Additions to Council July 23/07 ADDITIONS TO COUNCIL, MONDAY, JULY 23, 2007
ORDER OF BUSINESS
1. Revised page #3 -adding Miscellaneous Planning matters, correspondence form Broderick
& Partners (already with the report)
CORPORATE SERVICES
1. Request for Deputation from Ed Bielawski re: BMA Water and Wastewater Rate Review
Proposal
COMMUNITY SERVICES
1. Correspondence from Jean Grandoni re: MW 2007-87, Kalar Road Pump Station
COUNCIL
1. By-law 2007-147 Appointment of Acting City Clerk
-3-
MISCELLANEOUS PLANNING MATTERS
1. Chief Administrative Officer PD-2007-59 -Matters Arising from the Municipal
Heritage Committee
-and-
Correspondence from Broderick & Partners
Correspondence from Sullivan Mahoney
CLERK'S MATTERS
1. Chief Administrative Officer CD-2007-16 Application for Compliance Audit
-and-
. Deputation by Bernadette Secco
MAYOR'S REPORTS, ANNOUNCEMENTS
COMMUNICATIONS AND COMMENTS OF THE CITY CLERK
1. Scouts Canada -Request to raise the "100 Years of Scouting" flag above the City
of Niagara Falls on August 1, 2007.
RECOMMENDATION: For the Approval of Council
Additional Items for Council Consideration:
The City Clerk will advise of any further items for Council consideration.
Corporate Services
Finance Division
Inter-Department Memorandum N1ag1Y'1~1~11S
CA.N ADA
TO: Councillor Victor Pietrangelo DATE: July 20, -2007
and Members of the Corporate Services
Committee
FROM: Ken Burden
Acting Executive Director of Corporate Services
RE: BMA Water and Wastewater Rate Review Proposal
Mr. Ed Bielawski is requesting a deputation to speak at the Corporate Services Committee meeting
on Monday,. July 23, 2007 on the above mentioned proposal.
Page 1 of 1
Dean Iorfida - Re: jean grandoni's letter
From: Dean Iorfida
To: Janice Wing
Date: 7/19/2007 9:43 AM
Subject: Re: jean grandoni's letter
Attachments: 2007_05_17 - Municipal.pdf
Hi Janice:
Council first received Jean's letter as part of a Council Information a-mail dated May 17th (see attached excerpt
from that Council Information pdf
I did promise Jean that it would be included when the matter came to Council or Community Services.
Unfortunately, Geoff did not attach the correspondence with his report. Nonetheless, when Jean- pointed this
out, the packages had not gone out; so you will actually see that her correspondence is attached to the end of
the Community Services agenda.
I personally called Jean and apologized for the snafu but explained that the correspondence had been attached
to the Community Services agenda. So it is there for Council's information, you just have to thumb to the very
end of the agenda.
Janice, if its okay with you, I may forward this a-mail to the rest of Council so they know the correspondence is
there.
Call me if you have any questions.
Thanks
Dean
"Janice Wing" <janice_wingCalcogeco.ca> 7/19/2007 9:26 AM
Hi Dean,
I have a phone mesage from Jean Grandoni, asking whether you had provided Council with copies of a letter
from her to Geoff Holman regarding the Kalar Road Pump Station Service Area EA. She says that you had told
her you would email copies to all of Council and put it on the agenda when the matter is coming to Council.
I see the matter is on our Community Services agenda for this Monday, but I don't see the letter and I don't
recall having seen anything fitting that description. Can you advise?
Thanks.
Janice
file://C:\Documents and Settings\di202\Local Settings\Temp\XPgrpwise\469F3253Domai... 7/19/2007
Council lnforma#ion II
*for period ended May 17, 2007*
*Municipal*
1. Various Casino Related Correspondences incl. Case for 2 Casinos/ Symbiotic
Relationship/ Casino Niagara
2. An Inconvenient Truth
3. Invite to Stanley Avenue Business Park BBQ, Friday, May 25"' @ noon, Dan Murie
Street
4. Sudanese Community Open House, Sunday, May 20t", 6:30 p.m., St. Catharines
5. Ci#y of Toronto Proclama#ions and Councillor Spending
6. Jean Grandoni re: Kolar Road Pumping Station
7, Kwok Chu re: Leave to Appeal Denied
8. -Alley Cats
9. Roads
10. Upcoming Re-zoning Applications
11. Recreation Committee Minutes
Niagara~alls
cnn~~,an
May 11, 2007
Ms. Jean Grandoni
P.4. Box 714 Station Main
4500 Queen Street
Niagara Balls ON L2E 2LS
Dear Ms. Gr done
Re: Kaiar Road Pump Station Sanitary Service Area
Basement Flooding Abatement
Schedule B Class Environmental Assessment
Thank you for your letter dated Apri130`h. Rest assured, Niagara Falls City Council will receive a
copy of your correspondence at the most appropriate time, In fact, the fallowing acfions will be
taken regarding your letter:
? The correspondence will be part of a future Council Information e4mail. Council members
are e-mailed a variety of correspondence that are unrelated to current agenda items. I hope
to have the next Council Infoixnation a-mail out in the next week or so.
? CH2M Hill, the consultants on the EA have been given a copy of your correspondence and
will respond directly to you.
? Mr. GeoffHolman, Dzrector of In&astructure Services, informs me that the matter will come
to Council possibly by late June. Your correspondence will be included as part of the agenda
when the matter comes to Council for a decision. Clearly, it may be difficult to produce all
public comments gathered from, or as a result of, all the Public Inforn~.ation Centres,
nonetheless, since you have made a request, I will include your correspondence.
To reiterate, Council will receive your correspondence electronically in the coining weeks. The
correspondence will be reproduced when there is a Council decision to be made. Finally, the
consultants will be responding to your concerns.
Sincerely,
~~~iV
Dean Iorfida
City Clerk
c. Geoff Holman, Directgr aflnfrastructure Services
"
Corporate Services Department
~z~'"~ ~ ! Working Together to Serve Our Community II ~xt 4271 Fax 906-356-883
1 diorfidaQnlagarafalls.ca
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Jean Grandoni
1'.O. Box 714 Station iVfain
X1500 Queen St.
Niagara Falls, Ontario
City of Niagara Falls Apri130, 2007
Mr, GeoffHoiman, C.B.T.
Manager ofDevelopment
4G 10 Queen St.
l~liagara Falls, Ontario
Dear Mr. Holman: Re; Kolar Road Pump Station Sanitary Service Area BaseFrsent Flooding
Schedule .l3 Class Environznenta! Assessment
I am writing to express my concerns and position an the above matter resulting from
comments made at the Public lnformatian Centre of April and the Consultants Bulletin which contained
Recommendations for Source Control and Conveyance Control.
I stand opposed io reconstruction anal replacamen~t of the sanitary sewer from Beaverdams Rd. to
Thorold Stone Rd. on Kolar Rd. for the following reasons.
The main cause for the r~
ablem ofbasernent floodinn, has been recog..nized both by the C! in
earlier reuotts of Se>3t and Oct of 2005 and now at the PTC Adeat' with CH2MHi11 as being the need to
remove storm water-rweepinp file grater-- from the sanitary sewer s +~stem. Ma ar Salci admitted to this at
the PIC Open House .
To date the best recognized method to achieve this Source Control measure is by moans of a
Sump Pump which would receive weeping_tile water into a concrete hole and then pump it into the std
sewer or onto the ground at a recommended distance from the house foundation.
Some exports want to see it put into the storm sewer directly while others want to drain it onto the
lawn. When draining onto the lawn, the weeping file water or roof water could still end up in the weeping
the again via the underground water table, due to the tendency of water to follow the path of least
resistance.
Groundwater can enter the weeping file even in dry weather not just when it rains. Also when
people water their lavrns and emptj their swim pools, this can enter the weeping tile.
Therefore
vaur Source Control measure of " Roofleader Disconnection " !s not enough You
must stilt dig_and DISCOiyINECT the weeding file from the sanit~ry sewer. You have not even mentioned
Surn um s as a Sour a Control. Recommendation although it is listed under alternative solutions.
.Importance of Groundwater (Weeping Tile Water)
Under agricultuxal conditions this eveeping file water was the rainfall that not only fed our streams
but fed the underground water table that fed both farm wolfs and also contributed to base flow of our fish
spawning streams, --your food supply. Base flow is groundwater which seeps into our streams through the
wzderground water table when it is not raining in farm of direct seepage to the stream bed or v!a a spring .
'T`a date attempts by urban government to manage rainwater so that maximum recharge of
groundwater occurs has not been well done.
You owe farmers and fish this weeping rile water as a source of well water and stream supply. It
must be retrieved, MOT WASTED by senduig it to the pollution plant via a sanitary sewer where it is
costing millions to needlessly treat. In Phis case it is also being diveeted to a different watershed , after
leaving the pollution Control Plant, thus adversely impacting base flow to Shriners Creek., the natural
flaw direction and farm wells.
To ahieve agricultural infiltration in an urban settrting ,and to avoid downstream flooding,it might
be desirable to drain some of the water directly to the stream v!a the storm sewer and some auto the lawn.
In either case, o~ae must disconnect the system from the sanitary sewer.
. P
Argument That 'You t~an't ln,~tall Sumps in l;xi~ting Homes is invalid
In the past, since 1988 Sump Pump By-Law, the City has suceessl`ully convinced existing
homeowners with basement flooding east of C.E. W. Highway to install sump pumps. There have been
some orze hundred sump pumps installed In Taro Pump Station Sanitary Sewer Area and forty in the
polling Acres ,!-lrea long after these subdivisions were built in the late 1950's. lvieeting with and educating
the homeowners, achieved this.
Sump Pump Costs
Consultant CH2Nlli.ill----- $b000 per pause but when questioned on this figure they admitted
this to be Toronto costs not local
City repo~~t M W ?005-11$, Oct i7/OS $2006 per house a local estimate
Outside Installation Costs not provided
One homeowner quaffed a figure per house somewhere between these two costs depending on the degree to
which the basement was "finished". Same Ib00 homes according to Report IvIW 2005-]18 ,Oct 17/05 need
sumps, resulting in a "capi.tal expenditure of$3.2 million while providing development capacity within
the system, reducing basement flooding and deferring capital expansion costs".
Outside installation costs were not given and should be in order to fairly compaxe and might be
more easily accepted by the .homeowner.
The proposed enlarged pipe is estimated to cost $5.8 rr~iltion., and still leaves us with the cost of
Treating storm vrater at the Pollution Plant.
Deduced Costs of Treating Storm Water and Groundwater at Poliu .ion Plant
The cast, according to City report IY1Vd -2005••118, to treat rainwater from a recent 100 year stone alone,
was $4000. Retrieving this rainwater and groundwater on a daily basis must be the goal if dollars are to
be saved by eliminating unnecessary processing at the Pollution Plant. Sump Pumps would achieve this
goal
How much money would be saved at the Pollution Plant with every rain and every dry day -every
day- _ considering that water from various sources can enter the system through weeping file connections to i
the sanitary sewer long after it has stopped raining?
I~aofleader I3isconriections
The costs of treating storm water that would enter the system with only Roox`leader
I]isconnections { Faves Troughs) and no sumps has not been presented.
f3ackflow halves
The installation of some 150 Back Flaev valves helps the involved homeowner but dumps the
sewage onto someone else, Dither different basements will now flood or you will dump the excess sewage
into the creeks via sanitary sewer overflows into the storm sewers, resulting in dead fish, sick people and
contaminated far?n Drops.
Need of Urbanites~'ar Groundwater
Should a national disaster, such as a nuclear attack, occur and urban source r~vater systems are polluted, you
would have to resort to groundwater as a source. A recent television Documentary revealed how
l~ustralia is short of water because of the way they have wasted and mismanaged their rainwater and
groundwater. It is worthy to note that the authors drew attention to the fact that the fanners saw this
problem coming.
Boil in in t~laturr~.1 Areas
Another consideration which no one seems to dare mention is to stop buitding houses in creek beds,
fioodplains, and wetlands etc. It should be law that the homeowner be notified at time of lot purchase ,that
his basement is being built in a wet area. This would soon stop developer greed. We put warning clauses
in such bills of sale for noise vrlty not a warning about greater risk irr this location of a basement flood .
Clearance Certificates
The City should not issue servicing clearance Certificates for subdivisions within such a short time of being
built. Developers and builders should be Held more accountable for basement flooding by delaying the
issuance of such certificates for a much longer time.
PROP4Sl;D L~XISTING PIPE ~NLARCcEN1E1VT ON ICAIdA l~ RDL betw_ een 132averdams Rd. and
`l'lrorold Stone Rd.
Replacing the existing Kolar Itd. pipe with a larger pipe vvill transfer the t~robtem even faster tv the
area of Thorold Stone Acres Subdivision where basements are also flooding and where the ICalar Pump
Station and trunk servers meet.
This enlar_ red pipe will increase both the frequency and volume of sanitary sewer overflow into
Shriners Creek which traverses farm properties. ~-coil counts in Shriners Creek Tributary 4V-S-3 as per
my water samples far exceed permissible Iv14E levels even now.
You will probably overflow the system in the Ascot Woods Subdivision ,south of Woodbine St.,
into the W-5-4 Tributary of Shriners Creek which also traverses the family Farm. E-coil counts here are i
also already above permissible levels.
_You will be simp_y dum~rrrg xour basement ~floodingproblenrs onto the shoulders of the rural
people as you have been doing for decades. I will na longer tolerate this and the law dictates that no one
has to.
'You will be wasting millions because if you remove the rainwater 1~IRST via sumo numbs.. rau
Wray not need the proposed enlarged pipe. There is naY such a pipe coming dowry Kolar Rd. fi°om North of
Thorold Stone Rd. to service that area which has the advantage of sump pumps.
if this pipe is a major issue ,why was it not made this size in the rust phases of development ?
Surely one would realize such a big need sooner.
This pipe should be paid for by the initial developers acrd builders who caused the problem
then you would see how fast sump pumps would be advocated. These developers and builders fought for
years to stop the use of sump pumps. Only when downstream people threatened court action far strum
pollution did they concede. We can ga to court again.
The proposed pipe is verbally said to provide a five year storm p-cvtection. You could never build
it bit; enough w provide the protection that a sump pump r:vuld provide.
The soma corraments made try the City in Report lYIW-2045-•118, Oct. 1'r</05, regarding oschnation of
storage tank size and costs for major storms, also apply to the pipe size-- you can't build it big enough and
ifyou did the costs are prohibitive. Council should also refer to Ni1.V-200.5-112, Sept. 19/O5.
With the proposed enlarged foe year storm pipe, you could still get a six year storm, a seven year
storm and so on and beycmd a 100 year storm and get flooded basements without sumps. Anyone of those
"year" storms could occur aver a one year period-- several different ages of storms in one year.
An enlarged pipe is same logic as trying to enlarge every pipe in the subdivision and you still
haven't removed the storm water, the main problem.
The problem is in the subdivision--picture it as a funnel-- it backs up in the basements before it
ever leaves the funnel.
Storrnwater wilt have to be removed by way of a sump pump in the end as is already proven, For
example in the Taro Pump Station Area, east of QEIhJ, the city spent same 700 thousand in the 1980's on an
underground storage tank but in the end in the i990's had to install some 100 sumps to alleviate basement
t
back ups. Storage tanks can fill with groundwater before a storm ever conies ,making them almost useless.
i3uiiding an enlarged pipe is subsidizing developers of existing subdivisions and those who want to
expand urban boundaries. Once sump pumps are in, any reserve capacit~j that results from removal of
rainwater iri any pipe should be reserved far developrnent and redevelopment potential within urban
boundary and to eleart up overflows bath ease and west of the Ql;~?i highway, NOT for urban boundary
Expansion. This would be in keeping with Provincial Palley.
T'urther with the current Official Flan Reviewv, there are proposals to use eight hundred acres of
industrially zoned land in the inner city and to the south of l~wy. 'I~venty ,far residentiat development.
This would negate any need for undesirable urban boundary expansion onto the prirne fruit and
grapelands abutting the proposed enlarged sanitary sewer pipe. Therefore ,recovering costs of this pipe
will be difficult if ever intended to be recouped by extending the boundary.
'The proposed enlarged pipe is contrary to the objectives oftlre Provincial Policy Statement, smart growklr
and the Growth Plan.
The Niagara Falls Gauncil voted in summer of2046 to request the Pel;ion to look into amending
their mapping to properly designate the lands between Niagara Palls and Thorold as good grape and good
fruit as air°eady proven in 1978 Ontario Municipal Board Hearings.
Costs 1Vever Counted 'by ditty or Consultants
Costs to ail of us: Spread of disease. A recent farm newspaper revealed that says is carried in ~w
sewage. Two conservation vrorkers gat sick working in Shriners Greek. Scientists have proven that our
oceans are dying due to human sewage pollution. There is little clean rvater• for wildlife, Deer have been
observed beating a path to the spring an Shriners Greek rather then drinking from the creeks and ponds.
The ti.sh fond supply is near extinction for pike numbers. The late Jack Muir said at one time pike in
these streams were sa ptentiful you couldn't see the bottom of the stream when they would come upsttearn
to spawn. l,,ake Ontario :Beaches close due to sekvage pollution not industrial effluent.
The Shriners Greek, t3eaverdarns Greek and the Ten Mile Greek alI empty into Lake Ontario.
Costs to farmers. Loss of righti to_diversifv
--cannot asttrre an
a„y
nimai near land flooded by a polluted
stream, lass of enjoyrrlent of
property, lass of cropland --overflows cause even more flooding ~-you cannot
feed contaminated hay to any animal, loss of trees to disease from polluted water.
Coyotes chewed up rz,y garderr hose last year--were they looking for clean water or just 4vater ?
7'he watershed has a problem with both quality and quantity of water both in wet and dry weather due to
mismanagement. Sump Pumps would increase the supply of water to base flow of the stream even in dry
weather.
Polluted groundwater is a passibility with use of sanitary sewer overflows .Then there is the cost
of legal action.
We are aware of the inrr:rrinent Glean Water Act.
The cledst up costs of Slownstre~m watercourses which 17ave the life choked Qut of them by catt ills
produced fi•om sewage corrtatninatian ,must be counted if implementing an enlarged pipe together with raw
sewage overttowls as anc of your immediate major solutions to basement flooding rather than using sump
pumps as the first answer.
Gonset•vation Authority and Pravinciat Minisd~ies approve the sewer works, developments, ~I
and sewage overflows to provide larger developer profits, then come 'back looking far taxpayer money to
fix the damages caused by their awn approvals . Local Councils are just as guilty.
S1unp Pump installation should be made the top immediate solution to homeowner basement
flooding ,not the proposed enlarged pipe. In their own reports, city engineers admit that sumps are the
long term solution. Ali the mare reason to implement them in the short term.
Homeowners must realize that all, including those who are not flooded, must use sumps. Unly
.ti a~ -
those who are at the higher elevation might avoid them as they can drain by gravity to the storm sewer
pipe---i am not aware if the Provincial Law far sumps tray stave eliminated this option,
If difficulty to calculate were a measure of costs saved ,then surnn Humps should be the priori ,
The benefits of sutnt7s r~aclt far beyond just the hartteawner they touch all forms of life.
SECOND ISSUE Amendment NO. t96 Connection to Kolar Pump Station Club Italia, Church of
tine Red~e~tt~r Applications
The proposed addition of some 18ti acres or 1300 units , to this sewage system should not be
allowed. The Consultant stated that because it would be rtew development and a dry system with sump
pumps, that new contt7buting flows fi°otn this Northwest Quadrant, would be quote "insignificant".
E,et me say that the City has been adding, "dty" systems--taew subdivisions with sump pumps-- for
twenty years and you still have basement flooding and sewage overflows rota our sti°earris. Stop
misrepresenting the facts.
Everyone knows that wlxen a glass of water is full ,that whether you add more water or a sali_d that
the glass ~.uill still ove~flaw.
The same planning arguments listed above for the area south of Thoroid Stare Rd. also apply to
this area north of '1'hotnid Stone 13.d.
Yours truly,
i ~
f
Jean Grandoni
ti~a f~ C'~ F1 fti (r r:.: l.. 4' i5 f i~ W
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CH2M HILL Canada Limited
255 Consumers Road
r ~ , 'a ~ ; i ~ ~ PiIAe F{#l.L'"sOL~I'Sr~}`~~3s~+~ Tel 416: 9919000 2J 5B6
t ~
Fax 416.499.4687
March 8, 2007
Dean Iorfida
City of Niagara Falls
4310 Queen Street
Box 1023
Niagara Falls ON L2E 6X5
Re: Kalar Road Pump Station Sanitary Service Area Basement Flooding Abatement
Class Environmental Assessment Public Information Centre (PIC)
CH2M HILL Canada Limited has been retained to assist the City of Niagara Falls and the Regional
Municipality of Niagara to complete a Class Environmental Assessment {EA) Study to identify
.measures to reduce and/or eliminate the occurrence of basement flooding and other damage
associated with stormwater overflows in the drainage basin of the Kalar Road Pump Station. This
study is being conducted in accordance with the requixements for Schedule B projects as described in
the Municipal Engineers Association's Class EA document (June 2000).
This Class EA is beiulg performed as part of a larger Master Plan or Pollution Control Plan (PCP) for
the City of Niagara Falls. The purpose o£ the PCP is to plan for long-range water pollution control
and sanitary servicing needed to accommodate fu#ure growth. Due to the nature and severity of the
basement flooding in the Kalar Road Pump Station area, however, this Class EA has been made a
priority.
At this time, we wish to inform you of a Public Information Centre being held for any stakeholders
and interested parties. Please find enclosed a notice outlining the details. For questions or
comments, please contact the undersigned at the above address, by telephone at 416-499-0090, ext.
346, or via e-mail at Sabrina.ColettiQch2m.com.
Sincerely,
CH2M HILL Canada Limited
I ~
Sabrina Coletti~ MCIP, RPP
Environmental Planner
Encl.
CITY OF NIAGARA FALLS
By-law No. 2007 -
A by-law to appoint Bill Matson to take on duties of the City Clerk in his absence.
THE COUNCIL OF THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF NIAGARA FALLS ENACTS
AS FOLLOWS:
1. Bill Matson is hereby appointed Temporary Acting City Clerk when the City Clerk is unable
to carry out his duties through illness or otherwise.
2. The Temporary Acting City Clerk shall have all the powers and duties of the City Clerk
under the Municipal Act.
4. This by-law shall expire on July 30, 2007.
5. By-law No. 2005-072 is hereby repealed.
Passed this Twenty-third day of July, 2007.
BILL MATSON, ACTING CITY CLERK R.T. (TED) SALCI, MAYOR
First Reading: July 23, 2007
Second Reading: July 23, 2007
Third Reading: July 23, 2007