SERVING THE MAPLETON COMMUNITY
THE
COMMUNITY NEWS VOLUME 51 ISSUE 25
DRAYTON, ONTARIO
1 Year GIC - 2.68% 3 Year GIC - 3.15% 5 Year GIC - 3.32% Daily Interest 2.40%*
638-3328
THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2018
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Cannabis production facility proposed at industrial park By Patrick Raftis MAPLETON – Council is considering a proposal to create a cannabis production and warehouse facility in the Drayton Industrial Park. On June 12, council authorized CAO Manny Baron to negotiate with the Autobahn Group for the purchase of the land and for details of location within the industrial park and to work with Wellington County on required zoning amendments. The principals of the transportation company, which has over 600 trucks and 50 tankers on the road in Canada and the United States, are proposing to purchase seven of the 23 acres available in phase two of the industrial park. The company’s initial plan is to construct a 46,000-square-foot produc-
tion and warehousing facility surrounded by eight foot high fencing. The project is expected to provide jobs for 10 to 15 people in the fields of laboratory technology, quality assurance, packaging and security during the initial growth stages. A letter of intent from the principals of the Autobahn Group, signed by H. Randhawa, states the group will commence the licensing process as soon as the town approves the land purchase proposal, “as Health Canada license approvals are site specific and therefore this process cannot be commenced any earlier.� The letter states, “We will hire the best consultants to assist us with the approval process with Health Canada. Construction can commence once a project ID is obtained
Show and Shine - The Curtis family of Moorefield - from left: Christina, Alexander, Michael and Benjamin - brought their 1965 Shelby Cobra replica to the Mapleton Custom Rodders Show and Shine in Moorefield on June 15. Michael Curtis spent two years putting the car together from a kit. More photos on page 8. Photo by Caroline Sealey
SEE CANNABIS Âť 3
Council authorizes $31,000 sanitary collection system study By Patrick Raftis MAPLETON – Council has authorized spending $31,000 on a detailed sanitary collection study from CIMA Engineering following a peer review by CIMA of planning for a project to expand capacity at Mapleton’s wastewater treatment plant. On March 15, council directed staff to engage CIMA Consulting Engineers to conduct a peer review of growth projections and solutions recommended in an environmental assessment by Exp Services, a consulting firm hired to facilitate the wastewater project. Results of the review were presented to Mapleton council at a special meeting on June 12. At the regular meeting, also on June 12, Mayor Neil Driscoll said he was impressed with the presentation. “It’s the best presentation I’ve had by an engineer in these last eight years sitting on council,� said Driscoll. “I’m very sincere about that. I’m sure our developers appreciated getting that knowledge.� Driscoll said the sanitary collection study on the Drayton wastewater system
was suggested by CIMI “so that we completely understand what the system is, what it’s capable of and what its remaining life expectancy is. A lot of the information we have already from previous studies, but this will just put it into a context that we can take to make our program, our pitch for funding, or actually pick the right system we want to build for Drayton.� In 2015, council authorized Exp Services to undertake a Municipal Class Environmental Assessment for Wastewater Servicing for Mapleton. The EA was completed in mid-2015 and some work has been done to provide a re-rating of the plant to 900 cubic metres per day. However, the re-rating process has not been completed to this point, and a March 15 report from CAO Manny Baron suggested some of the EA could be based on outdated information. “For example, we found that population growth projections were based on the old county Official Plan document. There are several other areas of concern that were noted, which caused us to dig deeper and question the pro-
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cess,� Baron stated. However, both Driscoll and Baron agreed the peer review does not indicate significant problems with Exp’s population projections. “That one’s pretty much irrelevant, yes,� Driscoll told the Community News in a June 18 telephone interview. The peer review summary presented by CIMA explains the following sources of population projections for Drayton and Moorefield were available at the time of the peer review: Wellington County Official Plan (updated September 2016); - Mapleton Wastewater Servicing Class EA (Exp, November 2017); - Watson and Associates Economists Ltd, Wellington County Population, Household and Employment Forecast Update, 2011-2041; and - Drayton Water Servicing Needs Class EA (Burnside, October 2016). “The forecasted population projections from each source vary slightly in current and projected populations for the Mapleton treatment plant service area, however the differences are not significant and result in
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similar projected raw sewage flows to 2038,� CIMA states in the peer review. While the report notes the Wellington County Official Plan shows a lower projected population (extrapolated to 2038) when compared to the Watson and Associates report or the Class EA, it points out that since the county Official Plan will guide growth within the township, the county figures should be used to forecast future populations for all population-dependent decisions. However, CIMA recommends higher forecasted populations identified by Watson and Associates or by Exp be used as the basis for all future sewage flow estimates, “since it will result in a conservative approach from a sanitary servicing perspective.� The peer review points out the Class EA referenced the population data projections from the Watson and Associates report, but 2011 population data was incorrectly used as current (2016). However, the CIMA report notes, “This error does not have a large effect� on the ultimate projected population to 2038. At the regular Jan. 23 council meeting, Exp repre-
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“It ain’t the heat. It’s the humility.� - Yogi Berra
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sentatives were questioned by council members after presenting an update on the project. Exp project coordinator Jean Louis Gaudet told council the EA had been completed, with no follow-up orders received following the issuance of a notice of completion on Nov. 17, 2017, leaving the township free to proceed with the recommendations in the Class EA, including: - expanding influent capacity of the township’s wastewater pollution control plan to 1,300m3/day; and - expanding the discharge period (currently spring and fall) into January and February. At the Jan. 23 meeting, Gaudet said Exp recommended a two-stage process for the capacity expansion. The initial stage would see the township work toward an interim re-rating to 900m3/day (from the current 750m3/day) with provincial approval anticipated by summer, and the tender and construction of pollution control plant improvements expected to take place in the fall. After completion of initial upgrades, Exp’s timeline called for work to begin toward provincial approval
for phase two: upgrading to the 1,300m3/day target. This would include continued river water monitoring and an EA addendum to revisit the receiving water impact and affirm the assimilative capacity of the Conestogo River. This would be followed by detailed design and construction of upgrades sometime in 2019. Some councillors questioned the proposed timeline at the Jan. 23 meeting, with councillor Dennis Craven asking, “Why is it taking so long?â€? The peer review’s recommended next steps included: - a sanitary servicing study for Drayton and Moorefield to determine the existing constraints and opportunities for future development; - a one-year water sampling program including monthly sampling from May to October and weekly sampling from November to April; and - a review of options to improve alum mixing at the Mapleton water pollution control plant and to prevent crystallization during the winter months. SEE COUNCIL Âť 3
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