During the summer of 2009 as the city and developers, Cooper Construction and Belmont Equity began installing infrastructure and taking preparatory measures to convert the land into an industrial park, local activists took direct action and occupied the site.
Their action was sanctioned and extended by an Ontario Provincial court judge in early August. Eventually, the protectors of the wetland were ordered to leave and the city was ordered to stop work on the culvert until the minister of the environment at the time, Donna Cansfield, considered
the issue. She ruled the city could proceed but her ruling came so late in the construction season that the city and its contractor, Drexler Construction, decided not to resume work on the project.
However, the city and its partners undertook work on other parts of the site and have every intention of resuming their work this construction season.
Damage done to the banks of the Hanlon Creek during infrastructure work entailing installation of a culvert. A provincial court judge ordered the city to cease and desist. The stumps in the foreground are white cedar, an indigenous species.
I
covered the contentious issue last year for
Ontario Nature, the
Guelph Mercury, and
DJ.
This spring, on Easter weekend I returned to the site to assess the work done over the winter and the situation on the site as the construction season is about to begin.
At present the site is actively protected by security guards hired by the city and its development partners and motion activated video cameras. Also, it is encircled with no trespassing signs. Therefore, all photographs included in this article were taken from public property overlooking the site.
A security guard approaches Digital Journalist, Betty Kowall's car as she looks across Wellington County Road 35 at the Hanlon Creek Wetland Complex.
On the south east corner of the site a large area of land has been completed denuded of all trees and ground cover by Cooper Construction. This area will likely be used to collect topsoil as the sites hummocky terrain is leveled and graded preparatory to installation of infrastructure such as sewers, water supply lines and roads.
Run-off collects in a huge pit dug by Cooper Construction on the south east corner of the Hanlon Creek Wetland Complex.
As the 2010 construction season approaches there are a host of issues still unresolved around the Hanlon Creek Wetland Complex. These include the presence of the Western Chorus Frog, a federally endangered species, questions about the development's impact on the Jefferson Salamander, an amphibian on the provincial Endangered Species list and the projects impact on local groundwater and the long-term health of the PSW the city and its private sector partners are actively soliciting potential purchasers and tenants.
Signs along the Hanlon Creek Expressway actively solicit tenants for the city's proposed industrial development despite unanswered environmental questions.
