Grey Highlands council has narrowly approved a plan that will see stormwater from an area of Markdale redirected across the local golf course to a tributary of the Rocky Saugeen River.
At its meeting on Dec. 18, council approved a staff recommendation that the preferred alternative for the stormwater upgrade project would be the elimination of a stormwater pond located between the Markdale Cemetery and houses on Lawler Drive and replaced with a 1050 mm stormwater outlet constructed to the river tributary on the other side of the Markdale Golf and Country Club.
The approval did not come without controversy and required a pair of 4-3 recorded votes before being finalized. The municipality has been working on the project through an environmental assessment process for the past two years and has reached the 60 per cent design stage. Staff requested that the preferred alternative be approved by council in order to allow the project to move into the final design phase.
The options for the project were:
- Alternative 1 - keep the existing stormwater management pond on Lawler Drive and construct a 900 mm outlet to the Rocky Saugeen tributary through the Markdale Golf and Country Club.
- Alternative 2 - fill in the existing stormwater management pond on Lawler Drive and construct a 1050 mm outlet to the Rocky Saugeen tributary through the Markdale Golf and Country Club.
- Alternative 3 - Do nothing.
Staff and engineering consultants recommended the first option, which includes an added benefit for the municipality. The elimination of the stormwater pond creates two infill building lots that could be sold to the public to help pay for the project.
The decision on the report became contentious after Christopher Wren, a representative from the local chapter of Trout Unlimited, briefly spoke to council during the open forum part of the meeting. Wren requested the staff report be deferred until January when his organization could make a presentation to council. Wren questioned the preferred alternative and said there were better options.
“We think the Municipality of Grey Highlands can do better,” he said.
The brief presentation from Trout Unlimited completely split council.
Coun. Joel Loughead moved that the entire matter be deferred until January to allow the group to make a presentation to council.
“I think it’s fair to give them the opportunity to delegate before we make a decision,” said Loughead.
Other members of council disagreed.
“Holding up the process of the environmental assessment would not be appropriate at this time,” said Coun. Tom Allwood.
Shawn Moyer, the municipality’s director of environmental services, said a decision on the preferred alternative would not change Trout Unlimited’s ability to make a presentation to council and offer suggestions for how the new stormwater system would work and what features it would include to mitigate any risks from stormwater being diverted to the river. Moyer noted that the municipality has a very limited window of time to complete the work across the golf course and the preferred alternative needed to be identified to allow them to proceed.
“We can’t work on the design until we have a preferred alternative,” he said.
Moyer said the environmental assessment process does include opportunities for public comments to be made.
A motion to defer the issue was defeated in a 4-3 recorded vote, with Deputy Mayor Dane Nielsen and councillors Tom Allwood, Paul Allen and Nadia Dubyk combining to defeat the deferral. Subsequently, the motion to approve the preferred alternative was passed in a 4-3 recorded vote with Nielsen, Allwood, Allen and Dubyk voting in favour.
