The Orbit may be a game changer for the Town of Innisfil, but minimizing its environmental impact is top of mind for the municipality.
About 50 people attended a recent open house on the Obit Stormwater Master Servicing Plan, which is tasked with creating a strategy for managing stormwater at the high-density development. It builds off the findings from the South Alcona Flood Reduction Environmental Assessment, which was completed in March 2020, and the town-wide Stormwater Management Master Plan Update and Flooding Strategy, completed last year.
The latter was undertaken in partnership with Aquafor Beach, who have been brought back to work on a plan for the Orbit. This is just the first stage of the process, explained town development engineering manager Devina Mohamed. Here, the consultant is tasked with reviewing its findings, defining the existing conditions, identifying problems and opportunities, identifying goals and objectives for the study and developing a long list of alternatives.
The open house was a summary of the early work on the project, following a summer of field assessments by the consultants in the Belle Aire Creek Diversion area, focusing on a wetland review, aquatic habitat assessment and several other studies, which are in the process of being analyzed.
That work didn’t always go as smoothly as hoped.
“When Aquifer Beach has been able to access the properties, they went ahead (with) their environmental studies. Others we weren’t able to make contact with, and others simply don’t want to cooperate because … they’re opposed to the development of the Orbit.” Mohamed said. “Some people are skeptical; some people feel that nothing (will) come of it, so they haven’t allowed access. There are various reasons why people haven’t allowed access.”
In this stage, Aquafor is undertaking a study of the existing conditions, including the area’s fluvial geomorphology. Here, the consultants look at the stream hydraulics and sediment movement and try to understand how these processes influence erosion, sedimentation and flooding.
The existing hydrology and hydraulics of the area are also being looked at. Aquafor will use computer models to investigate the current state and make suggestions to alleviate the negative impacts such a large influx of people could have on a non-serviced parcel of land.
“The intent is to get a baseline of the environmental conditions today before there is any Orbit development,” Mohamed said. “We always aim to have the post-development flows be the pre-development flows. We don’t want to cause additional flooding. If there are current issues and we can actually address those with some of the development that’s going to come in the future, we will aim to do that.”
When the plan is approved, development engineers for the various projects that make up the Orbit will have a guide to control downstream flow. As parcels come online at different times, the advance planning will allow the entire area to work together as smoothly as possible, with no determent to what currently exists.
“We don’t want to negatively impact the existing environment,” Mohamed said. “We want to ensure this development fits with it and improves it.”
Which is one of the reasons she was glad to see the meeting so well attended — residents can sometimes provide differing viewpoints that help shape the project and ensure all avenues are considered.
“We had a resident who was concerned about the fish breeding habitats in those streams,” Mohamed said. “He lives nearby and sees them hatch and make their way out to Lake Simcoe. He was actually concerned that we would not be diverting water and preventing them from getting into the lake.”
Redeveloping large tracts of farmland into housing is not new in this part of the province. But few, if any, projects of this scope have been undertaken under the regulatory guidelines facing municipalities today.
Juggling those regulatory concerns with the opinions of residents in favour and opposed to the development — or those convinced it will never happen — as well as direction from the town and developers will pose a challenge for the consultants working on this plan.
Consultants will work on their modelling throughout the next year, before another open house in the fall of 2025. Ideally, the study's final recommendations will be approved by the end of the year.
It’s been a long project already, and it just keeps going. However, the progress shown in meetings like this gives residents hope.
“I met a resident ... He was happy to see tangible information and to see that work is being done,” Mohamed said.
“We’re working on it,” she added. “We’re doing our due diligence to ensure the Orbit is developed sustainably.”
Click here for more information on Orbit, including the presentation from the recent open house.
