Developer pitches Creemore capacity-building plan

A developer is offering to work with the Township of Clearview toward expanding capacity at the Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Creemore in exchange for dibs.
Pickering based builder-developer Tribute Communities is looking to apply the allocation to the Alliance Homes development, off Mary Street.
Tribute Communities is proposing to build a pre-treatment facility for wastewater coming from Creemore Springs Brewery to separate and treat the effluent in order to get it to near domestic levels before it goes into the existing treatment plant as a way of increasing capacity.
The Creemore WWTP is not functioning to its design capacity and can handle only a limited amount of growth with the current maintenance plan. The lack of additional capacity has put a hold on several residential development projects in the village.
The Township of Clearview has commissioned extensive and highly technical engineering assessments of the WWTP, which lay out the need to address flows from Creemore Springs Brewery.
Executive vice president Lucy Stocco and her team pitched support for building and funding a pre-treatment plant, estimating a cost of between $2.5 and $3.5 million.
“We’re not here just to develop and service the first 100 lots. We have to know and understand how we’re going to develop and service the last 100 lots,” said Stocco.
She said Tribute Communities has had to build treatment plants to service developments, including a 600-unit project in neighbouring Springwater Township, and that they have been working with Clearview Township staff and consultants for the past six months trying to work out solutions.
“The issue is fundamentally the volume and concentration of the effluent from Creemore Springs Brewery exceeds what the original design parameters anticipated,” said engineer Chris Crozier, the consultant for Tribute Communities.
The goal of the pre-treatment is to reduce the “nutrient loading” by 90 per cent or more to alleviate the clogging of the membrane filtration system at the WWTP.
“We see the pre-treatment allowing the envisioned growth to proceed,” said Crozier.
During a delegation on Monday, Tribute Communities put forward a request that council endorse the principle of pre-treatment and confirm that the township will support the advancement of establishing a pre-treatment facility on the existing Creemore WWTP property, as a developer-driven activity, subject to all necessary approvals and Ministry environmental assessment requirements.
Tribute Communities is seeking financial assistance from the Township with a cost-recovery program associated with the pre-treatment facility from future developers and Creemore Springs Brewery, and confirmation that Tribute will have a first right of use of any of the spare hydraulic capacity which may be realized within the existing WWTP following implementation of the pre-treatment system, sufficient to support its first phase of 250 units.
Tribute also wants the opportunity to be involved during the future design of the Phase 2 expansion of the WWTP.
Director of public Works Mike Rawn said there is money in the budget for the project, but time is needed to continue negotiating an overstrength agreement with Creemore Springs Brewery, in order to determine their plans for the coming years.
“We do need to speak with Creemore Springs Brewery to figure out what their targets are but I think this is a fantastic suggestion,” said Rawn. “We’ve heard great things about Lucy and her team. I’m happy to work with any suggestions that will help us make that plant work better and help the town prosper.”
“Creemore Springs Brewery is a very important part of our community and a very good partner so I’m glad to see all the key players are working together,” said ward councillor Thom Paterson. “We are in listening mode right now and we appreciate having a little bit more time to think.”
Mayor Doug Measures said Creemore Springs Brewery is a significant employer in the community, and it is important to maintain jobs, but there is also the interests of other property owners who have development interests to consider.
“It’s not sexy stuff but it’s gotta get done,” said Measures.