'I love it here': Bradford Bypass tour helps reporter see potential impact of highway

#2021Reflection: In-person interview put resident's opposition to bypass into perspective

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 22, 2021
Simon Martin

The first time I heard about the proposed Bradford Bypass was in 2013. It was mentioned off-hand at an East Gwillimbury council meeting. When I returned to the newsroom I asked if someone could tell me what this bypass was about. “They have been talking about that forever. It will never get built,” my colleague said.

That also seemed to be the prevailing sentiment in East Gwillimbury; Oh the bypass, that highway they have been talking about since the '80s. I’ll believe it when I see it.

While 2021 was the year people in East Gwillimbury started seeing it and nobody saw it quite like Bill Foster. I became aware of Foster via an email I was cc’d on. The Holland Landing resident had founded Forbid Roads Over Green Spaces (FROGS) in the '90s. He moved to his property next to Silver Lakes Golf and Country Club three years before the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the bypass started in 1993.

Within a few days of the email I was driving out to Foster’s home. It happens to be adjacent to the proposed route of the 16.2-kilometre bypass which would connect Hwy. 400 to Hwy. 404.

A lot of modern reporting is done behind a computer screen and over the phone, especially during COVID-19, but if given the time I find in-person interviews are the most fruitful.

Driving my Hyundai down Foster’s winding driveway was better than any info I could get through a phone. Surrounded by trees and pond, Foster’s home seemed in its own little world. A flock of geese fluttered off the surface of his pond as I slammed my door. It was hard for me to imagine what life would look like with a 400 series highway a mere stone’s throw away. Does it even belong here I asked myself.

Foster proceeded to give me the grand tour He showed me where the proposed route would cross Yonge Street. We went to the marina, and he showed me where it would cross the Holland River. We drove to Bathurst Street in separate cars because of COVID-19 and he showed me where an interchange was planned.

Foster does not like how the province has proceeded with the bypass. He said the environmental assessment, which was completed in 2002, is outdated. It doesn’t consider the Greenbelt Plan, the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan or a climate change impact asssessment. He was outraged when the province received a special exemption from the Environmental Assessment Act in October. “I think that is absolutely atrocious,” Foster said.

Foster said if it can be shown that the highway is needed and this is the best route for the highway he would be able to accept the decision. But without that information, which he doesn’t have at the moment, it would be tough for him to accept.

It was easy for me to see the stakes were higher for Foster than your average East Gwillimbury resident, a fact that Foster acknowledged himself.  Even though East Gwillimbury, Bradford, York Region and Simcoe County councils support the project, he said more and more residents are learning about the proposed highway and are opposing it.

Foster’s well is a mere 50 feet or so from the north property line of the proposed route and he is concerned about what pollutants will do to his well and the water in the Lake Simcoe Watershed. His home is also built in a flood plain area and he is worried about how the proposed highway will affect the integrity of his home’s foundation.

So what happens if the highway is built? “If I really can’t stand it I will move, but I am not going to do it unless I absolutely have to because I love it here.”

I was so thankful to spend that afternoon with Foster. Not only did he give me the Bradford Bypass tour, he helped me understand where he was coming from. That was more than any phone call could do.