Is That My Land?!
The Ongoing Saga Of A Really Bad Idea
1 - Haliburton Stanhope Airport Expansion - URGENT UPDATE June 27th, 2010
CEAR_09-01-46567_comments.doc Please use the "Contact Me" page to post your input, ask a question, complain, request a retraction or correction or simply to vent. I will respond if requested and not edit unless there's something REALLY wrong. I'd be just as happy if you had any thing nice to say that had nothing at all to do with airports!
June 25th – Public Comment Period For DRAFT Environmental Screening Report – Haliburton Stanhope Airport Expansion Project Extended!
Just past noon last Friday – and you don’t get much closer to the eleventh hour than that – the Responsible Authority for the Environmental Assessment of the airport expansion project bowed to public pressure and common-sense, and extended the period for Public Comment on the DRAFT Report from that very day to July 9th.
This is the direct result of the continued work, concern and dedication of a number of people who know that the battle against the second runway is not over.
These people know who they are, and anyone who doesn’t know who they are should become one of them!
It is vital that people not be fooled by statements by members of our council that “this is a done deal” or lose heart because headlines suggest that money will start to fly out of our pockets right after the Canada Day weekend no matter what we say; The township has not received any authorization to proceed from the Environmental Assessment Agency, and this is not the only authorization that they need.
If we lose heart and just shut-up as they would like then they have won. If we had stayed quiet more than one year ago, we would not have even had the opportunity to comment at all, and the runway would already have been built!
A lot of people have been fighting very hard and ALL ALONG to make sure that the people have the chance to find out what is being done with their money and their properties and to the place we all love.
Do not let them, and yourselves, down!
Read the Draft REPORT and some of the information that has already been sent in response to it and add your voice – We DO make a difference!
(report available at http://www.algonquinhighlands.ca/pdf/airport/EAD-23926-DSR-20100609.pdf additional information available here - 100615 - Comments on EA Screening 09-01-46567.doc, and at http://www.oxtonguelake.ca/ )
READ THIS: CEAR_09-01-46567_comments.doc Another critique of the Draft Screening Report
Comments on the DRAFT REPORT to:
Bill Bunker
Business Case Analyst Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario
Email: Infrastructure@ic.gc.ca
JUNE 23RD - READ THE FULL TEXT OF THE MBC ASSOCIATION "COMMENTS" ON THE DRAFT SCREENING REPORT
On Monday the 21st, the MBC sent its' first comment and critique to the responsible authorities as well as a request for an extension to the Public Comment Period which closes Friday the 25th. The MBC has also requested further information from the Responsible Authority which would be of great help in performing a more thourough review of the DRAFT Report....
WE ARE STILL WAITING FOR ANY REPLY AT ALL!
The "Comment Letter" 100615 - Comments on EA Screening 09-01-46567.doc
Also: read the text of two letters to editors - Minden Times and County Voice - get an idea of how your council feels about your money and concerns!
June 11th - CEAA RELEASES DRAFT SCREENING REPORT ON AIRPORT EXPANSION PLAN
On Friday, June 11th, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency announced the publication of the long anticipated Draft Screening Report on the Haliburton Stanhope Airport Expansion Project. The report is available for download from the Township of Algonquin Highlands web-site (http://www.algonquinhighlands.ca/pdf/airport/EAD-23926-DSR-20100609.pdf) and also may be obtained from the CEAA by e-mail – a copy is also posted here (Draft Screening Report - Expansion CEA.pdf)
The report is a great disappointment to those of us who have worked so hard and so long for a truly comprehensive Screening process, as it appears that the Responsible Authorities has largely ignored public concerns and input in favour of an un-critical acceptance of the information provided by the Township and its’ consultants.
In addition, the CEAA has set a very short time limit for public comment on the report: the period for public comment began on June 11th and close on June 25th, a total of only 10 working days. In general, periods of up to 30 days and longer are allotted for public comment.
The major failure of the report is in the “scoping” of the project and the Assessment; “Scoping” refers to the effects, areas, works and time-frames that are considered in an assessment.
The screening report as it stands right now concerns itself essentially with the proposed second runway, aprons and taxiways, as well as the “expansion and modernization of the existing public building”, for which there is neither a design, nor a budget. The area subject to assessment has, with very minor exceptions, been limited to the airport property itself.
In failing to properly recognize the full area of impacts (tree cutting, partial expropriation of properties, accident risk and noise impacts…) the assessment fails in its’ basic mission; without understanding where impacts are going to be, how can you say how bad they might be or what might be done to minimize them?
I am preparing a detailed response to the problems I have found with the report and will be posting it as soon as it is done.
Please read the report and send your comments to the proper authorities! If this ridiculous project is ever going to go ahead – and we are still not through with the fight – we must assure that it is done by the rules!
VISIT THE CEAA SITE AND DIRECT YOUR COMMENTS AS INSTRUCTED! THE CEAA HAS GIVEN A MUCH SHORTER THAN USUAL PERIOD FOR PUBLIC COMMENT, SO DO IT NOW! http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/document-eng.cfm?document=43610
No Roses - No Chocolates from OMB (or me)
March 27th, 2010
Following a "negotiated settlement" of the Middleton land dispute, the township released a statement which can be read by folowing this link:http://www.algonquinhighlands.ca/airport.htm
The following is a full length text of a submission to the editor of the County Voice the following week -
One of the most chilling parts of last weeks’ announcement of the settlement of a land expropriation dispute in Algonquin Highlands is found in the final paragraph, “Although the Township is extremely disappointed with the outcome of this process and had hoped for a more cost effective result, the closure of this dispute means the lands are now owned by the Township and protected for the future."
In fact, there is an awful lot in that single sentence that should cause concern, but the worst is the idea that the “good news” in all of this is that the second runway project, though it seems certain not to meet funding deadlines, will continue to hang over the heads of ratepayers for years to come; It seems pretty clear in law – and by an admission from Reeve Harrison some time ago – that having expropriated the Middleton property for a specific purpose “deemed necessary” to the Township, that the land is effectively unusable for any other purpose.
The people of Algonquin Highlands do not want lands protected for airport expansion; the people of Algonquin Highlands want lands, lifestyles and personal finances protected from airport expansion. This is so clear a message that has been delivered so forcefully for so long that it is beyond comprehension that council could issue a statement that points to this “achievement” as “good news”
The township has just paid more than a million dollars to remove all value from that land, and we will now all be told that this means we must go forward so that it isn’t a complete waste.
While that approach may make some of the out-going council feel better about what they have done with this “plan”, the truth is that throwing more money into a hole only makes it deeper.
In one of the earliest technical reports commissioned by council there is an entire section devoted to the “protection of lands for airport usage” which includes a draft for a restricted zoning amendment for the area. This bylaw would have achieved the effect of preventing “incompatible” land uses and laid the groundwork for a future purchase or expropriation at a far lower cost. Yes: there would have been costs and arguments back then, but nothing like what we are seeing now.
I have asked before and I ask again, “Why did council not follow the recommendations of their consultants?”
So far, the only reason I can think of is that they knew that once the cost came to light they would have to stop. At the time, the projected cost for a second runway was just a shade over one-point-two million dollars, not including land acquisition; they couldn’t have suspected that a single property might eventually cost nearly as much as the runway itself, but they would likely have been aware that the added costs would have been high enough to cause serious second thoughts…
So, they just left the question unasked, continued spending money on plans and then started buying land, even though they knew that they had no way to finance the construction. The “promise” of a shared funding arrangement made them even more eager to go ahead even though, by that time, cost estimates were well north of 2million for the second runway alone, and the 1/3 portion required for new construction and rehabilitation was higher than the total earlier estimate!
Neither the OMB nor the Environmental Assessment process (which we were all told at a public meeting could take months or even years to complete) should be blamed for delays and cost increases. The fault for all of this lies squarely with the township and its’ consultants who, through monumental arrogance and a lack of understanding and planning have marched us, backwards, blind-folded and mis-informed, into a corner they seem to hope we will not be able to escape from.
The only group that has been consistently left out of the discussion is the group that pays the bills: us; the customers.
The customer is (almost) always right!
Feb. 14th
February OMB Decision Sets Project Back, Costs Higher
At a recent “mediation hearing” before the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) Algonquin Highlands, their legal and consultant teams and the former Township CAO were handed something of a set-back on the already rocky path to airport expansion. An “oral decision” ( Read the Middleton OMB January decision.pdf) released the day before the February 4th council meeting led to what must be a record fourth special in-camera meeting in as many weeks on the same subject. The subject, of course, is the on-going, and increasingly expensive saga of the expropriation of one hundred acres of a family’s land for the construction of a new runway at the township owned Haliburton – Stanhope Municipal Airport.
The OMB ruled that the Township had failed to follow an earlier order and, as a result, a hearing date which had been set for early February this year has been delayed to July 19th with another, final submission date being set for August 13th. The early February date had been set back in March of 2009, which makes one question the recent statement by the Reeve that the now current round of meetings had only come to her attention ‘late in the fall’ of last year.
One part of the recent ruling, which was published on February 3rd, cites a witness statement by former CAO, Lorne Harrison as being “…vague and too broad.” and ordered him to re-file a statement that complies with rules of practice.
In all, four of the townships’ witnesses and consultants (whose fees must be considerable by this time) submitted reports which were either too late or too broad for the family’s counsel to respond to in time for the long set February date. As a result, the OMB found that the delay and the attendant additional costs to the family are entirely the responsibility of the township, adding even further to the costs of this first of several, eventual access and injurious affection actions which will be required in order to build and operate the proposed runway.
It is still possible that a settlement between the parties could be reached before the hearing dates set in the decision, but a failure to do so may push the start date for construction so far back that completion before the Federal / Provincial BCF funding time limit would be impossible. All the while, the township is amassing a stack of lawyers and consultants bills that council had been convinced would not be necessary.
While both sides of the dispute must refrain from discussing details of OMB mediation meetings and township officials may not speak about discussions held “in-camera”, there is no reason that the costs arising from these matters and others like them can not be openly reviewed. Indeed, with the next budget currently under discussion and much of last years’ financial statements yet to be produced, it is long past time for spending related directly to the airport expansion project to be fully disclosed, separated from general expenses and recognized in the question of the projects’ over-all viability. As a single example, the unusual and unusually high line item for legal costs proposed for the next budget should be recognised; to whatever extent it is the case, as an airport expansion cost.
It has long been the position of the MBC and other opponents of the second runway that the township must identify all potential land access, aerial easement and injurious affection issues, make a reasonable assessment of the costs and other impacts and must initiate discussions with all potentially affected landowners before making a final decision on construction. It is also our position that the Building Canada funding must not flow until these issues are resolved, and we will be pressing that point with the responsible authorities.(Read the letter to Ministers and others 100211 - Ind-Can funding hold B Bunker- web edit.doc)
We have asked the township a number of times in letters and in a delegation before council, to take this reasonable approach so that, finally, the taxpayers of Algonquin Highlands and the council, themselves, would have at least some idea of the costs we are facing. We have appealed to the council to obtain and publish a legal opinion on the simple question of whether the township can, in fact and in law actually begin construction on a project which will have obvious and demonstrable negative impacts on private lands without concluding agreements for access first.
The response from council has always been negative. Our last appeal on these lines, (in July of 2009 when council should already have been aware of the OMB debacle ahead of them) was dismissed by the Deputy Reeve because getting such a legal opinion would have been, ‘un-necessary spending of unbudgeted money prior to confirmation of funding and a decision to proceed’ It is now clear that a decision to proceed must already have been made, because there has certainly has been a good deal of unbudgeted money spent since last March, although there is still no confirmation of funding.
To continue pouring money into this one fight while ignoring the next several rounds and the very real possibility that this issue, if left unresolved, will kill their project and make the entire “investment” to date a complete loss, is irresponsible. Even if one was in favour of the expansion project, it is inconceivable that this level of mismanagement, secrecy and lack of control could be considered to be acceptable.
January 14th, 2010 Update
2010: ANOTHER YEAR IN THE SAGA - JUST BECAUSE IT'S QUIET DO NOT ASSUME THERE IS NOTHING GOING ON!
It has been too long since the last update to this site, but it has also been some time since there has been any real news to report.
With the coming of the new year, however, there have been some stirrings;Some people have recently expressed the opinion that it has been "maybe too quiet" on the airport front. Specifically, the Reeve is concerned about the lack of news, or response to the townships' enquiries, about the Environmental Assessment (see pages 2 and 3) which has been underway since July of 2009.
The silence from the CEAA is good news for some, bad news for others and no indication that nothing is being done. The purpose of the EA process is to assure that all reasonable measures are taken to prevent or "reduce to an acceptable level" the impacts of the project in question. The process is not and must not be affected by concerns such as funding deadlines, and there is the very real possibility that time will run out for Building Canada shared funding before the this process is over; Bad news if you are "pro-runway".
At least a part of the "delay" with the preliminary report is certainly due to the numerous and valid concerns brought forward by the concerned public at the initial public meeting last July. These concerns must all be dealt with carefully and deliberately; Good news for opponents, and for anyone that believes that our environment is important.
The news we will all be getting eventually will not be the end of the process and the beginning of construction. The preliminary report that will come from the CEAA will be subject to public review and input and will almost certainly require that supplementary work (with supplementary expenditures, of course) will have to be completed, submitted for review and approval and again reviewed in public. If this process takes so long that the construction deadline cannot be met for funding purposes, it will not mean that the EA process has failed, but that the project was, as we have long maintained, insufficiently planned and researched from the beginning.
The silence from our Township office does not mean that spending has been on hold or that costs are not rising. It has recently been confirmed that the township has been spending for lawyers and other consultants in an ongoing OMB process around expropriation of land for the expansion. Not only is a family who have lost 95% of their land disputing the amount paid for that land, but they are quite reasonably, seeking fair compensation for the reduced value and enjoyment of the land they have been left.
These kinds of entirely forseeable costs - and delays -have never been factored into the estimates for the project, nor have they ever been discussed by council in any public forum. These costs can not be paid with the shared, Building Canada funds and will fall entirely on the ratepayers of Algonquin Highlands. There are many more properties which will be subject to the same sorts of impacts requiring compensation; while the township has been aware of this from the beginning, they have refused even to identify or contact most of the owners, or to make any effort to estimate what the costs might be.
We need to break the silence surrounding the costs and impacts of this expansion project!-
On the 19th of January, the township will be in a meeting with the OMB that may result in some idea of the eventual extra costs of proceeding - On the 21st, the township begins budget discussions for 2010, discussions that will have to take into account the sad reality that County taxes will have to increase by up to 17% to replace upper level funding being phased out.
A number of councillors, possibly even a majority, will not be standing for re-election this year; These councillors should be looking at their final budget discussions armed with all the information (in a fair and unbiased form) so that they do not leave their replacements, the ratepayers of the township, and possibly the rest of the county with an unavoidable, expensive and permanent drain on ever more difficult finances. Some of the information publically released in support of the expansion actually suggests that the annual budget impact of airport costs will decrease as a result of borrowing more than 1.2 million dollars, increasing the size of the airport by more than double and adding staff to the operation.
The simple truth of the matter is that average annual costs (net losses) will rise from nearly $100,000 to a minimum of double that, and more likely triple. The townships' own figures show that the airport already consumes about 3.5% of total expenditures, which is already far higher than in any other municipality with an airport in its' control, and this figure could easily rise to 9%. Remember that there is nothing in the current expansion plan that has any hope of increasing revenues by even a fraction of the increase in costs.
When we talk of debt repayment and airport maintenance, we are not talking of optional expenses; Once the money is spent and the runway constructed, the only way out of some of the costs will be to close the expansion, eat the cost (including the cost of the expropriated land) and keep paying for the debt plus the same little airport we already subsidize.
It is far more likely that whoever is in council at that point will have to decide between cutting some other service or substantially raising our taxes.
OR, we can continue working to convince the council that the rehabilitation which has received a green light, and which will cost the township less than it had hoped to pay for one piece of land expropriated for the expansion (certainly a great deal less than they will actually end up paying) is sufficient. It is not too late to re-assess the situation and to make the right decision.
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The information on this site is from publicly available sources - Additions to maps and diagrams, as well as interpretations of regulations are entirely my own.
I woud like to particularly acknowledge the ease and utility of the County of Haliburton GIS site - http://www.haliburtoncounty.ca/MapsGIS.htm and both federal and provincial government information sites.
Any information on this site which can be proved to be in error or is subject to copyright or license will be removed upon request.
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