4 July 2008
Residents Win Concessions, But Can't Stop Rail Yard
Ayr Ontario - There's going to be a big rail yard
built west of the village, but it won't be as ugly as it was originally proposed, a public meeting heard last night.
There's no way to stop the CP Rail yard planned for Blandford-Blenheim Township to serve the new Woodstock Toyota car
factory but vocal local politicians and citizens forced the railway to make it more palatable, said Cambridge MP Gary Goodyear.
"I can tell you we are not going to stop this. Toyota is a half-billion (dollars) into construction... if we try
that, we will get the kind of yard we don't want," Goodyear told 50 people gathered for a meeting he called at the Ayr fire hall.
A federal environmental assessment of the project is complete and on the desk of Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon, Goodyear said. The
minister is ready to make a final decision about how the rail yard may proceed, pending a final review of public concerns from last
night's meeting. A decision is due by 29 Aug 2008.
"They're taking the issue seriously," he said.
Goodyear said concessions for the rail yard plan have been won over the last year, including:
- Flashing warning lights on Trussler and Blenheim roads, hilly roads at either end of the yard;
- An emergency access road to the rail yard for fire trucks;
- An environmental assessment;
- Ongoing monitoring to see if the railway is blocking traffic on local roads;
- Testing of local wells before construction to establish a baseline if there are future problems;
- A sound barrier to shield residents from idling trains.
Goodyear said there's no commitment to build bridges to carry traffic over the tracks at Blenheim or Trussler roads. There's a fund of
federal money that could be used to build them, once supporting studies are done. "It's a question of when, not if," he said.
While Goodyear and local politicians drew praise for efforts to battle CP's rail yard plans, there was frustration and cynicism in the
air as residents felt powerless to bring an international company to heel. And there was worry the yard would be full of hazardous
materials, not just new Toyota cars, along with devaluing nearby property and threatening water wells kilometres away.
The fact an environmental assessment was eventually ordered didn't ease the fears of some. They wanted to know how detailed the study
was, if other locations were considered, and who did the work. Goodyear didn't know if the study was public but said he wanted to know
the same details himself.
"What they've done is jammed it down our throats without any comment from this community," said Jill Yuzwa of Ayr.
Nobody from CP Rail attended the meeting. Goodyear said he gave the company an invitation.
It's "naive" to think the CP yard can be stopped the way legislation is written today, said North Dumfries Mayor Kim Denouden.
"We know we can't stop this. We have to make it something we can live with," she said.
Coun. Sue Foxton from Ayr said CP has been forced to listen to the community objections and has given in on some of the concerns. And
now there are promises of ongoing monitoring to keep CP on notice a community is watching.
Goodyear asked people to complete survey forms and get them to his office by next Friday, so he can forward the comments to the
transport minister by month's end. The form is available at www.garygoodyear.com.
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