Upper Welland River Watershed Plan - Niagara Peninsula ...

UPPER WELLAND RIVER WATERSHED PLANthat the banks are not cut too steep as this will just make the banks more vulnerable toerosion. However, for a watercourse or pipe to become a municipal drain there must be a bylawadopting an engineer‟s report. Once the municipal drain has been constructed under theby-law, it becomes part of the infrastructure of the respective municipality. The localmunicipality is therefore responsible for repairing and maintaining the drain. Therefore, inorder to implement alternative maintenance practices, the engineers report for the respectivedrain will need to be re-visited. To review examples of current BMP mitigation measures, referto Appendix I.Nearly 70 kilometres of watercourse in the Upper Welland River watershed has beenclassified as municipal drain. Haldimand County began a 10 year drain maintenance cycleprogram; a full cleanout is not necessarily conducted every time. The drains included in thiscycle are those that fall in the following subwatersheds; Black Creek Drain, Oswego Creek,Sugar Creek Drain, James Drain, and Michner/Chick Hartner Drain.In 2010, White Church Road Drain in Glanbrook could potentially be cleaned out. Informationregarding the maintenance activities on the other drains in the study area is still pending andthis section will be updated upon its receipt.Niagara to GTA CorridorBy 2031, the Greater Golden Horseshoe is expected to grow by almost 4 million people (MTO2010). From a transportation perspective, this level of growth poses significant challenges asduring peak periods many of the transportation networks are already functioning at or nearcapacity, therefore unable to support the predicted level of growth associated with theincrease in commuter, tourist and goods movement.To address these issues the Ontario government initiated the Niagara to GTA CorridorPlanning and Environmental Assessment Study. This study was initiated to “explore all modesof transportation, including transit, freight rail, marine, air, freight inter-modal, and roads andhighways” (MTO 2010) and to address existing and future anticipated transportation capacitydeficiencies, for instance problems and opportunities, within the Niagara to GTA corridor byproviding additional capacity for a 30 year planning horizon and beyond.Since the initiation of Phase One in January 2007, several studies have been completed andreleased including: Overview of Environmental Conditions and Constraints Report andOverview of Transportation and Socio-Economic Conditions (MTO 2007a; 2007b); FactorsInfluencing Transportation Demand in the NGTA Corridor: Discussion Paper and Study Vision,Purpose, Goals and Objectives: Discussion Paper (MTO 2008a; 2008b); Draft AreaTransportation System Problems and Opportunities Report (MTO 2009); and AreaTransportation System Alternatives Report (MTO 2010).The latest report, Area Transportation System Alternatives Report (MTO 2010) serves as a“critical stage in the study providing a foundation for further assessment, evaluation, andselection of Preliminary Planning Alternatives that will be incorporated in the ultimateTransportation Development Strategy for this phase of the NGTA Study” (MTO 2010). One ofthe key findings of this study was that “no single mode of transportation is capable of fullyaddressing all of the transportation problems and opportunities”. The report outlines fourtransportation group alternatives made up of a number of individual alternatives. Group #1focuses on optimizing existing networks, Group #2 focuses on new/expanded non-road69