Newmarket mayor questions timelines for new sewage solution

'At some point, we got to get real,' John Taylor says, as province pressures for sewage capacity solution by 2026

Newmarkettoday.ca
April 14, 2023
Joseph Quigley

Newmarket’s sewage problems could be solved by the end of 2026 according to the province, but the town’s mayor is questioning that timeline.

York Region is moving ahead with a new project to upgrade lines to an existing Duffin Creek plant in Durham Region to address sewage capacity issues in northern York Region. The project for servicing Newmarket, Aurora and East Gwillimbury will add needed capacity to allow the communities to continue projected growth.

Although staff told regional council today, April 13, that the project will be completed as quickly as possible, Taylor suggested that the timeline of three years may not be feasible.

“We have to be somewhat transparent with the public about what is realistic or not,” he said.

The project is replacing the region’s previously planned Upper York Sewage Solution on Lake Simcoe, which the province has killed after objections from local Indigenous and environmental groups. The province is legislating an expansion of the Duffin Creek plant, requiring York and Durham to improve it to serve Newmarket, Aurora and East Gwillimbury.

Newmarket currently has sewage capacity for about 2,000 more homes in the community, well short of the 12,000 the province has asked the town to build over the next 10 years. This led to a recent dispute between the premier and Taylor.

In a letter to the region dated March 28, Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks David Piccini discussed getting needed sewer twinning for the project complete by Dec. 31, 2026.

“It is my expectation that York Region moves expeditiously on this vital infrastructure to support your growing region and our growing province,” he said.

Director of capital planning Mike Raubeau said they would be working to fulfill that aspirational target date and using dollars previously allotted for the Upper York Sewage Solution, about $432.5 million.

“Right now, we are in the early days,” Raubeau said. “We’re going to do it in an expedited fashion, as fast as possible, depending on the financial backing we can get."

But Taylor referenced a recent forcemain twinning in Newmarket that took about 2-1/2 years to build and was about a third of the size of this new project.

“At some point, we got to get real,” Taylor said.