$500M in sewage expansion allocated for Newmarket and area housing

Newmarkettoday.ca
Nov. 10, 2023

York Region is preparing to speed up infrastructure to meet provincial housing requirements, but expects to face a shortfall of more than $800 million.

Staff detailed the status of sewage infrastructure expansion to council Nov. 9. The region anticipates needing to spend more than $1.8 billion over the next 20 years toward sewage infrastructure to add servicing capacity.

More than $500 million will go to upgrades in the north end of the region anticipated to be completed by 2027/28, to give Newmarket, Aurora and East Gwillimbury more servicing capacity to add housing.

The region had budgeted about $1 billion over 30 years to construct a sewage plant on Lake Simcoe through the Upper York Sewage Solution, according to general manager of infrastructure services Mike Rabeau. But after the province decided instead to upgrade a plant in Durham to service York Region’s sewage needs, he said the region will likely have to spend about $800 million above that in a shorter timeframe, although that is a rough number.

“We’re being asked to deliver homes at double the rate we’re used to,” Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti said. “We’re having to actually spend more money to be able to facilitate that growth and double the rate of that growth …. The math doesn’t work.”

The region pushed for years to build a sewage facility on Lake Simcoe, but pushback from Indigenous peoples and environmental groups helped steer the province differently.

Now, the region will have to spend more to expand the sewage line toward an existing plant in Durham Region. With municipalities committing to larger housing targets, staff said work would have to speed up to service the additional growth that is coming.

Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said immediate and significant funding from the province would be needed to meet their housing targets.

“All of us have heard some positive suggestions on this, that this may be coming,” Taylor said. “But this report lays bare the truth that it has to come.”

Staff said servicing capacity needs to expand by 150,000 homes to meet housing targets across the region by 2031, but work remains to be done to figure out how to achieve that.

In terms of capacity, York Region has allocated Newmarket 5,751 up to the end of 2022, with another 7,767 persons through the first phase of sewage infrastructure expansion to be completed between 2026 to 2028.

But with the province asking Newmarket to build 12,000 homes by 2031, Taylor sought regional support for a resolution to tell the province to provide a reduced housing target. Newmarket has proposed its own target of 6,400.

“Everything here says it's (the provincial target) impossible,” Taylor said.

Vaughan Regional Councillor Mario Racco agreed with the sentiment but said reduced targets should apply to all municipalities.

“We need to send a message,” he said.

Chair and CEO Wayne Emmerson said such a resolution could come later after further consideration.

“We will continue to advocate for as much as we possibly can, to get the funding in place to go forward,” Emmerson said. “There are difficult times and different times going forward.”