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Loyalist Township to consider wind project’s operational plan
The Association to Protect Amherst Island said the plan has been changed significantly since the project was approved in 2015 from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change and the 2016 decision in favour of the project by the Environmental Review Tribunal. “The Environmental Review Tribunal based its decision on assurances from Windlectric that only ‘minor and temporary road widenings’ would occur on Amherst Island in three locations – Dump Road, the S bend on Third Concession and a small number of shoulders on South Shore,” the group’s president Michele Le Lay wrote in an open letter to Township Mayor Bill Lowry.
Credit: Loyalist Township to consider wind project's plan | By Elliot Ferguson, Kingston Whig-Standard | Wednesday, July 26, 2017 | www.thewhig.com ~~
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STELLA – The group opposed to the building of a wind energy facility on Amherst Island is criticizing Loyalist Township for what it says is a rush to approve the project’s operational plan and is calling for a public meeting on the issue.
At a special council meeting Thursday evening, township council is to consider the project’s operational plan.
In late May, council deferred approval of the plan because of staff’s concern about the impact of the construction work on the island’s roads. In response, Windlectric Inc. said it would seek arbitration on the issue.
“Over the past several weeks there has been extensive and positive dialogue with the Algonquin team,” Dave Thompson, the township’s director of infrastructure services wrote in a report to council. “Algonquin now recognizes the Township’s concern with respect to road ownership and has pledged to stay within the road allowance with their activities unless they have written permission to enter adjacent properties from the respective landowners.”
As a result of the negotiations with the company, township staff are recommending that the operations plan be approved.
But the Association to Protect Amherst Island said the plan has been changed significantly since the project was approved in 2015 from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change and the 2016 decision in favour of the project by the Environmental Review Tribunal.
“The Environmental Review Tribunal based its decision on assurances from Windlectric that only ‘minor and temporary road widenings’ would occur on Amherst Island in three locations – Dump Road, the S bend on Third Concession and a small number of shoulders on South Shore,” the group’s president Michele Le Lay wrote in an open letter to Township Mayor Bill Lowry.
“It is both gut wrenching and heart breaking to find that the Township is now considering an Operations Plan based on reconstruction and widening of about 20 kilometres of Island roads requiring excavation, implementation of a synthetic base, and compacting nine inches of gravel without any environmental assessment.”
Le Lay said the ninth iteration of the operations plan was published on Tuesday and not enough time has been allowed for it to be fully examined.
The group said the vote on the operations plan should again be deferred until next month to allow for more public input, including a public meeting.
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