A necessary infrastructure project to support Innisfil’s growth has moved from the shoulder to the express lane.
At Wednesday's meeting, council voted in favour of entering a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) to construct a new interchange along Highway 400 at the 6th Line.
The MOU outlines that the town and the ministry will be co-proponents of a Municipal Class Environmental Assessment (EA) Addendum for the interchange, which is still years away from construction.
“It’s not like you’re going to see a shovel in the ground tomorrow there,” said Mayor Lynn Dollin.
But the mayor still was “surprised” by what she called a “good news story,” when the province reached out to the municipality in April to put the wheels in motion on the project.
An interchange to the 6th Line has been in the works for years – first mentioned in the town’s 2013 Transportation Master Plan – as it will relieve pressure from the Innisfil Beach Road and Highway 89 interchanges.
Since then, it’s been highlighted in the plan’s 2018 and 2022 updates, where it took on an even greater significance, as it would provide a direct vehicular link between the highway and the Orbit development.
It's something the town has advocated for, but with little success, not even receiving a meeting with the MTO the last time a formal request was made.
“The 6th Line interchange is expected to have a profound impact, not just on the immediate vicinity of the 6th Line but on the Town of Innisfil as a whole,” according to a staff report.
The staff report highlighted not only the impact on existing and future resident and worker travel times, but also the improved access to the future GO station, installation of active transportation infrastructure and better emergency response times.
Still, planning hasn’t stopped. Since 2017, the town has been purchasing land on the north side of the 6th Line for the interchange’s development. That was also the year when the EA on the interchange was first undertaken, which led to the reconstruction of the 6th Line bridge, replacing the underpass that had been in operation since Highway 400 was first opened in the early 1950s.
Approximately $2.9 million remains unspent from the bridge project, which will be utilized during the EA addendum process that will now go toward the addendum's $6-million price tag.
Discussions with the province have indicated additional land has been determined as necessary to complete design and construction. That means the town’s total financial commitment could double, which gave Deputy Mayor Kenneth Fowler pause. Loving the idea of the interchange in theory, and understanding property values have increased, Fowler said he was unsure just what the additional $3.1 million required would be spent on.
It’s not just that property values that have gone up, said director of planning and growth Andria Leigh. There will be “increased financial costs on all parts of the acquisition,” including the reference plans that need to be created and the staff time associated with them,
“All of those costs have increased since we did some of the south-side acquisition a number of years ago,” she said.
However, this money isn’t coming from the pockets of ratepayers. The project is eligible to be funded entirely through development charge reserves, with the changes made through Bill 23 having little impact on this specific project.
“The discounting for the first five years (of a new development charge bylaw) would be a factor, obviously, in our overall development charges,” Leigh said. “But the amount that we are looking for the acquisition is 100 per cent funded.
"We can’t ask for all of that, (but) it’s the collection of the development charges that’s discounted,": she added.
Under the MOU, the MTO will be the project lead for the EA addendum, retaining the designers and contractors, and undertaking and covering the cost of construction, while the town’s biggest role will be to complete the remaining land acquisitions and cover those costs.
The bulk of the land to be purchased will be on the south side of Line 6, however Leigh warned the work done through EA addendum may indicate additional north-side land would be required.
Staff are also unsure what adjustments made be required to the town's transportation master plan, specifically around work on 6th Line between Highway 400 and 20 Sideroad.
“I think we’ll have to take a further look at that,” Leigh said. “We will advise council whether there’s any other projects that would need to be moved up in the timeline currently.”
