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Angus Canadian Tire gets approval

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In Essa
Jun 13th, 2010
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By Matthew Talbot Simcoe.com May 18 2010
ANGUS – The Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority (NVCA) has given conditional approval for a Canadian Tire store on Highway 90/Mill Street in Angus.
The embattled project at 305 Mill St. has been stalled a number of months as the NVCA dealt with concerns over flooding on the property.
However, Canadian Tire’s planner, Garry Bell of Skelton Brumwell, appealed the withholding of the permit over one point – the store won’t actually be on the floodplain.
NVCA topographical maps taken after the land was cleared of trees are inaccurate representations of the future grade of the land, Bell said at a hearing May 14.
“The survey done after the clearing, for a temporary basis put the property below the flooding elevation,” Bell said.
He implored the NVCA to use maps from the 2005 Essa Angus Flood Remediation Study prepared by Greenland Consulting.
Those maps depict the flood plain as extending in fingerlike stretches into the eastern portion of the property. The portion where the store is slated for construction is outside the floodway in those maps, Bell said.
Bell said removing the trees flattened the land, but it’s the developer’s intention to raise the grade of the land as a whole above flood lines.
He said the current grading is interim pending development approval.
The NVCA approved the development on nine conditions laid out in the hearing board’s resolution.
Canadian Tire and landowner Leesa Turnbull must contract a professional engineer to demonstrate the proposal can be flood proofed and withstand regional storm flood conditions, demonstrate storm water runoff can be managed per NVCA and Ministry of the Environment requirements, and provide detailed plans addressing site grading, erosion and sediment control. The plans must also detail restoring the disturbed undeveloped areas.
Turnbull and Canadian Tire were also mandated to still obtain a permit from the NVCA.
The NVCA said in addition to the standard permit conditions, it would require the development to be properly dry flood-proofed with the minimum elevation of all structures to be at least 0.3 metres above the regional storm flood elevation and have the work certified by a qualified professional.
Turnbull was unable to be reached directly, but her husband, Essa Mayor David Guergis said she refuses to comment to the Herald.
Plans for the property call for a Canadian Tire retail store, gas bar and automotive centre.
The NVCA said a qualified professional has demonstrated the development won’t have adverse off-site flooding impacts.
The development now returns to the Township of Essa for consideration. Essa’s Economic Development Committee chaired by Coun. Sandie Macdonald has written a letter supporting the development, as has the Angus Chamber of Commerce.
Last year, Guergis and his wife came under scrutiny after they attended a meeting of the NVCA board of directors discussing planning hindrances imposed by the conservation authority.
Guergis has denied that his move to dissolve the NVCA, which he has since withdrawn, and his family’s ownership of Highway 90 land, is a conflict of interest.

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