Tay council wants to know if there is potential for development in the Grandview Beach and Paradise Point areas.
That's why councillors approved moving forward with a hydrogeological assessment to determine the need for sewers and advise on the capacity for continued or expanded use of septic systems in that area.
And even though they all voted to pass this motion at their most recent meeting, Coun. Barry Norris had his concerns.
"It's more or less to point out --- here we go (again)," he said in an interview with MidlandToday.
Norris wasn't sure why yet another assessment was needed when previous assessments existed and results had indicated well-water contamination, according to a 2015 assessment report.
"Groundwater supplies in the Paradise Point/Grandview Beach community are highly vulnerable to bacteriological contamination," says the report.
The study also concluded that under the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change development guidelines, the nitrate impact of the community is between 25 and 28 mg/L. If the remainder of the lots are developed, then the nitrate impact would be 27 to 30 mg/L. The current limit for development on on-site services for the area would be 22 to 63 lots.
But public works director Peter Dance said part of that earlier report's concerns have already been addressed.
"The municipality constructed a year-round water main in the area. So that part of the health issue, if people choose to connect to our water main is taken care of," he said.
He added that the study's main focus is septage and advice on continued or expanded use of septic systems to determine if the current holding zone can be lifted.
Dance said a few decades ago there'd been a recommendation for the township to establish a municipal sewer system.
"There was some grant money available at that time, too," he said. "I can't remember how much. It ended up going to the municipal board (Ontario Municipal Board) because some residents were opposed to the project."
Mayor Ted Walker recalls the incident.
"The OMB in the end did not approve the project and about a month later, the Walkerton situation happened," he said, adding that the decision might have been different if the appeal had been made after the Walkerton incident.
Walker said with municipal water already available to residents in that area, council is now looking at questions around whether or not the holding zone can be suspended.
"The study is checking the groundwater," he said. "It's just an overall assessment of the water quality."
Walker said depending on the study's results, residents in the area could likely build an addition or a new home. But he added all this would happen with certain conditions in place that would be determined at a later date.
"I think all of council is hoping that there is opportunity for development down there," Walker said. "Our council is very pro-development. And the other thing is to know where everything is at."
Norris, however, has his doubts.
"My argument to this whole thing is that there's no mandate that everybody has to hook up," he said. "The problem you run into is that there will still be people on well water. And it's not drinkable, according to these reports."
Unfortunately, Norris said one can't go back in history to install both the sewer and water lines.
"Nowadays, the cost is a major problem because you're into the limestone," he said. "After the 2015 study, the option was to put in the sewer and water line, but the cost would have been too much. Is it viable to turn around and spend that kind of money when the value of properties in that area isn't even that high?
"I just didn't feel the expenditures justified going through with it," Norris added. "I don't believe anything has changed for those vacant lots to build on."
