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HomeMy WebLinkAbout74-94REPORT NO. 94 PROPOSED BOWMANVILLE WEST COMMUNITY 1. Introduction: A little over a month ago the Planning Advisory Committee heard a presentation from a group of landowners to the west of the present town of Bowmanville. These owners proposed a very large development which would add appro- ximately 159000 persons to the population of 159000 pro- posed in the present Official Plan for Bowmanville. The Planning Advisory Committee by resolution requested a staff report on this proposal. Since the owners of the subject lands made their presen- tation to the Planning Advisory Committee they have also applied to the Region for an amendment to the Darlington Official Plan. The Regional Planning and Development Committee have passed the following resolution: "That the Official Plan Amendment Application #32 - Bowmanville West Community (Durham Estates & Rye Investments Ltd.) be tabled and further that the Application be appraised during the course of preparation of the Offi- cial Plan of the Region of Durham." In view of this decision by the Region, I think that it would be premature for the Town of Newcastle to undertake any extensive study on this proposal at this time, but a preliminary review based on the documents submitted would be in order, and has been included in this report. - 2 - 2. Community Identity and Integrity: The two stages proposed in the Bowmanville West Commun- ity would carry the population of Bowmanville far beyond 309000 in population, and would in fact yield a total population of between 80,000 and 1009000 including the existing town. Furthermore, it would lead to a complete closing of the gap between Bowmanville and the proposed Courtice Community, and thus to a continuous urban area from the east limits of Bowmanville to the west of Whitby. This is not consistant with provincial objectives stated in the TCR concept, nor is it consistant with locally expressed desires to maintain the distinct identities of the various urban centres in the Town of Newcastle. Phase A of the proposed Bowmanville West Community, which is the subject of more detailed study in Mr. Conroy Dowson's report, would be much less for reaching than the total pro- posal, but it would still be a significant step in reducing the area of agricultural and open land between Bowmanville and Courtice. Although the proposed Bowmanville West Community would be physically close to the Central Area of Bowmanville, there are two major barriers which would tend to separate it from the existing town. Bowmanville has already had the exper- ience of the Waverly Road Neighbourhood which has developed somewhat an isolation from the rest of the town. This is partly due no doubt to the social factors including the - 3 - Metro commuter character of the population, but it is abetted by the lack of physical connections with the older part of the town. The Waverly Road neighbourhood is sep- arated from the rest of Bowmanville by the Bowmanville Creek Valley which can only be crossed at the extreme north of the neighbourhood (Hwy. 2) and at the extreme south (Base Line Rd,). The Bowmanville Wiest Community would be separated from the rest of the town also by the additional barrier of Durham Road 57, which is already an important rural arterial road and will increase in importance in the future as a major link between the freeways 401 and 407. 3. Existing By -pass: The present Durham Road 57 was constructed in recent years as a western by -pass of Bowmanville, linking the Lake Sucgog area with Hwy. 401. In future it will also consti- tute the major north -south link in the Bowmanville area between the two major freeways 401 and 407. In development occurs on both sides of this road, then it ceases to serve its function as a by -pass and becomes an urban street with- in the town. Durham Road 57 thus constitutes a "natural" boundary to the urban area which should not be crossed unless there are compelling reasons to do so. 4. Agricultural Land: The Bowmanville urban area cannot expand significantly in any direction without trespassing to some extent on good to mod- - 4 - erately good agricultural land. The lands in the proposed Bowmanville West Community are all rated as having High Priority for Agriculture by the Regional Planning Depart - ment* except for the southeast corner of the area adjacent to Base Line Road. On the other hand, lands to the immed- iate north and east of the present built up area currently being studied under OHAP sponsorship are rated by the same source as Moderately High Priority for Agriculture. This does not mean that land in the Moderately High Priority category should be sacrificed indiscriminately, but, a choice must be made, the lands within the present OHAP study area are of somewhat less importance for agriculture than those in the proposed Bowmanville West Community. 5. Municipal Services: a) Water The engineering consultant for the Bowmanville West Group (Underwood McLellan) advises that the existing water filtration plant can be expanded to accomodate a population of 30,000 in Bowmanville with the acquisition of additional adjacent lands and the construction of a new intake. He does not give any details as to the works required to provide storage and deliver the water to the Bowmanville West area, so no comparison can presently be made of the cost of servicing the Bowmanville west comm- unity as opposed to the cost of servicing other lands * Source: Official Plan Discussion Paper #1 - 5 - a) Water: (continued....) which might be developed elsewhere. b) Sewerage: Most of the proposed Bowmanville West Community lies outside the Bowmanville Creek - Soper Creek drainage basin and therefore cannot easily be served by the present sanitary sewer system. Even those parts of the proposed Community in the north which do drain into Bowmanville Creek do not have access to a trunk sewer with capacity to handle the development. To resolve this problem, the group have proposed constr- uction of a new sewage treatment plant to the west of the Bowmanville on lands owned by St. Mary's Cement. Their proposal would involve pumping of sewage of the entire present town over into another drainage area. Ignoring the problems associated with St. Mary's Cement, dealt with further below, the proposal appears to con- stitute an unnatural distortion of the logical and economical pattern of servicing and development of Bow- manville in the interest of one particular group of landowners. The proposal appears to have several dis- advantages over the alternatives being recommended to Regional Council by Totten Sims Hubicki, who have car- ried out a study of the Bowmanville sewage system for the Regional Works Department. In their study Totten Sims advise that, contrary to popular opinion, the - 6 - b) Sewerage.- (continued.....) Bowmanville sewage treatment plant can be expanded on its present site to accomodate a population of 309000 persons. If that proposal (which would be the most economical) is unacceptable from the standpoint of the welfare of nearby residents, then a site near the head of the Bowmanville marsh is recommended as an alterna- tive. Both proposals would involve an outfall to Lake Ontario, thus ending the "upstream" character of the existing plant. Either of the two Totten Sims alterna- tive proposals for sewage capacity expansion appear likely to be considerably less expensive to construct than the Bowmanville West proposal - for the same level of population. The Totten Sims proposals would also appear to be less expensive to maintain and have less risk of malfunction than the Bowmanville West proposal, because large scale pumping of sewage would not be involved. c) Storm Sewerage: Storm drainage for the northern part of the proposed Community does not present any significant problems; however, the provision of storm drainage to the southern portion of the Community would require extensive engine- ering works. The following would be required: 1. A new culvert under Base Line Road. 2. A trapezoidal ditch 32 ft. wide at the top. 3. Expansion of existing culvert under 401 and the south service Road and a new parallel 60" culvert. 4. New 84 inch culvert Access Road. 5. New 84 inch culvert 6. New 18 foot by 5 fog with raising of the 7. A trapezoidal ditch 1000 feet above and Road culvert. under St. Mary's Cement under CNR main line. Dt culvert under Waverly Road existing grade. 36 feet wide at the top for 200 feet below the Waverly No cost estimates have been given for all of these works. The construction of the required ditches would involve acquisition of land by the Town from St. Mary's Cement and other owners, perhaps requiring expropriations. The alternative would be to pipe storm water along existing roadways, but this would probably be considerably more expensive than the open ditch proposed. No cost estimates are available for storm drainage on the proposed lands or any other alternative lands which might be developed, but the proposed Bowmanville West Community lies mainly outside the principal drainage system of the Bowmanville area. It lies within the drainage area of a very small watercourse which happens to pass under a considerable number of man made obstacles on its route to Lake Ontario. For this reason the cost of storm drain- age is likely to be comparatively high. Of course, the cost of all storm drainage works would be borne 100% by developers, so it would not be a matter of direct concern to the taxpayers, but since all such costs are inevitably passed on to the house pruchaser, it is a matter of some concern to the Town that priority be given to the lands which can most economically be serviced. g It should be noted that the storm drainage works listed above are as recommended by the proponent's engineer, and are not necessarily acceptable to the Town, the Con- servation Authority, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, or Canadian National Railways. 6. Existing Official Plans If the Town wishes developers to be guided by Official Plans in making their investments, the Town should keep faith with those developers who acquired land for development in conformity with the existing Official Plan for Bowmanville. New development proposals should not, as a general rule, be given priority over developments approved in principle in the existing Official Plan, especially where services such as the Soper Creek Trunk Sewer have already been in part con- structed to serve those developments. That sewer has a capacity for approximately 40,000 people. In addition the existing Official Plan envisaged a certain balance between industry and residential development. Thns far that balance has failed to materialize. Under these circumstances, I think that it would be ill adivsed for the Town to approve any additional residential development until such time as this unbalance can be reduced. 7. Recommendations: Based on the above preliminary review of the Bowmanville West submission, I would recommend that a) Council concur with the Region's decision to consider the proposal in conjunction with the preparation of ® 9 7. Recommendations: (continued..,.) a) the Regional Official Plan. b) A copy of this preliminary review be sent to the Regional Planning Department. c) The Regional Planning Department be advised that based on present knowledge, this proposal does not arpear to the Town to constitute the most desirable direction of growth for Bowmanville in the presently forseeable future. d) That no change be made at the present time in any planning and engineering studies presently underway. Respectfully submitted, '1 George F. Howden, Planning Department.