Friends of One Mile Creek is among the 63 organizations across Ontario to express concerns about proposed changes by the provincial government to the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe and the Lands Needs Assessment Methodology. Both proposals were placed on the Environment Registry of Ontario on June 16, 2020, with comments due by July 31, 2020.
The response was co-ordinated by Ontario Nature and prepared by the Canadian Environmental Law Association and Environmental Defence.
Both proposals, if implemented, could cause significant adverse effects on the Greater Golden Horseshoe by facilitating urban sprawl, lead to an over-designation of land for urban growth, result in the unnecessary loss of farmlands, and destroy endangered and threatened species habitats.
The Greater Golden Horseshoe is one of the most biodiverse and heavily developed regions in Canada Anticipated growth must be carefully managed to sustain the health of our lands, waters and wildlife. It is home to at least a third of Ontario’s over 230 species at risk and has suffered extensive losses of wetlands, woodlands and other ecosystems. In Niagara region, for example, wetland loss exceeds 90 percent.
The Growth Plan is a unique land-use planning framework that proposes to balance urban growth with protection of the natural environment and farmland within the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Decision-makers, including municipal councils, as well as administrative tribunals, such as the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, must ensure that planning decisions conform with provincial plans, or shall not conflict with them.
A PDF version of the submission is provided below.
Owen Bjorgan spoke about wetlands at the Oct. 23, 2019, FOMC meeting.
At the Oct. 23, 2019, meeting of Friends of One Mile Creek (FOMC), special guest speaker Owen Bjorgan talked about Niagara’s wetlands including discussion about our local creeks.
At the June 19, 2019 meeting of Friends of One Mile Creek (FOMC) at the Community Centreenvironmental consultant Jocelyn Baker talked about building sustainable communities, using the One Mile Creek watershed plan as an example. Also, Stuart McPherson, restoration lead at the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA), talked about current restoration opportunities. This was the first FOMC public meeting in several years.
Jocelyn Baker speaking to FOMC in June 2019.
Jocelyn Baker, who grew up in Niagara on the Lake, has been working “hands-on” at the community level for a long time. She is an environmental consultant and a Project Management Professional (PMP) with over 25 years of dedicated public service experience, recognized for collaboration-based environmental outreach and education programming.
Currently, Jocelyn is the Canadian Chair of the Niagara River Binational Ramsar Designation Steering Committee, working for the Niagara Restoration Council in collaboration with the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority to secure a Ramsar designation for the Niagara River. Her early career focused on water quality improvement through the implementation of stewardship best management practices, evolving into Great Lakes remediation and restoration project management. Now she’s a full-time student at Brock University pursuing a Masters Degree in Sustainability Science through the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre.
Friends of One Mile Creek (FOMC) congratulates the two citizens recognized by the Town of Niagara on the Lake for their contribution to protecting the environment. At the June 10 Council meeting, Lord Mayor Volunteer Awards in seven categories were presented to 15 citizens, including Sandra O’Connor and Finn Madsen, for their contributions to the community.
“It’s the volunteers who make NOTL a special community,” says Lord Mayor Betty Disero.
O’Connor is involved with the Niagara-on-the-Lake Conservancy and Madsen with the Harmony Residents group. [To be clear, neither individual is involved with FOMC; however, we think it is important to salute the accomplishments of other local groups focused on the environment.] Reporting on all the volunteers is available on local newspaper websites: The NOTL Local and The Lake Report.
The Town provided the following background about the two recognized for their contributions to protecting the environment:
Sandra O’Connor
Councillor Allan Bisback and Lord Mayor Betty Disero present Sandra O’Connor with an environmental award for her work with the NOTL Conservancy on the Town’s Tree Bylaw initiative, and with the Preservation of Agriculture Lands Society. (Photos: Penny Coles at The NOTL Local)
In 2015, the board of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Conservancy asked Sandra O’Connor to chair an Urban Tree By-law initiative on private property, and she has led the work on this extremely important environmental issue since then. She has spent her time seeking input from community associations, distributing information. She has worked tirelessly in pursuit of this goal, galvanized support and developed relevant and well-researched documents.
In addition to this environmental initiative, Sandra serves as a board member of the Preservation of Agricultural Lands Society (PALS), an organization dedicated to protecting the unique fruit lands and supporting Niagara’s farmers and fruit industry, and promoting food land preservation.
During her tenure she has supported the need for a Niagara Tender Fruit Land easement program to help the farmers and preserve the necessary, and extremely limited tender fruit land base. Sandra has also helped PALS update its educational materials regarding Niagara’s unique history of fruit farming since 1792.
Sandra’s background in physical geography and conservation laid the foundation for her dedicated support of the environment and we appreciate all of her efforts to make Niagara-on-the-Lake a more environmentally conscious Town.
Finn Madsen
Councillor Allan Bisback and Lord Mayor Betty Disero present an environmental award to Finn Madsen of the Harmony Residents group.
Finn Madsen has been involved in the community for many years. He joined the Board of the Harmony Residents group in 2007, and has been the chairman since 2012. He was also a member of the UNESCO Committee and Communities in Bloom Committee for the Town.
Finn strongly believes the Lakeshore Road property owned by Parks Canada should be preserved and protected and that there is an opportunity not only to create a legacy for NOTL residents and visitors alike but also, a place for young children who are our future.
Over the years he has spent countless hours meeting with and doing presentations on a local, municipal, regional and federal level. He has recruited several knowledgeable and capable board members and vice chair, who will continue his vision as he is stepping down as chairperson.
Finn has always worked in the background never taking recognition for his time and effort. He has always ensured someone else gets the recognition that they deserved. However, we are pleased to take this time to recognize Finn for all his hard work.
Niagara on the Lake Town Council consideration has been postponed at the request of the developer for the proposed Zoning By-Law Amendment to facilitate the severance of 373 Victoria Street to create two separate lots for single detached residential purposes. The development application concerns Friends of One Mile Creek (FOMC) because about 57% of the property at 373 Victoria Street lies within the One Mile Creek floodplain (see map of NPCA Regulated Floodplain showing how much area would be impacted by the proposal). At the request of the applicant, developer Gatta Homes, the Council discussion was first postponed from June 10, 2019, until July 15 and then until Sept. 16.
At its June 3, 2019, Committee of the Whole (COTW) meeting, Council had voted to defeat a staff recommendation that supported the developer’s proposal. Typically, the next step is for Council to vote on its COTW report at the following week’s meeting. However, lawyer Sara J. Premi of Sullivan Mahoney in St. Catharines represented developer Gatta Homes in a delegation to the Council’s June 10 meeting, asking that Council defer until July 15 its consideration of “both the application to amend the Zoning By-law and the request for exemption from the Interim Control By-law.” In her verbal remarks, she said the developer needed time to explore some possible changes, perhaps to lot density. They then asked to wait until the Sept. 16 session.
FOMC’s original concerns had been submitted to the Town on March 4, 2019, as part of the public hearing on the proposal. Concerns about the proposal were also made by neighbours, the Niagara Conservancy and the Niagara Foundation. Subsequently, in a report dated May 24 Town staff recommended approval of the application. However, at the COTW meeting on June 3 councillors heard further presentations and voted 6 to 0 to defeat the recommendation (with Lord Mayor Betty Disero declaring a conflict of interest because she owns property in the notice area and Councillor Erwin Wiens not voting because he chaired the meeting).
The subject property’s proposed Zoning By-Law Amendment would undoubtedly require fill to be brought in for a driveway, tree removals, and potential excavations that would have significant disturbance in the OMC floodplain. The potential for altering hydrology and/or removing important riparian vegetative cover concerns us as this would have a negative impact on an already sensitive creek, FOMC stated in its submission.
One of the other concerns is increased impermeable surfaces. Paved driveways and large rooftops act as a direct pathway for rainwater to enter the creek without having time to slowly soak into the ground. Increased impervious surfaces and lack of natural vegetation along the creek can lead to increased flash flows and flooding that could not only impact the residents at the subject property but potentially other residents downstream. Some solutions would be the use of permeable pavers or gravel that would allow rain to slowly soak into the ground as well as increasing the natural vegetative buffer along the creek.
Here is the FOMC submission to the March 4, 2019, public hearing:
373 Victoria proposal timeline
Developer withdrew proposal from consideration until a future date
The Friends of One Mile Creek (FOMC) welcomes the appointment by the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) of Gayle Wood as Interim Chief Administrative Officer/Secretary-Treasurer effective March 1, 2019. Wood was appointed by the newly installed NPCA board of directors for a term of 5 months, while the board searches for a permanent CAO with the help of an external hiring firm.
“Ms. Wood brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise in conservation leadership as a senior executive to a number of Conservation Authorities across Ontario,” says NPCA Board Chair Dave Bylsma.
The board is thrilled to work closely with her over the next five months as the NPCA embarks on a new chapter of environmental stewardship and leadership for the Niagara Peninsula watershed, Bylsma said.
Her recent experience includes Chief Administrative Officer/Secretary-Treasurer to the Nottawasaga Valley, Ganaraska and Lake Simcoe Conservation Authorities. She has worked for the provincial ministries of Natural Resources and the Environment and has experience in the private sector.
“Gayle Wood’s background and experience at other past conservation authorities makes her an ideal candidate to take on the challenge she is faced with at the NPCA,” says Klara Young-Chin on behalf of FOMC. “We look forward to working in collaboration on restoration/naturalization of the One Mile Creek floodplain as we did in the past. The leadership of NPCA staff is important and needed to continue to improve water quality as part of our One Mile Creek mandate as outlined in the OMC Watershed Study 2005.”
Wood graduated from University of Waterloo with a bachelor’s degree in Environment Studies and has a Business and Strategic Management Certificate from York University. She has dedicated her career to watershed management, locally, provincially and internationally, often managing multiple watersheds at a time.
Internationally, Wood has worked with the governments of many nations, training delegates from China, Thailand, Russia, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago and Vietnam on watershed projects.
Her work in China was recognized with an award from the State Council of China for Public Engagement in Watershed Management in 1999 and 2000, and she was recognized locally in 2001 with a Conservation Award in Celebration of Women in York Region.
Media article
Link to article in the St. Catharines Standard by Grant LaFreche:
The five creeks in Niagara on the Lake that flow into Lake Ontario are monitored by the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA). The 2018 NPCA report card on the conditions and water quality of the creeks in NOTL gives poor grades of D (Poor) or F (Very Poor) for the water quality and other measurements of NOTL creeks.
Most creeks that flow into Lake Ontario in the Niagara peninsula were named based on the distance from the mouth of the Niagara River. In NOTL, these are:
Eight Mile Creek
Six Mile Creek
Four Mile Creek
Two Mile Creek
One Mile Creek
Area under jurisdiction of Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority
NPCA role
The role of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) is to evaluate the quality of local watersheds and provide that information to the public in order to measure environmental change, improve local knowledge, focus natural resource management actions where they are needed most, and motivate action in the watershed. Since 2005, the NPCA and its partners have produced report cards to inform its residents on the overall health of the Niagara Peninsula watershed.
Poor grades in 2018 watershed report
The 2018 Watershed Report Card is part of an initiative by conservation authorities to evaluate key indicators of watershed health with guidelines and grading system provided by Conservation Ontario.
Commenting on the low grades in the 2018 report card, NPCA says: “These grades are typical of watersheds in Southern Ontario. The good news is that the Niagara Peninsula watershed scored well with respect to groundwater quality, and the amount of wetland cover within its area, but there is still some work to do regarding the quality of surface water and forest cover.”
The NPCA is expected to work with many local, provincial and federal partnerships with governments, other agencies, landowners, and residents to plan and deliver watershed management programs that strive to keep the Niagara Peninsula watershed healthy.
[Click the image below to view and/or download a PDF version of the 2018 report.]
Water quality reports
NPCA completes monthly sampling and testing at some surface water stations and groundwater wells across the Niagara watershed. Surface water samples are tested for numerous parameters, including ecoli, nitrates and lead. Groundwater sample tests include nutrients, metals and bacteria.
The reports for One Mile Creek are included in the section of the annual report on water quality.
The 2017 report is available to be read or downloaded below:
2012 detailed report on NOTL creeks
The 2012 report card on the conditions and water quality of the NOTL creeks is the most recent detailed report from the NPCA.
[Click the image below to view and/or download a PDF version of the 2012 report.]
