Eramosa Karst
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http://www.friendsoferamosakarst.org/ |
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FOTEK is a volunteer not-for-profit organization. www.friendsoferamosakarst.org |
some related stories that were posted before SSP:Local format was established:
Fate of karst land to be debated Residents would like to see 'Central Park' on Mountain Nicole Macintyre The Hamilton Spectator (Sep 4, 2007) Home builders are challenging community efforts to protect land beside the Eramosa Karst in upper Stoney Creek from development. Some 800 houses are at stake in the land battle that will ultimately be decided by the province, which owns the 36-hectare parcel of former farmland. A year ago, the province gave 73 hectares of the karst northeast of Rymal Road East and Upper Mount Albion Road to the Hamilton Conservation Authority. The Ontario Realty Corp. is now deciding what to do with leftover land around the protected zone. Residents and Councillor Brad Clark want the land to the east to be designated as parkland to protect feeder streams that flow into the karst. But the Hamilton-Halton Homebuilders' Association is prepared to fight the move, arguing instead that the land should be developed as long-standing plans indicate. "The infrastructure is there already," said president Vince Molinaro, noting the city budgeted for the land in growth plans. If the province protects the land, that will only push development farther out, he argues. "We feel it encourages jumping outside the urban area," he said, noting the association will only accept the move if the city is prepared to find new development land elsewhere. With upward of 40,000 homes planned for the area, developers should leave the small parcel alone, argues resident Tom Zietsma. "Do we need more development in the area or do we need a showcase park?" Clark said that the developers are only motivated by money and argues the only way to ensure the karst's protection is to stop development. "Wouldn't it be great to have Hamilton's own Central Park on the Mountain?" he said of the land's potential. The province is currently studying the land to determine the potential consequences of development. There are conflicting opinions so far, as the mayor continues negotiations with the province. The city doesn't have the funds to buy the land to protect it. Staff are recommending that planning and road studies for the area be delayed until the land matter has been decided. Councillors will debate the issue at today's planning meeting at City Hall. City tables decision on development near karst, hopes to hear from province September 05, 2007 Sharon Boase The Hamilton Spectator (Sep 5, 2007) The city's planning committee has called a time out on development plans for a sensitive parcel of land next to the Eramosa Karst in Stoney Creek. Some 800 homes proposed for 36 hectares to the east of the magnificent limestone arrangement of underground caves and passages have been put on hold until later this year when city council hopes to find out what Queen's Park will do with it. Delegates to yesterday's economic development and planning committee said the land ought to be designated as parkland so that feeder streams on it flowing into the karst will be protected from encroaching development. The committee also voted to stall an environmental assessment for a roadway through the Trinity neighbourhood, which includes the Eramosa Karst. Instead, it wants to wait and earmark $200,000 from the 2008 budget for a roadway "master plan" for the area. The committee gave the OK to secondary planning for development west of the karst and north of Rymal Road. Ward 9 Councillor Brad Clark, who has joined area residents in calling for the land to the east to be designated parkland, said home builders have been opposed to protecting that land from the get-go. During yesterday's lengthy discussion, Clark said the Ontario Realty Corp. overseeing the land appears to have already made up its mind in favour of development. The Eramosa Karst contains life forms that survived the last Ice Age, biologist Dr. Joe Minor told the committee. "Life in the caves needs a supply of clean water and development will affect that." In 2006, the province gave 73 hectares of the karst to the Hamilton Conservation Authority. It's up to the Ontario Realty Corp. to decide the fate of land surrounding the protected zones. The Hamilton-Halton Home Builders' Association wants to build houses on the contested parcel. President Vince Molinario told a committee yesterday that association representatives need more time to develop a response. The province is studying potential consequences of development. |
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How about some jumping into the inner city. The home builders will be bouncing their heads off the wall for the next ten years until they figure out growth policy is now directed inside the city. By that time, they will be broke from all the financial wheels they keep spinning. Shameless drifters, it is good for the little guys for the time being, making money off of turning around old properties is so easy right now.
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Battle looms over karst buffer zone
Richard Leitner Jun 06, 2008 Stoney Creek News Stoney Creek councillor Brad Clark wants the city to force the province's hand on expanding the protection area for the Eramosa karst by rezoning government-owned land to the east as open space. He said Queen's Park is "playing games" by suggesting the city supports developing the area, even after council passed a unanimous resolution calling for its preservation. The economic development and planning committee recently directed staff to study the possibility of rezoning the land to prevent development. "Let the province be the ones to actually say, 'No we want to develop the land," Mr. Clark said. "We froze the secondary plans (in the area)," he said. "To say that we want to develop it is slightly more than disingenuous." The call for the municipal hardball comes as the Ontario Realty Corp. prepares to hold an open house this Wednesday as part of an environmental assessment on 87 hectares of land near the existing Eramosa Karst Conservation Area, most of it to the immediate east. Mr. Clark and other karst supporters argue development will threaten the 73-hectare park's abundance of caves, sink holes, dry valleys and sinking streams. Adding fuel to the debate is the re-emergence of a buried sinkhole on the ORC land near the corner of Richdale and Fairhaven drives. Marcus Buck, a cave expert who helped convince the province to establish the karst park is not surprised the sinkhole resurfaced. Unless properly re-engineered, such sinkholes can be expected to reappear because the park is only a small portion of the geologic formation, he said. "If you look at the backyards (in the area), there are low lying depressions. I don't doubt for a second that they've been filled in over the years," Mr. Buck said. "To put it in perspective, the karst continues 10 kilometres to the east and several to the west," he said. "This (park) is only a piece of it and there's other issues to the west all the way to Upper Ottawa (Street) and beyond." ORC spokesperson Bill Moore said the sinkhole is part of the assessment. It has been fenced off and has a yardstick inserted into its centre. "I'm not aware that it was filled in," he said. "The whole area is part of the review and that particular area, they wanted to protect and prevent people from entering into it." In an earlier interview, Imshun Je, the ORC's environmental assessment coordinator, told the Stoney Creek News the study will consider expansion of the karst's buffer zone as "an option." But she acknowledged the focus is to prepare the land - located west of Second Road West between Rymal and Highland roads - for sale to developers because it is "surplus to government needs." Mr. Buck said the report he co-authored on the karst took a conservative approach to protection because the entire area was slated for development. He supports the city's efforts to expand the park because recent development already placed fill in feeder areas and diverted water flows. "The process of building housing is extremely complicated and there's a lot of issues," Mr. Buck said. "You've got a lot of priorities in there that are way above trying to worry about whether there's a karst there or not, whether it's a natural heritage feature," he said. "You've got public safety, a whole bunch of things. My concern now is, they go to develop that, ultimately the preservation of the karst will not be at the top of the priority list." The ORC open house takes place from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Hamilton Firefighters Drum Corps Banquet Facility, 175 Dartnall Rd. S. |
Eramosa Karst Official Opening June 20
Mayor Fred Eisenberger, Ted McMeekin, Government and Consumer Services Minister, Doug Duke, Chairman of Heritage Green Community Trust, Aldo DeSantis, President of Multi-Area Developments Inc. and former regional chairman Terry Cooke will join HCA Chairman Chris Firth-Eagland, former HCA GM Ben Vanderbrug, Hamilton Conservation Foundation Chairman Matt Casey, HCA staff and members of the public to officially open Hamilton’s newest conservation area, the Eramosa Karst. Date: Friday, June 20 Time: 2 p.m. Location: Eramosa Karst Conservation Area. Parking is off Upper Mount Albion Road between Rymal Road and Highland Road West. Located in the south-western Stoney Creek area of Hamilton, the karst property extends from Highland Road to south of Rymal Road, and from Upper Mount Albion Road to Second Road West. Karsts are geological formations including underground drainage, caves and passages caused by dissolving rock; found in limestone formations like the Niagara Escarpment. The Ministry of Natural Resources designated the Eramosa Karst lands as an Area of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSI) in 2003, because it is believed to have the largest number of unique karst features in any single protected area in the province. Several of its karst features are provincially significant. These include: soil pipes, a high concentration of suffosion dolines (sinkholes) and sinking streams, overflow sinks, dry valleys and a 335 metre-long cave (the tenth longest in all of Ontario). The new conservation area will offer a community trail to allow people to easily and safely access its many interesting features, as well as an interpretive kiosk with displays and information about the karst features visitors will see during their trip. Following the official opening, which will begin at 2 p.m., Dr. Stephen Worthington and Marcus Buck, two of the men responsible for writing the report that resulted in the Eramosa Karst’s designation as an ANSI, along with HCA’s Customer Service and Operations Manager and naturalist Bruce Mackenzie, will offer short tours of the area until 4 p.m. Refreshments will also be available. |
finally got a chance to check this out this evening.. really cool.. must go again when i have more time to explore the actual caves and whatnot
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from today's edition of thespec.com:
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