Media Release

For immediate release: Thursday, April 6th, 2006

(Toronto) Queen's Park has quietly approved the "Big Pipe" sewer to be built along 19th Avenue in Richmond Hill, supporting York Region's preferred route that will run through protected areas of the Oak Ridges Moraine and the recently protected Greenbelt.

Environmentalists and local residents contend that the approval of this new infrastructure violates the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act (ORMCA) and will lead to expanded urban sprawl onto greenfields in the Region.

By approving the pipe’s construction along 19th Avenue, the Province has permitted York Region to push through a massively oversized 2.4 m sewer through greenfields that will facilitate further sprawl in King, Newmarket, Aurora and Queensville as part of an overall twinning of the York Durham Sewer System even though a route exists that is better for the environment and has less predicted impact on drinking water quality while supporting intensification along Elgin Mills Road. The Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act states that new infrastructure, such as sewer pipes, can only be built through protected areas of the Moraine if there is no reasonable alternative.

"Queen’s Park must protect their own conservation legislation¨, said Josh Matlow, Earthroots’ Campaign Director, "The Province is setting a very alarming precedent by allowing York Region to build infrastructure for sprawl through the Moraine and Greenbelt’s protected areas.¨

The newly approved 19th Avenue pipe will cross Bayview Avenue in Richmond Hill through the Natural Linkage Area of the Moraine- this is the second highest level of protection afforded to the Moraine, second only to a natural core area.

Experts are concerned that this pipe could dam up the underground water flow in the Moraine’s sensitive aquifer, possibly causing internal erosion. As well, the Jefferson Forest, nearby wetlands and ORMCA natural core areas are adjacent to 19th Avenue for over 0.5 of a kilometer of the sewer route and could be negatively affected as a result of the pipe.

"Local residents and experts' concerns have been ignored by both the Region and the Province", said Carrie Hoffelner of Richmond Hill Act Now. "There were obvious alternatives that the government has chosen to ignore. I wonder now if my kids will be left with any greenspace?"

The 19th Avenue Big Pipe increases the likelihood that developers will have their way through the Ontario Municipal Board to build 1450 homes and high density buildings at the nearby Gormley West site and 6600 homes at 19th and Leslie, part of which is on the Oak Ridges Moraine, in addition to the future decades of sprawl the current Big Pipe will promote.

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For more information, please contact:

Josh Matlow, Earthroots’ Campaign Director at:

(416) 599-0152 x14, (416) 809-5674 cell.

Carrie Hoffelner, Richmond Hill Act Now at:

(905) 773-7700, (416) 827-8810 cell.

For information:

Environmentalists’ concerns regarding the 19th Avenue Big Pipe route include:

- does not support public transportation efforts - takes the sewer, and therefore intensification incentive, far from existing transit hubs like the existing Richmond Hill GO Train location

- facilitates urban sprawl and puts the Province's goals for smart growth on a collision course with preserving the Moraine, violates Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act (2001)

- supports the development industry’s lobby towards future governments to amend the conservation legislation and open these lands up to continued urban sprawl

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