“Finally there’s going to be shovels in the ground in Mapleton, hopefully as early as this fall.”
Mayor Neil Driscoll made that declaration at the Aug. 14 township council meeting, following News that the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) has approved a re-rating of the local wastewater treatment plant, paving the way to end a decades-long development freeze in Drayton and Moorefield.
Consulting engineers EXP Services Inc., the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA), the MOECC and Mapleton staff have been working collectively over the last several years to acquire approval for a capacity re-rating of the wastewater treatment system from 750 to 900 cubic metres per day.
This interim re-rating approval, which will lead to a proposed secondary re-rating of the treatment system to achieve an operating intake capacity of 1,300m3/day, was awarded by the MOECC on Aug. 3, explained public works director Sam Mattina in a report to council.
CAO Manny Baron called the announcement “some fantastic News” and credited “the hard work of staff and correspondence with our engineers” for making it happen.
“That’s going to bring 207 liveable units to Drayton in the near future, which is great, great News … It’s a really big deal for us here,” Baron stated.
Mattina stated in his report, “This re-rating is a necessary requirement that will allow for continued growth of the community, both physically and economically.”
The approval requires methodology to be implemented to achieve provincial Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA), the report explains.
The compliance methodology requires provision for additional alum dosing at the influent inlet, necessitating construction of a new alum building and dosing system. The dosing facility, designed by EXP, was let for tender, drawing two proposals.
Council approved EXP’s recommendation to select the $195,000 tender of Wellington Construction, over a $298,290 bid from H2 Ontario.
While both tenders were above the engineer’s original estimate of $148,000, a report from EXP project manager Bibek Mondal states the Wellington Construction bid is “a reasonable price” and notes the company has more experience in wastewater infrastructure construction.
Mayor Neil Driscoll credited township staff and councillors, along with local MPP Randy Pettapiece for getting the approval through.
“Randy Pettapiece’s office was instrumental in helping us move this forward with the MOECC,” stated Driscoll. “We met with Randy right after the election, before cabinet positions were even announced and he promised us he would contact the new minister.
“And that he did – and within a few days our application was on the table to get signatures. So we really gotta thank staff for helping and moving that along with Randy and his crew.”
Driscoll said an Aug. 9 meeting with local developers was “very positive.”
He said the News of impending wastewater capacity for development is “something these people have been waiting for, for over 20 years … So good work to council for not giving up and committing to this project and to staff. Sam (Mattina) has been with council to meetings too and really pushed this forward.”
‘Not done yet’
Baron pointed out township officials were meeting with provincial officials during the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Ottawa this week regarding the township’s application for an Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund grant of $1.2 million. Baron said the funds would help facilitate the next goal of obtaining approval for a re-rating to capacity of 1,300m3/day.
Baron said meetings were planned with CIMA Engineering, which is conducting a detailed sanitary collection study on the township’s wastewater systems to determine if a pumping system upgrade or a new pumping station is required to move forward.
“We’re not done yet … it’s just the beginning,” said Baron.
