Two major development proposals for the 144 acres of farmland bordered by Sandy Hook Road, the Loyalist Parkway, and the Millennium Trail have the community concerned for the protection of the Waring’s Creek watershed.

The Gazette took the concerns to the engineers behind the Cold Creek application, which proposes geothermal heating and cooling, heat pumps, Low Impact Design, and underground parking on what the WCIA calls an “underground lake.” 

CONCERN: Stormwater Ponds routinely overflow in heavy rains and can be expected to overflow more often because of climate change. 

Nancy Dionne, a civil engineer with Insite Project Consulting, said the claim was unfounded. “Right-sized stormwater management ponds are designed to operate without overtopping during heavy rains,” she said.

The ponds are designed to MECP standards and provincial guidelines that provide for a “once-in-100-years storm event.” That means they are designed to accommodate a storm so large it has a 1% chance of occurring in any given year.

“The proposed SWM Ponds detain stormwater runoff and slowly release treated water. They are designed not to exceed existing flows for all storm events, up to and including the ‘100-year’ storm-event standard,” she said.

A stormwater pond filters and releases treated, clean water with suspended solids removed. They drain first from the bottom, where the water is coolest.

The ponds are also designed with one foot of excess capacity. That means they can hold about 20% more water, beyond that required to manage a 100-year storm event.

The hydrologic modeling used to design the pond is based on rainfall data recorded at the City of Belleville’s rain gauge station (collected from 1960 to 2016). Environment Canada gathers data from various rain gauge stations to create the statistics used to model storm events.

If, in an emergency, water does rise above the maximum pond level, it would overflow through a dedicated 10m wide location at the pond edge, downstream toward the Waring’s Creek wetland.

The stormwater management pond is expected to sit above the groundwater table, noted Ms. Dionne.

Regrading is required at development sites to accommodate underground infrastructure such as storm sewers, santitary sewers, and watermains. It tops up the layer above the water table to support infrastructure above it. 

CONCERN: All of the runoff from the West Meadows subdivision is draining across the subject lands and into Waring’s Creek. Combined with the two proposed subdivisions, Loyalist Heights and Cold Creek, cumulative runoff will increase 396%. 

“The claim that runoff will increase 396% is misleading, and we are not aware of how this was calculated,” said Ms. Dionne. 

All development or changes in land use increase runoff, because they create impermeable surfaces (roads, sidewalks, roofs) that lessens infiltration and evapotranspiration — that is why subdivision development must have stormwater management.

Runoff from West Meadows does not drain into the subject site, she explained, as that development has had its own SWP since 2022. It discharges east of the Millennium Trail.

There are industrial lands to the east of the No Frills which currently do not appear to have stormwater management controls. They discharge untreated water through a culvert and onto the subject site — but that water would become part of the runoff water of Cold Creek, and so treated by its SWP.

CONCERN: Low Impact Design measures to control or minimize runoff are “smoke and mirrors,” ineffective because most such measures are left up to individual homeowners. 

“The claim that the LIDs required for the project will be the responsibility of the individual homeowner is false,” said Ms. Dionne. The LIDs are a part of the stormwater management block which will be owned and overseen by the municipality. They will also be built into the condo blocks with maintenance built into  a condominium agreement.

Low Impact Design infrastructure would be located downstream of the stormwater management pond outlet. 

“It would include infiltration infrastructure, for extra water quality treatment, beyond what is required by the MECP, which will help restore groundwater recharge for the wetland and mitigate increased temperatures upstream of the existing wetland to help recharge aquifers, and maintain baseflow to streams,” she explained.

Within condominium blocks, pervious areas between buildings and sidewalks can be turned into multi-functional spaces that include additional LIDs. Densely vegetated areas can also provide some urban heat island cooling.

LIDs promote groundwater infiltration and reduce thermal impacts on receiving waters. 

“Detailed design of the LIDs, completed as a Condition of Draft Plan approval, will need to meet the groundwater balance requirements set out in the Hydrogeological report,” she noted.

While LIDs will not be left up to individual homeowners, as encouraged by the province, Conservation Authorities and municipalities, additional opportunities for LID measures could be implemented by any homeowner to help reduce runoff and promote infiltration. These include landscaping, raingardens, permeable pavement, infiltration trenches and rainwater collection.

CONCERN: The sanitary sewer mains will leak and contaminate both groundwater and the Creek.

“The conclusion is unfounded,” said Ms. Dionne. “In accordance with MECP Guidelines, industry standards, and municipal requirements, all sanitary infrastructure is constructed with watertight materials and seals. It passes stringent testing —leakage air or hydrostatic — to ensure there will be no leakage. No groundwater goes in, and no water comes out.”

Further, Ms. Dionne noted, “Prince Edward County’s requirement for testing and inspection of construction by the owner’s engineer is enforceable through clauses of the Subdivision Agreement, signed by the municipality and the owners. The County will not assume the Subdivision’s municipal infrastructure until all conditions of the Agreement have been met.”

“I can confirm that Prince Edward County has enforced the required testing for all subdivision developments we have completed,” she said. 

CONCERN: The water table in the Quinte region is shallow, and on the subject lands is only about 1 metre below the surface. The Waring’s Creek watershed is like an underground lake. Proposals for underground parking? You may as well be building an underground marina. 

Jacqueline Brook, Senior Hydrogeologist at BluMetric, noted “groundwater systems and lakes are alike in that they both hold large volumes of water.”

But groundwater is not stored in a reservoir or pool. It is stored between grains of soil, or in fractures in rock. “The soil above the limestone bedrock on the subject site is sandy and gravelly with clay silt deposits interlayered. The surface layer is highly permeable, meaning water moves through the soil easily,” she said.

“That might be why it is being compared to an underground lake,” but, “monitoring to date, which is ongoing using 24 wells across the site, indicates the proposed underground infrastructure of Cold Creek will likely be above the water table across much of the site.”

 “In addition,” she observed, “the high permeability of the soils will make the LID features, such as infiltration trenches, potentially very effective.”

The water table is the underground boundary at which soil or rock becomes fully saturated with water. When digging a hole, water will begin to seep in and accumulate at a specific depth. This depth marks the water table, and its position changes seasonally.

“The water table at the site has been observed to be within one metre below the surface in low lying areas and as much as 7.5 metres below the surface. Monitoring is ongoing to observe seasonal changes in the position of the water table.”