo. The maps showed a samplingof the complicated nature of land use and transportation patterns involving farm equipmentthat are required to support current farm practices (including nutrient management) within thestudy corridor. These maps were developed by ABC to visually portray the business of farming.

It became quite clear that continued access to north-south concession crossings andimproved safe use of the existing highway corridor for agricultural equipment is critical andparamount for continued business viability.

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The agricultural land within the corridor is recognized as some of the best in Ontario if notCanada. The historical development within Perth County laid down the early patterns of landuse.

Protection of agricultural land is critical to food production and protection of the agricultural transportation

patterns is critical to viable businesses.

The identification of a selected route without a complementary time line for highwaydevelopment will hold all impacted lands and buildings hostage. It is unconscionable that theMTO can hold so many viable agricultural businesses hostage for decades by corridor anddesign finalization and approval of the environmental assessment.


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Recom m endat ion fo r t he Se lec t ed Corr idor

At each phase of the planning study, Agriculture Business Community (ABC) membershave been told that the answers to their questions will be addressed in the next stage, too

often they are not.

-ABC has not previously endorsed any of theproposed corridors. As a result of the over engineered insult at the last PIC, and ourrecent information request, ABC is making a route selection recommendation.

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1) Principally it ensures that the least amount of farmland will be lost.

2) It will utilize (finally) the existing land already taken out ofproduction 30 years agoby MTO along the north side of the highway from Shakespeare to Stratford.

3) Most existing transportation patterns will not be further disrupted.

4) Farmers and rural residents along the existing corridor have been aware for manyyears of the possibility of highway expansion. Many have planned for it through newbuilding setbacks and land parcel purchases and sales over three decades.

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5) The acquisition of land and frontage from the train trestle to Shakespeare will havereduced impacts as many older buildings are also set well back from the corridor.

6) The existing corridor will put automobile travelers where they truly want to bewhen they arrive in Stratford, on Ontario Street right in the commercial developmentstrip, where the big box shopping is and where Wal-Mart and Target will soon be andwhere all the signage points to the theatres and downtown.

7) The shortest distance between two points remains, as always, a straight line.

ABC therefore will notendorse either by pass option; neither north nor south ofShakespeare.

In the words of an ABC member: The Ministry (of Transportation) already ownsmost of the needed land. The impact on agriculture will be minimal. The impact forlandlocked parcels will be minimal. The impact for severed farm business units willbe minimal. The impact on closed crossroads will be minimal. And, the total cost willbe much, much less.

In the planning process other interests have made limited contributions to thecommunity wide requirement of ensuring we have a safe, efficient roadway.Community safety and others sectors of the economy have been satisfied to have theagricultural community contribute the land and bear the losses.

Landowners along the current corridor have always expected to contribute somefrontage to the future safe improvement to the highway. Over the past 30 years theyhave also adapted their businesses, planned future buildings and developed theirbusiness plans to accommodate the future need. It is unconscionable that the currentplan and design is so dismissive of the needs and economic health of this ruralcommunity.

The consultants identified the right approach during PIC # 3 when the existingcorridor was further utilized and expanded. Unfortunately, all subsequent efforts atdesign give the appearance of being haphazard and piece-meal, taking the course of


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least resistance rather than providing a consistent and evenly applied solution. Nowthe MTOs preferred corridor is a series of compromises and curves sweepingthrough the countryside and across train tracks, with roundabouts now beingproposed and an attempt to make the Lorne Avenue area Stratfords gatewayreception area for highway traffic. None of this makes any practical sense.


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Conclus ion

In 1982, a member and former Shakespeare business owner and resident, received aletter from Dennis Timbrell, then Minister of Agriculture and Food .

In the letter Mr. Timbrell noted that in response to stakeholder input the planning foran expanded Highway 7/8 was abandoned. This decision, he argued, was a fineexample of government responsiveness to citizen input. We are now thirty years onfrom that decision to do nothing and many more tax dollars have now been investedduring the past four years by MTO.

What are we actually getting this time around? Many would argue not a whole lot.

Getting it right does not mean appeasing stakeholders; it means that those chargedwith the task must find a solution that is appropriate to specific circumstances and

one that uses accurate datathat satisfies tests of common sense.

Utilizing the existing corridor for all vehicles is the only solution that meets the abovecriteria. While ABC cannot speak for all agricultural producers in the study area, itdoes speak for many and while we see the necessity to contribute some land to theoverall objective of attaining a safe and efficient highway, we are not prepared to bethe only contributors. Others must also do their part.

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Annex 1- Farm Def in i t ions

The Agricultural Business Community of Perth East, Perth South and Wilmot West(ABC) have been actively participating in the Highway 7&8 Transportation Corridor

Planning and Class EA Study since July 2008. We have experienced a processwhereby MTO consultants present their goals to the community, completeinventories; define criteria to measure, present results on large scale maps and charts,record community comments from PICS and move on to their next stage. The typeand quality of the information collected is entirely in the hands of the professionals.

In many cases, ABC has pointed out errors in their assumptions and decision makingdata. With significant effort, ABC has been able to expand the criteria as it applies toagriculture. As early as our first brief in 2008 we also questioned their trafficprojections.

ABC continues to educate MTO and its consultants on the business of agriculture.We have given the consultants unprecedented access to our members, their expertise,their farm land and our community.

Since 2008 we have asked the consultants to inventory agricultural producers to betterunderstand our business, our issues of access, our land use, our legislativeresponsibilities and our infrastructure in order to understand the impact of routechanges.

We informed them that many of the farm homes were of historic significance andshould be mapped.

We told them their farm drainage maps were at least ten years out of date and shouldnot be used for analysis.

We shared with them the results of the University of Waterloo study claiming their

water resource maps were at least 80% wrong.

We provided them with timely mapping of Integrated Agricultural Business Unitscovering 7,744.69 hectares or 14,195.44 acres of the study area.

In August 2012, in response to the information presented at PIC #5, ABC asked theconsultants for additional information to better understand the impact of the different


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preliminary design alternatives on the business of agriculture. On September 21, 2012ABC received a set of eight tables providing most of the requested information forthe different options in the eight stretches of the route.

The term agricultural properties plays an important role in the ability to decodethese tables and understand the impact of the design options on the potential loss offarmland and access to our farm land cut off by severances and landlocked parcels.

When ABC asked MTO we were provided with the following definition:

An agricultural property is defined on a conservative basis to be anyindividual property outside the official plan urban areas not clearly commercial-onlyor residential- only based on:

Property size, buildings, obvious activities occurring on the property, asdetermined through aerial photograph interpretation:

Details provided in Report F Parts 1 and 2, Working Paper-Environmental Conditions And Constraints:

Information from individual farm owners obtained through field visitsand through other consultation processes.

A simple map based on study area boundaries provided by the Official Plan matched

with data available from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) forfarm properties and ground truthing would have delineated farm properties.

A producer inventory as ABC has constantly requested, would have confirmed theaccuracy.

The EA process is a process of applying the same criteria to different options todetermine the various outcomes. How can this process be effective if the data used isnot accurate?


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Annex 2

Documents

Volume 8 Final