Puslinch councillors are lobbying for a more active public process for the proposed Brantford to Cambridge transportation corridor, though MTO officials remained non-committal last week.
The Ministry of Transportation project – nicknamed by some the new Highway 24 or the 424 – is expected to connect Highways 401 and 403 and could possibly pass through a southwestern portion of Puslinch Township.
MTO Planning Manager Fred Leech was at council on Sept. 17 to present a report on the draft terms of reference for the environmental assessment.
But much of the discussion was based on the public process for the project, rather than the document itself.
“I am quite concerned,” Mayor Brad Whitcombe told Leech when informed that public meetings – which start next week – would not involve a question and answer period open to everyone at the meeting.
“I think the stakes are high enough … you should allow people to be heard in a public forum,” Whitcombe added. “People need a voice on this.”
However, Leech said the MTO has tried that format in the past with little success.
“It appears the event is more important than the transfer of information,” he said. He explained many people do not feel comfortable coming up to a microphone and asking questions in front of other people, and those that do often repeat the same questions over and over again.
He said such “broad” meetings accomplish nothing but getting stakeholders upset and frustrating organizers. Instead, the public meetings will allow people to ask one-on-one questions of staff devoted to a certain area of the project.
Councillor Susan Fielding told Leech she, too, is concerned about the format for public information centres, and said it is unfair to assume there will be problems based on past experiences.
But Leech insisted a more “meaningful exchange of information” happens in other forums.
“People are more interested in venting,” Leech said of the open mic question periods. “I’m more interested in gleaning useful information than pulling off the spectacle.”
Whitcombe told Leech Puslinch councillors value public input and don’t fear it. He said he wants Leech to do his best to ensure there are “high quality opportunities” for members of the public to make their voice heard.
Several councillors also wondered why the MTO does not acknowledge that the long-awaited and much anticipated Highway 6 project (currently awaiting approval of an environmental assessment) would help alleviate traffic between the 401 and 403.
“I think you’re ruining our community [if the MTO proceeds with another 401 to 403 corridor in Puslinch],” Fielding said.
Other concerns mentioned by councillors included:
– whether the Greenbelt and the study on the Paris-Galt Moraine would be considered (Leech said yes, though not necessarily with the same weight throughout the MTO study area);
– the apparent lack of reference in MTO documents to the Source Water Protection Act;
– local wetlands should negate Puslinch from the MTO study area; and
– the need for the new transportation corridor is a result of poor planing in Cambridge, for which Puslinch should not have to suffer.
Leech said the environmental assessment is expected to be submitted to the Ministry of the Environment by 2013.
Comments on the draft terms of reference are requested by Nov. 14, as the document will be submitted to the MOE for a decision by early next year.
Coming public information centres on the terms of reference are as follows:
– Sept. 29 from 4 to 8pm at Brant Park Inn, Brantford;
– Oct. 1 from 4 to 8pm at the South Dumfries Community Centre;
– Oct. 6 from 4 to 8pm at Future Inns Cambridge; and
– Oct. 7 from 4 to 8pm at the Ayr Fire Hall.
