The new proposal to route…

The new proposal to route the hydro transmission corridor west of Heritage Road in Brampton, rather than co-located with the Highway 413 Corridor is an unusual and inappropriate change in direction. It will have considerable negative impact on the place of worship of the Jehovah's Witnesses at their property at 2594 Bovaird Drive. The proposed new route goes directly through the JW property.

For years, the province and IESO have consistently maintained in all public communications, that the hydro corridor would be co-located with the Highway 413 corridor. Co-location, wherever feasible, has been set out as the primary guiding principle in the corridor search and study process. The Provincial Planning Statement requires co-location of linear infrastructure. Throughout years of process - until October 10 - these important planning policies and site location principles have been followed. The new proposed hydro corridor is not consistent with the Provincial Planning Statement.

The proposed new hydro corridor, to the extent that it is no longer proposed to be co-located with the highway corridor in Brampton, will have many adverse effects and negative impacts. The JW Assembly Hall is currently undergoing a multi-million dollar renovation - a challenging project for a religious organization like JW, and certainly not something that would have been undertaken if there was any risk of the property and its Assembly Hall being taken over by the highway corridor.

If the new proposed separated hydro corridor is allowed to stand, it will cause enormous costs in terms of time and money to the JW community. The Assembly Hall serves thousands of people from across Ontario and beyond, and plays a central role in the operations of many Kingdom Halls (local congregations) across Ontario.

The challenge to relocate the Assembly Hall will be considerable. The Hall is strategically located to accommodate meetings, conventions and other JW gatherings of adherents from across Ontario. It also serves as a location for education and training of leadership within the JW.

If the new hydro corridor location is adopted, the expropriation and land acquisition costs will escalate significantly. In the case of the JW Facilities property, we anticipate expropriation costs to include market price, injurious affection damages, disturbance damages as well as damages for special costs in relocation. Instead of locating the hydro corridor on land parcels that will be acquired as part of the Highway 413 construction process, the move away from co-location will now require an entirely new corridor of land to be acquired - including the JW property - significantly increasing the costs to the taxpayers. Maintaining a co-located hydro and highway corridor will, in contrast, result in significant savings from a land acquisition and expropriation process perspective. In addition, the social disruption from expropriation will be much less if the co-located corridor approach is maintained.

The above and many more concerns are set out in detail in the enclosed submission from Aird & Berlis. and an accompanying planning report from Korsiak Planning.