Re – ERO # 019 8830 "The…

Re – ERO # 019 8830

"The Ontario Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) was proclaimed in February 1994. The founding principles of the EBR are stated in its preamble:

The people of Ontario recognize the inherent value of the natural environment.

The people of Ontario have a right to a healthful environment.

The people of Ontario have as a common goal the protection, conservation and restoration of the natural environment for the benefit of present and future generations.

While the government has the primary responsibility for achieving this goal, Ontarians should have the means to ensure that it is achieved in an effective, timely, open and fair manner. “

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Norfolk County Official Plan Amendment 163. As stewards of our environment, we need to value what makes Norfolk County known as Ontario Gardens. Our unique sandy soils, our prime agricultural land, our Carolinian microclimate that allows us to produce a wide range of crops. Our farmland is under attack when our own local municipal government expands urban boundaries into our prime agricultural land when it is not necessary as indicated in the Simcoe area and outlined in the Grow Norfolk Study. Of great concern is that council approved a Major Institutional Site –on prime agricultural land, through the adoption of an Institutional Site-Specific Policy that will allow the development of a campus of care, a non-agricultural use without a comprehensive review.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture has identified that in Ontario there is less than 5% of farmland available. This should be alarming to all Ontarians.

Not only is this Major Institutional Site-Specific Policy encroaching on prime agricultural land but it is also being developed on an existing Wellhead Protection area. The Grow Norfolk Study identified the need to protect the town’s current water source to evaluate any proposed development “...ensuring the protection, conservation and careful management of the surface and groundwater resources to ensure safe drinking water supplies are maintained for however long they are needed.” It is my understanding that the Kent Creek watershed provides the Town of Simcoe with their drinking water and that this evaluation did not occur for this institutional site. The Grow Norfolk Study did not recommend this Institutional Site-Specific Policy to be included in the urban boundary expansion as it was outside the scope of the study and due to the size of this proposal.

As per an article in the Tillsonburg Norfolk News “After years of ‘piecemeal’ growth Norfolk County tackles urban boundary expansion” by J. P Antonacci, identified this site would consist of a 124-acre property on prime agricultural land.

You will find attached my comments on the environmental impact of the Official Plan Amendment 163 and more specifically the Institutional Site-Specific Policy on farmland and drinking water in Simcoe.