The project locations were identified through a geomatics investigation with respect to sites that would offer the established service standard to the most properties.
The location at 2650 Northwood Street was found to be a potential home of species at risk, most notably Butler’s Garter Snake, and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry recommended conducting a preliminary ecological site assessment of the site to determine whether species at risk plants are present and to assess potential habitat features for snakes.
To comply with regulations, a mitigation plan was developed which included an Overall Benefit Permit Package. Plans were submitted in the spring of 2015 and final approval was obtained in spring of 2016. The City committed to, between the years 2017 and 2026:
1) Protecting the surrounding rights-of-way from development throughout the monitoring period (Northway Avenue and Ojibway Street)
2) Restoring habitat at various off-site locations for the monitoring period, as follows:
| Spring Garden Natural Area (SGNA) Habitat Restoration Sites | Area of Restorable Habitat (ha) |
Area Restored (ha) since 2016 |
|---|---|---|
| Site 1 Spring Garden Natural Area North – West of Bethlehem and Lamont Sts | 0.75 | 1.44 |
| Site 4 Spring Garden Natural Area Hills – Southwest of Emilia and Amy Lynn Park Rds. |
0.16 | 0.16 |
| Site 5 Turkey Creek North – South of Fazio Drive | 0.72 | 0.10 |
| Site 9 Spring Garden Road – South of Harvest Bible Church | 0.76 | 0.76 |
| Site 10 Lamont Ave. – South side of adjacent properties | 0.41 | 0.41 |
| Site 11 Lansing Street – North side of adjacent properties | 0.75 | 0.75 |
Of the total funding for the project, $360,000 of funding was set aside in project 7139004 – Fire Hall Strategic Realignment for Species-at-Risk related ongoing monitoring and enforcement costs. A total of which $170,014 has already been expended for various species-at-risk related costs. There is risk of exhausting this funding allocation owing to the experience of the past three years.
In order to mitigate this risk, it is recommended that the overall anticipated surplus from project 7139004, which includes the above noted Species-at-Risk, be transferred to a new, separate Reserve Fund for this ongoing work.