Comments on the LRT project

To: James O'Mara, Director
Environmental Assessment & Approvals Branch
Ministry of the Environment
Province of Ontario

By Fax: (416) 314-8452

Dear Mr. O'Mara:

Re: North-South Corridor LRT Project - Ministry Review, December 2005

I wish to comment on two aspects of the Ministry's Review.

1. This document should have been made more readily available. It should have been published on a web site. I spoke with Mr. Michael Harrison on January 24 and was promised two copies in the mail. I have yet to receive them. Also, the Ministry should, in this and any other request for comments from the public, provide an e-mail address to submit comments.

2. The Review sets out a process for selection of the location of a Maintenance Yard and would require only an after-the-fact report on the outcome. This is less than an Addendum process proposed in the Environmental Assessment report. The Ministry should exercise more oversight in this matter, in conformity with section 6.2 (3) of the Environmental Assessment Act. Moreover, while the process set out in the Review allows for public involvement, this is being subverted by City staff. The Ward Councillor informs us that Step 1, the formation of a Public Working Group, will not take place until the end of February, while the contract for the project is expected to be awarded in April. Clearly, staff wants to do its work without the nuisance of public involvement and then just go through the motions of conforming with the Review.

This is particularly unsatisfactory because the preliminary evaluation of
the three alternatives set out in the EA is incomplete in significant
respects. Nor is it a secret that staff wants to proceed with the Lester
Road site.

Gaps in the comparison of sites found in the EA include:

- insufficient documentation of the amount and variety of wildlife that is
found on the Lester site;

- failure to recognize the significance of the milkweed field, feeding ground for Monarch butterflies;

- insufficient appreciation of the recreational use made of the open space east and west of the rail line next to the Airport Parkway;

- failure to recognize that there will be much activity in the Yard during the night, making it impossible to respect the City's noise by-law;

- insufficient appreciation of the ecological significance of the Medeola Woods east of the rail line at the Lester site;

- lack of detailed assessment of the wetlands on and around the Lester Road site and absence of recognition of the federal policy on wetland conservation;

- incomplete appreciation of the assets available at the Walkley site, including storage capacity for at least 200 light rail cars, a facility to turn trains and a location suitable for serving both the north-south and future east-west LRT.

I urge the Ministry to exercise closer oversight over the selection of a Maintenance Yard for this project.

Sincerely,

Erwin Dreessen, Ph.D.