Some Tay Township residents currently without access to natural gas may soon be able to tap into service as part of the province's Natural Gas Expansion Program.
In a letter dated Feb. 19, sent to all North Simcoe municipalities, Enbridge informed Tay Township of the program and asked for an expression of interest in the form of recommendations for unserviced areas in the township.
"I know it was a bit of a challenge for gas companies getting into the areas," said Peter Dance, director of public works. "Often if we're considering service expansion there might be some public process, but we don't have the time to do so. They've thrown it at us to give them some suggestions."
He gave a verbal report to council on Wednesday night, stating he couldn't prepare a written report owing to the short notice given by the gas company.
In his recommendations to council, Dance said the two areas he had been able to identify with the help of staff are Paradise Point and Forest Harbour.
"There are two potential areas in Tay," he said. "Paradise Point, which is up north of Port McNicoll and east and north of Woodlands Avenue. The other is what we call Forest Harbour, from Forest Harbour Parkway, Duck Bay Road, and Quarry Road," Dance explained.
Coun. Paul Raymond suggested to Dance that the Grand View Beach area should at least be reviewed.
"It's my impression that there's a fair amount of residents there that are on electrical and propane heat," he said. "I know that there are gas lines that go in to both locations," said Raymond.
"For example, Paradise Point has it along Patterson Avenue and that's it. It doesn't come in to any of the neighbourhood from there. It's possible there's a line into the area and it ends after serviving a few areas on First Avenue and that's the extent of it," Raymond said.
Dance said most of Grand View Beach is serviced.
Deputy Mayor Gerard Lachapelle asked about the exact criteria for selection.
Dance said the letter from Enbridge doesn't clearly spell out the criteria the municipality should use to select projects, however, it asks for information such as the number of residential dwellings in the area, the number of commercial dwellings in the area, farms and agri-businesses in the potential area, and the number of properties using various types of heating sources, including propane, oil and wood.
He added the two areas recommended to council stand out because they're unserviced by gas and have a higher density of houses.
"Paradise Point is probably a couple hundred properties," Dance said, adding he wasn't sure how many houses are in the Forest Harbour area, but, "Forest Harbour has areas that don't have gas. Up near Paradise Point is Grand View Beach, which has gas and the other side doesn't."
Dance said the request is only for expanding the service into underservived rural areas and not for new developments. He added he wasn't sure how much funding Enbridge was set to receive and when.
Mayor Ted Walker agreed with Dance's recommendations.
"It's great," Walker said. "We've had some residents, especially in the Paradise Point area, who have expressed an interest to us and also Forest Harbour. We're hoping to receive a favourable response from (Enbridge)."
He said the township usually invites Enbridge to put in pipelines while the township does sewer and water work for new development.
"Sometimes they're willing to do it, sometimes they're not," Walker said. "I guess it depends on the number of customer opportunities they have."
And because not all areas in the township could be recommended for the project, he said he thought most people would understand that Enbridge or any other company may to looking at the feasibility of doing a project based on the number of customers it will be serving and the availability of a prior gas line nearby.
"And in some areas, gas is close by and in some areas it's just not there," said Walker.
