Work on a $500 million redevelopment project on Oak Park Road has resumed now that environmental concerns and questions raised earlier this month have been answered, says King and Benton president Steve Charest.
"It's time to get back to work," Charest said in a statement released Monday afternoon. "We have answered questions, held numerous public meetings, consulted to unheard of levels and we care about doing this project in a way that protects the environment for ourselves, children and grandchildren.
"We have worked closely with the Ministry of the Environment and every other relevant agency to ensure all environmental standards are met or exceeded."
Most of the work this week will be cleaning up mudslides and other problems caused by heavy rains during the two-week stoppage.
The Oak Park project has been in the works since 2004. The project involves the redevelopment of a former gravel pit into an industrial park and commercial centre.
It will create approximately 5,000 jobs with an annual payroll of between $150 and $200 million, Charest said.
Work on the project came to a halt on Aug. 5 when a group from the Haudenosaunee Men's Fire of the Grand River visited the site and raised some environmental concerns about the project.
At that time, King and Benton agreed to halt work on the site until the concerns were addressed. Employees be paid throughout the work stoppage, Charest said.
On Aug. 9, just four days after stopping work, Charest said he met with the Men's Fire and provided them with all of King and Benton's environmental reports. In addition, written responses were provided to each concern.
In addition, the Men's Fire asked King and Benton to collect water samples of an existing pond to test for environmental contaminants.
Charest said the tests were completed and the results were compared to environment ministry guidelines. The test results show the water is clean, Charest said.
He went on to say that the Oak Park project has been designed to exceed the environmental standards of both the environment ministry and the Grand River Conservation Authority. An extraordinary amount of consultation has already occurred with residents of Brantford, Six Nations and Brant County, he added.
"We're raising the bar with respect to environmental standards," Charest said. "We, along with the city of Brantford, learned from a previous spill that happened in the Northwest industrial park in March 2006.
"As a result of that spill, we set the environment protection bar extremely high on our project."
The cost of these additional water quality protection measures is about $6 million, he added.
The 2006 spill was not, in any way, connected to the Oak Park project.
Environmental protection measures at the Oak Park site include:
All storm water runoff will be collected and infiltrated on site maintaining groundwater balance.
Additional onsite infiltration for each industrial block using infiltration trenches or infiltration ponds will be installed to spread the infiltration across the site. This will replicate existing conditions and further maintain groundwater balance.
Extensive water quality control measures will be implemented to ensure surface runoff is treated prior to infiltration. An enhanced protection level long-term suspended sediment removal process will be installed to prevent untreated runoff from entering the groundwater. It will also prevent sediment from clogging the infiltration pond bottom areas.
All surface runoff from asphalt areas, including roads, will be routed via pipe to oil/grit separator units for treatment prior to discharging to the infiltration ponds to ensure water quality.
In addition, Charest said the design of the project includes the preservation and protection of a five-acre wooded area on the northwest portion of the project. The area includes a buffer where no will be conducted.
Gravel that is already on the site will be used to eliminate the need to bring aggregate material onto the site negating the need for local gravel pit expansion to meet the project's needs.
Each pond on the site will be landscaped to create a long-term wetland habitat for local and migratory species. As well, Prologis -- one of King and Benton's partners in the project -will construct each industrial building to meet LEED certification for the Canadian Green Building Council. Plans also call for a monitoring system to be established which includes taking samples from each of the oil/grit separator units at least once per season.
Other elements of the monitoring plan include:
Four groundwater monitoring wells will be installed, one adjacent to each of the two storm water management ponds and two within the site's interior. Four level measurements and four samples will be taken annually and analyzed for the general chemistry of the groundwater.
A report will be submitted to the city, GRCA, MOE and the Haudenosaunee Six nations for review after the use of each monitoring session. The report will summarize the data, provide an analysis as well as recommendations for changes if needed. All sampling, analysis and reporting will be completed based on current environment ministry regulations and requirements.