'Disappointing and disheartening': Upper York sewage delay has region, EG up in arms
Vote 2019: Newmarket-Aurora riding profile
Yorkregion.com
May 9, 2019
Simon Martin
The Upper York Sewage Solutions delay is York Region in the pocketbook. “Every day you delay it costs more money,” York Region director of capital planning and delivery Mike Rabeau said.
Rabeau was at what are now the familiar confines of the East Gwillimbury council chambers May 7 delivering another update on the UYSS project that has been on hold since 2014 when the region filed an environmental assessment on the project. The province has been reviewing the EA since that time.
“We are now in 2019 and there is no certainty on this project without an approval,” Rabeau said. The earliest a plant could be ready with an approval this year would be 2026.
A spokesperson from the Ministry of the Environment said last week the province is still reviewing the EA.
York chair Wayne Emmerson who was in attendance at the meeting said he would be happy to get together to try and find solutions for the lagoons. “We feel your pain,” he said.
Emmerson voiced his frustration with the delay at the provincial level. “It has been very disappointing and disheartening,” he said.
The delay has also caused the Holland Landing Sewage Lagoons to remain open for the foreseeable future as their decommissioning is tied to the opening of the UYSS. That doesn’t sit well with many on East Gwillimbury council. Mayor Virginia Hackson said she has been on council for 19 years and every single year there has been a discussion about closing the lagoons. “They are 46 years old,” Hackson said. “They are working but not working well.” Ward 2 Coun. Tara Roy-Diclemente added the three councils she has been on have been working to get them offline.
“Those lagoons have to be decommissioned,” Ward 1 Coun. Loralea Carruthers said.
Ward 3 Coun. Scott Crone said things are at a bit of a standstill because of the delay in the EA approval.
“They want us to grow but they aren’t giving us the tools to grow,” he said.
Rabeau said the region would not be able to simply send sewage flows south from the lagoons as there are capacity issues to worry about with the YDSS.
Hackson suggested all the parties meet later this year to see if something can be done to improve the lagoons as the town waits.
The region has been waiting since 2014 for approval from the Ministry of the Environment for the $715-million Upper York Sewage Solutions project that will service the municipalities of Aurora, Newmarket and East Gwillimbury.
The approval delay is due to the provincial duty to consult with the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation, who live on the island in Lake Simcoe.
Rabeau said the region has already spent more than $80 million on the project through its various studies and detailed design. Some members of council raised concerns about that $80-million expenditure especially without approval, but Rabeau said it is a calculated risk. “We are positive that we are going to get the outcome,” he said.
The region is moving ahead with twinning the forcemain sewer through Newmarket and Aurora starting this year. The province pulled that portion of the UYSS out of the EA and gave it special go ahead.
Rabeau said the region had originally anticipated approval sometime in 2015.
The irony of the lengthy wait is that it was the province that asked for the region to come up with a Lake Simcoe solution for the plant rather than connect it to the existing Duffins Creek plant connected to Lake Ontario. The province chose to have it go north so it will be a north solution. “This really is the best solution,” Rabeau said.
