WELLINGTON NORTH – The pace of proposed development in both Mount Forest and Arthur has Wellington North council pondering how to keep up with required infrastructure.
Updates on development for both urban centres were presented to council in a report from development clerk Tammy Pringle on Dec. 14.
The reports show the available sewage capacity rapidly filling up in both communities.
It notes that as of Sept. 14, development projections for the village of Arthur showed an increase of 219 homes.
“Since this report, there have been an increase in applications for draft plan of subdivision, inquiries for residential development as well as infill increases,” Pringle notes.
The report points out the completion of the Phase 1 upgrade to the Arthur wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in November increased the capacity by 395 units of sewer allocation in the village.
Previously only 10 units had been available.
“Given current technology and the geographic location of the town, there will only be one more upgrade available to the Arthur WWTP,” the report states.
“Reports indicate the maximum increase in the final phase will add 440 units.”
The report shows the proposed second upgrade would bring the total available allocation to 845 units.
However, current approved and tentative expansion proposals for the village drop the number of available units to 168.
The situation is similar in Mount Forest, where projections show 591 uncommitted sewage units.
“While this may seem like a considerable amount of available capacity; there are a number of developments currently working towards their construction phase that could see a steady reduction in available capacity,” Pringle states in the report.
Factoring in tentative and approved development in Mount Forest drops the potential capacity to 268 units, the report for that community shows.
Mayor Andy Lennox said council needs to start planning for infrastructure needs even further out.
“Even with our planned expansion going to Phase 2 at the Arthur wastewater treatment plant, we’re going to have potentially more development proposals coming forward than that plant expansion can handle,” said Lennox.
“That plant expansion was intended to take us out to 2031 or 2036 … this is remarkable how quickly this has changed that we’re having so many development proposals on the books.”
Lennox continued, “It also underlines that, even though we haven’t even started Phase 2 of the expansion yet, we probably needing to think of – whether we call it Phase 3 or the next version of wastewater treatment expansion – we need to start considering the potential for how we could get there if we’re going to service all these potential applications.”
He added, “Certainly in my time on council this is something that I’ve never seen before and it changes the nature of the conversations we have to have going forward in that, in my opinion, we have to start thinking sooner about planning out what our infrastructure needs are going to be for the future.”
Councillor Steve McCabe commented, “It’s amazing all the planning that’s gone into the wastewater treatment plant and all of a sudden it could be used up in an awful hurry.
“But I don’t’ think it just affects Arthur either. We’ve got to keep Mount Forest wastewater treatment plant on the horizon as well.”
He added, “It’s a good problem to have and, at the same time, it’s kind of a double-edged sword as well.
“I think the policy that we have in place for allotment is good and I think that will hold the tide back a little bit, so it’s something we have to keep an eye on in the whole municipality for sure.”
Lennox said, “Without that sewage allocation policy the demand for sewage allocations could rapidly outstrip our ability to build infrastructure to accommodate it.
“So I think that while we’ve all agreed that we want to see regulated growth in the community, I think this another reason why that’s really important, so that we can make sure that we have the appropriate time to do those infrastructure upgrades that are necessary and not end up in a situation like Mount Forest did before the new plant there, and Arthur did obviously up until this year, (with) a development freeze and some of the issues that go with that.
“I think as long as we keep thinking about those things and getting ahead of it we can avoid those issues in the future.”
CAO Mike Givens said council members’ concerns reflect staff thinking on the topic.
“It’s amazing that we need to start thinking about Phase 2 and we basically are just finishing phase one at the Arthur wastewater treatment plant,” said Givens.
“I think it also forces us to start thinking about conservation methods, things that will extend the capabilities of both our Mount Forest and Arthur wastewater treatment plants so we can get as much value as we can out of them.”
Givens added, “The amount of background work that’s been happening that’s related to development is at the highest pitch it’s ever been at in my eight years here and it doesn’t seem to be letting up, COVID or not.
“Certainly developers believe that there are real opportunities in Wellington North and to try and keep up with it is going to be a challenge for our corporation going forward for sure.”
Lennox suggested the Mount Forest plant “is actually the sewage treatment facility that we need to deal with first, once Phase 2 is dealt with at Arthur.”
He said the municipality has a number of options for getting more capacity at the Mount Forest facility, including an expansion or upgrade, implementation of water meters or other methods to encourage conservation such as subsidizing low flow toilets, or continued work on preventing inflow infiltration.
“All those things are potential levers that we can pull to try and expand the capacity,” Lennox stated.
Councillor Dan Yake asked how council should proceed with planning for expected development.
“How do we start that conversation?” he asked.
“We know that Arthur is almost completed, we know what the growth there is going to do and we see what’s happening in Mount Forest.”
Givens replied that an ongoing review of the Official Plan with Wellington County and the development of the township’s master servicing plan will be among the first steps.
“Those are really the starting points of those conversations and making the investments based on those plans is what is needed to happen in order to serve the growth that we know is coming,” he stated.
“How do we fund these discussions going forward?” Yake asked.
Givens replied, “This is where development charges really play the primary funding source … the mayor has said for years that growth pays for growth.”
He added municipalities are required to review development charges every five years to ensure they don’t “lose sight” of evolving growth patterns.
“We have to align development charges with the master serving reports, so that we’re collecting the appropriate dollars,” the CAO explained.
“So really, we are looking at the situation. It’s on our radar,” said Yake.
Council accepted the development reports as information.
