Hydro One proposal met with disapproval from community

PUSLINCH – Protecting the rural character of Puslinch is becoming increasingly difficult for Help Save Puslinch, a community group that hopes to save farmland and preserve the rural nature of the township in the face of industrial development and aggregate quarries.

The group originally formed in opposition to a proposal by Jim Estill, owner of Danby Canada Inc., who wants to develop agricultural-zoned land in the township for his company’s headquarters when there is plenty of industrial land available elsewhere in the township.

Estill is now seeking a Ministerial Zoning Order and Help Save Puslinch is working hard to make approving the proposal untenable for the Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs.

The group came together again on Sept. 11 along with more than 100 residents to figure out a strategy to convince Hydro One to consider the route preferred by Puslinch residents as the hydro-electric giant plans to build a new transformer station in Puslinch and a new transmission line connecting it to the existing Preston transmission station in Cambridge.

An environmental assessment is underway and Hydro One was set to host public information centre meetings on Sept. 15 and 17.

The Sept. 11 meeting was to discuss concerns, the Puslinch preferred route and the best strategy for residents heading to those meetings.

Hydro One has suggested four possible routes, each crisscrossing the township and impacting about a dozen residential homes and farms.

They look like they were made by a “drunken sailor,” said Puslinch resident John McNie, who along with resident Justin Wilson chaired the meeting.

After studying the maps, McNie suggested the best route is the direct one along the Highway 401 corridor that goes directly to Preston. The second-best route follows Highway 401 west, goes north on Town Line and then south along the route identified by Hydro One to Preston.

He said there is already a hydro corridor along one segment of the group’s suggested Highway 401 route, a Ministry of Transportation right-of-way along another segment, and township-owned land at Puslinch Tract, which would minimize privately-owned land expropriation.

Hydro One’s options skirt around aggregate quarries but cut directly through farmland and would impact between 11 and 16 private residences depending on the route adopted. 

The 401 options would impact either one or six homes.

“This is the shortest, cheapest route with the least negative impact,” McNie said.

Hydro One has suggested the cost for the new transformer and transmission lines is $280 million.

Councillors Russel Hurst and John Sepulis attended the meeting, explaining all of council wanted to attend but because it was not a township-organized meeting, there could not be quorum.

Hurst is also vice chair of Sunrise Therapeutic Riding and Learning Centre. Two of hydro’s proposed routes would cut through Sunrise’s property.

Hurst noted that Hydro One delegated to council in March, stating the need for the infrastructure and that it would be located “somewhere in Puslinch.”

“We committed to community engagement,” Hurst said, “so it came as a surprise to have these proposed routes already.”

McNie delegated to council in August, explaining the Highway 401 proposal, “and we agreed it was the only acceptable route,” Hurst added. “So it’s really important to attend the open house, to be noisy and to share your opinion.”

Sepulis said council might agree to pay for consultants to review Hydro One’s studies when complete, but it would be too expensive to conduct its own environmental studies.

Residents in attendance had questions for the speakers, who could only advise them to ask Hydro One staff at the open house.

One man said one of Hydro One’s suggested routes would have hydro towers lining his property.

“Then I can’t get in my house. I would be land-locked and my house is valueless,” he said.

Many people had questions about health and noise impacts for those living close to the towers. They asked if they could refuse to allow Hydro One consultants on their property to conduct their studies.

Hurst made it clear the township has little power over Hydro One and provincial directives.

“To a degree they can do what they want,” he said.

“That’s why we have to get noisy and make this politically unpalatable.”