05/31/2026
25 YEARS AGO, THE PROVINCE’S MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT WARNED THAT THESE LANDS HAD WATER AND SOIL LIMITATIONS
The Station Road lands currently proposed for a 265 unit urban style subdivision have been the subject of development proposals and servicing concerns since the 1990s.
After conflicts involving a nearby hog operation led to settlement boundary and Official Plan changes, questions emerged about how Sebringville should grow and how it could safely be serviced.
Between 2000 and 2001, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment repeatedly raised concerns about proposals for 51 to 57 residential lots on these same lands.
In an October 17, 2000 letter to Perth County, the Ministry wrote:
“We would consider the creation of 57 lots ‘significant’ development.”
The Ministry also questioned why municipal servicing for Sebringville was not being properly examined:
“We wonder what information was available to conclude that there is no justification to look into the issue of municipal services for the urban settlement of Sebringville..."
In a July 27, 2000 letter to Perth County, the Ministry stated:
“Such study should include all of Sebringville.”
And:
“the kind of broader, community-wide servicing investigation envisaged in the official plan is required.”
The same July 27, 2000 letter also warned:
“Water resource issues which have arisen in Sebringville over the past year or two underscore the need to comprehensively look at the security of groundwater water supply…”
In a December 4, 2001 follow up letter to Perth County, the Ministry again noted that a previous proposal had been refused due to:
“the physical inability of the site (soils, high water table) to support the kind of servicing proposed.”
These letters were included in the October 2024 Phase I/II EA Report presented to and endorsed by Perth South Council on February 4, 2025.
The concerns residents are raising today did not originate with Get Concerned Perth County or social media. They were identified by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment more than 25 years ago regarding these same lands and were included in the EA materials reviewed by Perth South Council and BM Ross.
If Ministry concerns were already identified decades ago, and raised during the 2012 EA process, why do unsupported assumptions and developer consultant conclusions appear to carry more weight than longstanding Ministry concerns, historical planning context, and the questions residents are still trying to have answered?
Stay tuned for the 2012 Ministry of Municipal Affairs & Housing letter details...
Perth County Township of Perth South Township of Perth East
