Vaughan city council questions MTO officials on future of Hwy. 413 project

Plans for the Hwy. 413 moving ahead despite controversial project being on Greenbelt land

yorkregion.com
Brian Capitao
Dec. 4, 2023

Council and members of the public had some questions for the provincial government as it moves ahead with the Hwy. 413 project.

On Nov. 28, the Ministry of Transportation Ontario (MTO) gave Vaughan city council an update on Hwy. 413 and its environmental assessment during its afternoon committee of the whole meeting.

Jonathon McGarry, the project manager for MTO gave city council and members of the public an update on the project alongside other members of the project team.

The controversial proposed highway is to be 52-km long running from Hwy. 401 and 407 in Halton Hills over to Hwy. 400 in Vaughan, with extensions to Hwy. 410 and Hwy. 427.

The 400-series Hwy is planned to be six lanes with a posted speed limit of 110 km/h.

According to McGarry, meetings called “public information centres (PICs)” happened in the fall to give the public an update on preliminary design, environmental studies and the initial project description for the federal impact assessment process. York Region’s meeting was held on Sept. 28 through an online ZOOM meeting.

Of note, McGarry addressed the proposition critics of Hwy. 413 often raise at the provincial government: why not use Hwy. 407 as an existing alternative to the 413?

McGarry says that “it does not sufficiently address the Greater Golden Horseshoe’s future traffic demands” with the expected growth by 2051 and will “provide additional capacity and direct links to some new key destinations.”

However, when it comes to the environmental impact, city council was told in no uncertain terms that there would be an impact on the Greenbelt.

“Impacts to Greenbelt land are unavoidable,” said Catherine Gentile, senior environmental planner and environmental impact assessment team lead at WSP in Canada.

Greenbelt Farmland
53 per cent of Ontario’s fruit acreage and 11 per cent of Ontario’s vegetable acreage occupy the Greenbelt, according to the Greenbelt Foundation

Now that the project is in its second stage, "preliminary design," a document from MTO called the “Greenbelt Guideline” was created to propose mitigation measures and following “innovations that MTO had never done before,” according to Gentile.

Local King-Vaughan Rd. resident Alexandra Ney brought up the question of salt being next to Greenbelt farmland and provincially significant wetlands.

“Where is the responsibility if there is (Sodium) Chloride showing up in everybody’s wells?” asked Ney.

Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca pointedly asked if the recent ruling from the Supreme Court that the Federal Impact Assessment Act was largely unconstitutional; and their subsequent response would halter the project.

McGarry said that with the recent court ruling “we’re not really sure where that leaves us” and that they’re “continuing to evaluate what that means.”

Meanwhile Ward 1 councillor Marilyn Iafrate remained a vocal critic.

“When you’re doing EAs, you are supposed to be looking at alternatives. Why are you not looking at (the 407) as an alternative?” asked Coun. Marilyn Iafrate.

“Given the constraints in the area, given that you’re going to need a 1-km bridge, given that it’s going to be so high up, given there’s going to be so much salt dumped into the Humber (River) because you need to keep a bridge so high clear of ice, given all the destruction of the natural conservation area, given you have chosen the most environmentally destructive route --- why don’t you just can the Vaughan portion and start from the 427?” said Iafrate unloading a barrage of pointed questions to the ministry.

Iafrate also makes mention of the technological challenges and inaccessibility of the PICs, saying not only could she not enter the system but also residents from her ward were unable to enter and sent her in written questions.

“When you’re doing EAs, you are supposed to be looking at alternatives. Why are you not looking at (the 407) as an alternative?” asked Iafrate.

Brenda Liegler, the acting director of the Standards and Contracts Branch at the ministry says they looked at Hwy. 407 in the first phase.

“The way the study was structured, they looked at every opportunity but the highway. Whether it was transit, updating existing infrastructure, using 407. Everything was considered,” claims Liegler.

“None of them combined would help with the expected population growth,” said Liegler. Adding that even as a partial agreement, Liegler says the ministry has no role to play in the operation of the 407 and that it’s a private enterprise.