Carr blasts CN for jeopardizing Halton's planning by Bob Mitchell Oakville Beaver Staff 3 | Friday, May 29, 2015 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com An angry Halton Regional Chair Gary Carr blasted CN officials Wednesday, telling them the Region would fight with all its legal might to make sure the proposed intermodal terminal in Milton wouldn't be built. "Rest assured, we're going to do everything we can... I'm not going to see this Region destroyed...," Carr told CN officials, following a delegation and question-and-answer period about the massive plan with CN's Marie-Therese Houde, director of business development, and Paul Deegan, vice-president of public and government affairs. "It's not right. It's not fair and we're going to fight you on this," Carr vowed, insisting all planners, developers and road planners had acted in "good faith" when they developed plans for the Region in 2008. As a federal MP , before becoming Regional Chair in 2006, Carr helped bring forth a petition with 6,000 names opposing the terminal. In 2008, the Region went ahead with its Official Plan, mapping out a strategy for its roads and communities -- after CN insisted it didn't intend to go ahead with its terminal. "Some of your colleagues stood right at this same podium and told us that you were not going to proceed with this terminal," Carr said. "But you come forward today and tell us that you're going to work with us. How do you justify coming late to the game? We're supposed to change all of our plans because CN decided to change its plans?" If built, Carr said the facility would not only disrupt the lives of residents, but also increase their property taxes. Under the Region's Master Plan and Milton's plans, the area near the proposed facility is earmarked for employment lands for other business and industry, but the fear now is none will locate next to a huge terminal, so future development charges and tax revenue will be lost to the local municipalities. And, as CN is a federally-regulated company, it isn't required to pay development charges, which otherwise may be in the millions of dollars. The extra truck traffic has the potential to cause road chaos on Town and Regional roads, affect daily living, increase noise in quiet subdivisions, and adversely influence people and businesses from moving to the region, Carr said. The proposed 400-acre intermodal terminal would be located on lands bordered by Tremaine Road to the west, Britannia Road to the north and Lower Base Line to the south. It would operate 24/7 and see 800 trucks inbound and 800 outbound, per day, when at full capacity. Regional officials previously indicated 50,000 residents and 20,000 homes are planned for the Halton Region Chair Gary Carr area immediately north of the proposed CN intermodal hub. Carr confronted CN officials, demanding to know why the company insisted in 2008 it wouldn't be going ahead with the terminal only to change its mind, thereby seriously affecting the Region's, as well as Milton's, well-planned development for homes, businesses and roads in the area. Under the CN plan, approximately 800 trucks daily would be going in and out of the terminal with 80 per cent of them leaving the complex on Britannia Road and heading east to James Snow Parkway and onto Hwy. 401. CN-owned and operated trucks would use Hwy. 407. CN officials expect the terminal to be up and running by 2018, at the latest, if there are no snags with an environmental assessment or traffic study being conducted by an independent consultant. However, Britannia Road is currently a two-lane, rural road. Although construction is underway to turn it into a four and six-lane road, that won't be completed until 2020. Carr told CN officials a master plan was put in place to build roads before residents arrive in the region. Developers accepted the plan and are currently selling homes based on the process. "Construction is going on. How do you justify doing a road study after construction?" Carr asked. "You're saying we have to throw all of our planning out the window?" Houde told Regional council members CN had no plans to build the Milton facility in 2008, but it never anticipated the unheard of growth -- 68 per cent -- between 2009 and 2014 that occurred in the industry. CN believed the Brampton terminal would handle its requirements, but it has reached its capacity. "The Brampton facility is one of the largest in North America, in terms of volume," Houde said. "This growth reflects the growth of the see CN on p.11 Sore Feet, Sports Injury, Painful Ingrown Toenails? Plantar Warts? 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