Planning is well underway to connect the St. Lawrence Parks Commission’s Upper Canada Village campus and the Riverside-Cedar Campground to South Dundas’ municipal water and wastewater systems. This is part of the $82 million in modernization funding announced in 2025 for the SLPC by Stan Cho, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming. Adding the infrastructure needed to support the SLPC properties to South Dundas’ municipal services is no small project, not only from a capital perspective, but for operations thereafter. A report to South Dundas council last month provided some clarity on what that will entail and what still needs to be negotiated.
The province wants South Dundas to own the infrastructure within the municipal rights-of-way, as well as all the pump infrastructure on SLPC property. Unfortunately, some of the planned infrastructure that runs between existing South Dundas services and the SLPC will be routed through provincial property. That will limit the municipal benefit of extending services, which is an important consideration. Had this been a developer or an industry seeking an expansion of municipal services, there would need to be more than one customer in order to make the operational costs viable.
The province said it does not want to place an undue burden on South Dundas to operate the new water and wastewater services — a nice platitude. However, the report also suggests that special user rates will be needed for any user to access the new infrastructure. That precludes even and fair treatment for all users. When combined with some of the water and wastewater main lines being placed on quasi-private land owned by the SLPC, the benefits for the municipality in allowing the SLPC to connect to these services diminish.
The province, and by extension the SLPC, want to be good neighbours, they say. They also have a significant amount of funding to help get the project underway, but Infrastructure Ontario — which manages all provincial land holdings — is pushing for a deal to be completed by March 31. With the SLPC focusing on the South Stormont portion of the project, what is the rush?
Extending municipal water and wastewater services east is a project with high potential for further growth in South Dundas — if done right. All the infrastructure required to build that connection should be located on municipal land and within municipal rights-of-way, even if that increases the capital costs to the province to connect the SLPC. Similarly, if the SLPC is going to place a significant burden on South Dundas’ infrastructure, that should be reflected in their water rates. The benefit for South Dundas should be in promoting future growth, not footing the bill for the SLPC.
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