10/16/2024
The following letter was sent out to members of the County Conservancy Mailing list.
County Residents,
You are on our mailing list because you have expressed an interest in ensuring responsible development in the County which is our mission.
Unfortunately what has transpired with Picton Terminals is nothing short of a travesty and we need to express this to the Ford Government to stop the MZO application for Picton Terminals.
We would hope that each person on our mailing list would take 3 minutes of their time to write to the Premier, the Minister in charge of approving the MZO and our local MPP. Feel free to copy the text below, cut and paste the portions that are important to you, write your own letter but just write!
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Please copy the County Conservancy [email protected]
Say NO to MZO
I am writing to urge the Minister to reject the application for an MZO for Picton Terminals. Prince Edward County Council has been ineffective in managing Picton Terminals and now is looking to the province to make a very contentious and very unpopular decision for the province.
By entering into negotiations in exchange for going to court to have a judge decide what can and cannot be done on the Picton Terminals property, Council narrowly approved a Settlement Agreement which would grant Picton Terminals the ability to purchase 7 adjacent lots (current farmland) and have it rezoned MX-Extractive. The Settlement Agreement also allows for a container port and container storage stacked 580’ above sea level on 80% of the massive property on Picton Bay. Picton Bay is 1km wide and the source of drinking water to over 7,000 residents. Approving this would be extremely irresponsible without going through the necessary zoning approvals and environmental studies.
Expansion of Picton Terminals and a container port in a rural/residential area on Picton Bay is met with HUGE opposition from a large majority of residents, the Mayor, and much of Council. There is no need for an MZO as the expansion of Picton Terminals does not meet the revised MZO criteria.
There is NO urgency for this project;
The proper environmental, traffic and noise studies need to be conducted;
There is a net loss to housing and farmland;
The MZO-Extractive gives Picton Terminals the ability to turn acres and acres of farmland into a quarry;
Picton Terminals sits on the shores of Picton Bay which is considered environmentally sensitive and is the source of drinking water to over 7,000 residents;
Container ships will have a detrimental effect on the quality of water;
Picton Terminals has had and continues to have many environmental infractions;
Acoustic studies as a result of a quarry must be conducted for neighbouring residents;
The property owner admits in the Settlement Agreement that the infrastructure is not in place to do what he intends to do on the property;
All negotiations were conducted behind closed doors;
The public not consulted;
The Mohawks Bay of Quinte were not consulted and have expressed their discontent with the expansion of Picton Terminals;
The expansion does not have the support of the mayor and residents;
The 2018 Superior Court Judgement allows Picton Terminals to ship grain. P&H recently announced that they will not be shipping grain by containers;
The storage of shipping containers on 80% of the land stacked 580’ high on Picton Bay is absurd;
The Settlement Agreement is very vague using the word “reasonable” several times.
The Settlement Agreement is very one sided. The County is giving up everything for a quarry, a container shipping port on a small bay and containers stacked 580’ above sea level that no one wants.
If this MZO is approved, it will be looked at as ENTIRELY POLITICAL. The MZO does not meet any of the stated criteria. This would be a very unpopular and unnecessary approval by the Ford Government.
The County Conservancy
