The City of Guelph has completed an application for a zoning bylaw amendment to allow an expanded snow disposal facility in Guelph-Eramosa Township.
The land is located at 7263 Wellington Road 124.
“This property … is part of the City of Guelph’s holdings where their sewage treatment plant, animal shelter, all these facilities are, on the south side of 124,” Guelph-Eramosa CAO Ian Roger explained to council on July 10.
“It has come to the attention of both ourselves and the city, with the city’s proposed new snow dump facility, that this is within our municipal boundary and it does require rezoning.”
The two to three acres in question are currently designated prime agricultural and core greenlands under the Wellington County Official Plan and are zoned agricultural and environmental protection under the township’s zoning bylaw.
However, Guelph planning consultant Steve Edwards from GHD said the property has been used for snow disposal for about 30 years.
“Presently it’s just dumped on the ground, the snow,” he said. “A big part of this project is to put in a storm water management treatment drain with a pond so that the melt water, since it’s been taken from the roads, it’s treated before it enters the river nearby.”
Guelph has received a $3.5-million provincial grant to complete the upgrade.
However, the one caveat is that the “money … has to be registered against a project in this calendar year,” Edwards explained, thanking Guelph-Eramosa for working quickly on the zoning application.
“It’s a really tight process that we need to go through but we appreciate your consideration of it,” he said.
In a report to council, township planning consultant Mitchell Avis noted the zoning bylaw amendment would allow the lands to be used for:
– an outdoor snow disposal facility;
– temporary storage of excess soil;
– temporary outdoor storage of materials generated through normal forestry practice;
– temporary outdoor storage of materials generated through normal horticultural practice such as plant materials, plant bedding materials and top soil; and
– temporary storage of materials collected by street sweeping.
Councillor Corey Woods said his one concern is how the City of Guelph would deal with waste and potential toxins in the materials stored at the site.
“There will be a storm water collection system … any runoff from that pad would go through a series of vegetative swales which will be lined so that nothing infiltrates into the ground … over to a storm water pond, treated there and then discharged to the wetlands nearby the Speed River,” explained GHD senior engineer Shannon Richardson.
She added another part of the treatment system will be the installation of an asphalt pad where the snow will be dumped, preventing toxins from leaching into the soil.
“The reality is if they’ve got a $3.5-million grant and what they want to do is actually properly manage this stuff that’s the way to go,” White said.
“They’re going to deal with the sweepings, they’re going to deal with the salt.
“Today it just goes right into the ground and into the ground water, so you’re going to be miles ahead of where they are now in terms of environmental protection, I would think.”
The township is scheduled to hold a public meeting to discuss the application on Sept. 5.
