A proposal to build 47 homes in Nottawa has caused concerns about water scarcity and sewer servicing to surface once again.
At a public meeting held May 27 to hear comments on Nottawa Limited Partnership’s plans for a subdivision at 57 Batteaux Road, residents spoke in opposition citing ongoing concerns about well water quality and supply, amongst others.
Nottawa Limited Partnership also owns the properties on County Road 124 and is associated the 500-home ‘Village of Nottawa’ subdivision proposed by Georgian Communities.
Crozier engineer Brittany Robertson said an extensive amount of work has been done on the water supply.
“We’re proposing a full municipal system that would be expanded from the Georgian Communities subdivision that is south of the McKean subdivision,” said Robertson. “That municipal infrastructure would be run to this subdivision as well as the school and the firehall as part of the proposal.
Jay Beech, vice-president of development for Georgian Communities, said the property at 57 Batteaux Road was of interest because it is within the settlement area and that it is adjacent the school which is slated for growth. When contacted by The Echo, Beech said he is bound by a non-
disclosure agreement between senior principals and cannot discuss servicing. “We have a great expectation of what Nottawa is going to be in the future,” he said, adding he could not say if it would advance the servicing plan for
the village.
At the public meeting, Beech said,
“Our master servicing approach for sanitary, water and storm is to benefit the entire ... Nottawa settlement area,” said Beech. “We’re sizing appropriately. The tests are appropriate for that development and the settlement area itself.”
A 2024 report prepared by CF Crozier and Associates for Nottawa Limited Partnership states, “Through a phased approach including exploratory drilling efforts and the testing of a new large diameter production well, Crozier was able to secure a groundwater sourceof sufficient quality and quantity on the NLP Draft Plan Approved lands; prime for connection to the McKean Water System.”
The plan is to construct an external trunk sanitary sewer to connect to the Collingwood Water Pollution Control Plant.
“We know that sewage is not available from Collingwood at this point. What’s going to change that? Why is Georgian Communities so confident that they can move ahead without a solution to something as
basic as sewage servicing?,” asked Jeff Shearer, chair of the Nottawa Area Residents Association (NARA). “My concern is that we’re just moving ahead approving these things but we don’t really have a plan for the two most basic things that a community needs; water and sewer.”
He said the association’s position is that if they are to accept a doubling of the population, there should be some benefit to the existing Nottawa households, which have never had municipal water and sewer servicing with the exception of the McKean subdivision, which has its own water system. He said there are 400 homes on wells and septic systems.
The cost of connecting to a new service usually falls on the individual homeowner.
Shearer asks, “with a major increase in the tax base, can the township, with support from the County of Simcoe and the province, help the residents of Nottawa find a safer solution for their current drinking water issues, namely, connecting all homes to water and sewers when available?”
NARA recently concluded a survey of 171 households with many reporting questionable water supply and quality. The findings showed that 85 per cent of respondents don’t support the 500-home Georgian Communities development.
