About 100 people showed up at a meeting last week on the controversial topic of mandatory connection to the municipal water system for over 100 homes near existing water mains in Hillsburgh and Erin.
Town officials struggled several times to keep order, as the meeting degenerated into random shouting from the audience, causing Mayor Lou Maieron to call for order and accuse one woman of “being disrespectful.”
Residents at the meeting, meanwhile, accused the town of trying to cut them short with five-minute maximum speaking slots, and of attempting to push the controversial bylaw through without providing proper notice to those affected.
“In this town, they made it up as they went along,” said resident Shelley Grandy, who has been one of the more vocal objectors to the town’s plan.
She was one of many residents who lamented that the owners of the 107 affected homes simply cannot afford the cost – estimated at $12,000 by Erin water superintendent Frank Smedley and upwards of $20,000 by some residents – to decommission their private wells and hook into the municipal system.
Grandy, who has hinted residents may push for a by-election on the issue or even launch a class action lawsuit, has repeatedly rejected the town’s justification for the move.
Town officials say the plan is necessary to adhere to Wellington County’s official plan and Ontario’s Provincial Policy Statement, and also to reduce the chance of well contamination.
“This is B.S. … We’ve been here for 100 years … We’re tired of hearing nonsense from town council,” Grandy said sternly, noting none of the five councillors will be affected by the move.
She added that after a meeting with herself and two other residents, MPP Ted Arnott wrote to the Ministry of the Environment to ask if the province could help with the problem.
“Why is a single resident of this town doing the work we’re paying [council] for?” Grandy asked. “They’re not doing their jobs … The province is trying to help us and the municipality is trying to screw us.”
Maieron explained several times the town’s proposal is not completely mandatory. There are several “triggers” he said, explaining residents will be forced to connect to the system if and when they seek a building permit for major work, including a new well, a new septic system or a major addition.
Smedley explained mandatory connection will not be required if residents seek a permit for smaller items like a new pool enclosure, fence, uncovered deck, minor renovations, and accessory structures less than 108 square feet.
He offered several options to lessen the financial impact on residents, including amortizing the costs over three years, but that had little affect on residents’ opposition.
“These people don’t want your water,” resident Bob Baker told council, to much applause from the audience.
Baker said Maieron “went to bat” for Erin on the issue of ambulance service and implored the mayor to do it again on the water issue.
Town planner Sally Stull pointed to similar mandatory hook-up bylaws in places like Halton, Peel and the Township of Guelph-Eramosa and said she is “unaware of any [municipalities] in Ontario” that do not require municipal water connection for those living near existing infrastructure.
Several residents took issue with Stull’s report, saying the town was wasting the time of residents by presenting reports they have already heard.
Maieron and councillor Barb Tocher asked those in attendance to please adhere to the agenda, as no one could hear anything if five people are yelling at once.
Other than a few outbursts, residents did remain orderly for the majority of the meeting. Yet no matter how many times town officials tried to explain the reasoning behind the new bylaw, those in the audience were having none of it.
“I’ve watched this town not grow for the sake of quaintness and cuteness, and I’m sick to death of high taxes with nothing but headaches in return,” Donna Collins said.
Collins, who said she has lived in Erin for 37 years, added, “I think the council should give their heads a shake … and stop harassing the homeowners and business owners.”
At least one resident suggested spreading the cost of the 107 connections across all town taxpayers, estimating the cost would be about $40 per year per household, as opposed to $2,400 annually for the 107 homes affected.
However, provincial regulations explicitly state that municipal water systems shall operate on a user-pay basis only, and taxpayers not connected to the system cannot be forced to pay for it.
Several at the meeting suggested what the town is proposing is “illegal” and a violation of their property rights. However, municipalities do have the right to enforce mandatory connections and the province often favours, or even orders, such connections if it deems the move will lessen the chance of well contamination.
(Elsewhere in the county, Mapleton Township forced residents of Moorefield to hook into the municipal system about three years ago, and Centre Wellington forced residents on South Street on the edge of old Elora to connect to its system about eight years ago).
Resident Howard McRae, who has also been very outspoken in his opposition to the proposed bylaw, said the town has “dithered for years” on the Settlement and Servicing Master Plan (SSMP) and any talk from town officials about water quality issues is “two-faced.”
He explained tests on local wells show high nitrate and chlorine levels, which can be attributed respectively to septic issues that remain unsolved due to the town’s SSMP dithering, as well as the 30% leakage in the town’s water system.
McRae called Stull’s reports to council “highly biased” and said the town’s proposed bylaw represents “high handedness” on the town’s behalf that will cause residents “undue hardship.”
Maieron told the crowd the town should receive a preliminary report on the SSMP in two to three months.
He stressed it would likely take about five to ten years to implement any decision made by council, so it makes little sense for residents to say the town should hold off the water bylaw until the SSMP is completed.
“It’s too far off,” Maieron said of the SSMP.
The mayor said council will take a few weeks to digest the comments, then schedule its next meeting on the issue. He thanked all those in attendance.
