Port Burwell Provincial Park Management Plan: Amendment (2000)

May 2000

Issue

Minor amendment of the Port Burwell Provincial Park Management Plan (1989) to deregulate and transfer ownership of a parcel of land approximately 0.8 hectare in area, associated with Port Burwell Provincial Park, to the Municipality of Bayham to accommodate planned expansion of their existing sewage treatment plant.

Purpose

The purpose of the minor amendment is to allow for the retrofitting and expansion of the existing municipal sewage treatment plant (S.T.P.) in Port Burwell to support improved and expanded sewage treatment for Port Burwell and the surrounding areas of Vienna, Eden and Staffordville. The area of land required for this expansion currently lies within the regulated boundary of Port Burwell Provincial Park.

Location

The property to be deregulated and transferred is located on the eastern side of Chatham Street, Village of Port Burwell, specifically Parts 6 and 7, Plan 2446 (please see attached map).

Background

Acres and Associated Consulting Engineers submitted an Environmental Study Report (ESR) to the Ministry of the Environment in June 1999. This document was an Addendum to the ESR's for the Eden, Vienna and Staffordville Sewage and Water Works in the Municipality of Bayham. The Addendum completed the Class Environmental Assessment for Municipal Water and Wastewater Projects for the Municipality of Bayham. As this process was carried out, the consultant and Municipality were responsible for holding a number of public meetings, notification of which was made through the local news media. Based on the evaluation carried out in the report, it was recommended that the existing sewage treatment plant in Port Burwell be retrofitted and expanded.

Under Exemption Order 59/2 of the Environmental Assessment Act, Ontario Parks notified adjacent landowners of the proposed amendment in February 2000. The mailing outlined the proposed amendment and was sent to those landowners within a radius of at least 125 metres of the proposed sewage treatment plant expansion site and to any other individual or organization who requested to be involved in the public consultation process.

The property to be deregulated and developed is located within the development zone of the park, where no vulnerable, threatened or endangered (VTE) species exist as it is primarily a gravel parking lot and disturbed field. Mitigation measures have been outlined by Acres and Associated for any of possible environmental impacts due to the expansion however these impacts will be minimal. Overall, the expansion will provide a net benefit to the lower Otter Creek valley and Lake Erie as effluent quality leaving the plant will meet the more stringent guidelines set out by the Ministry of the Environment thus improving water quality. At some future date, Port Burwell Provincial Park may hook into the municipal sewage treatment system and, as such, would also benefit from this proposed sewage treatment plant expansion.

Conditions

In return for the transfer of Parts 6 and 7 from Ontario Parks, the Municipality of Bayham will arrange the transfer of Part 5 to be registered to Ontario Parks. The Municipality also agreed to enter into discussion with Ontario Parks regarding the possible gating of the access road to the Port Burwell Provincial Park parking lot adjacent to Big Otter Creek. In addition, the Municipality will require Ontario Parks to grant easements for Part 9 to accommodate the existing sanitary sewer and to accommodate the proposed exfiltration gallery for the upgraded sewage plant.

Approval statement

This minor amendment to the Port Burwell Provincial Park Management Plan is approved to deregulate the above mentioned park property and transfer title it to the Municipality of Bayham to accommodate planned expansion of their existing sewage treatment plant.

Original signed by:

Henry Valks
Park Superintendent
Port Burwell Provincial Park

Date: June 21, 2000

Peter Sturdy
Zone Manager
Southwestern Zone

Date: June 15, 2000

Prepared by:

Tim Marchand
Parks Planner
Southwestern Zone
May 2000

Map showing area to be removed from park

Enlarge area to be removed from park

Figure 3: Zoning

Enlarge figure 3 zoning