Don’t damage Chedoke Valley

RE: COLUMBIA COLLEGE BUILDINGS CLEAR HURDLE (FEB. 10)

How, in the name of all that is holy, could the board of directors of the Hamilton Conservation Authority give their blessing to 1,500 dump-truck loads of fill being poured into Chedoke Valley to allow development of two 18-storey towers at the corner of Main and Longwood?

The so-called conservation authority is supposed to protect the creeks and valleys and watersheds that are our natural heritage. This is their mandate. Their policies, as stated by staff in the article, allow fill on valley slopes to stabilize them and for some agricultural purposes, but prohibit it for development. Why are they overriding their own policies? Their own staff argues that “we shouldn’t be filling in valley systems, pristine or otherwise, for the sake of creating new developable land.”

I agree, wholeheartedly. For the developer’s lawyer to state that Chedoke Creek is no longer an active stream means only one thing: he doesn’t know what he is talking about. Its watershed is comprised of seven creeks, which meet in the valley and flow to Cootes Paradise. With the 403 now dominating the valley, its beauty is broken but not defeated, and the waters have kept flowing.

We have done enough in this city to alter and debase our natural environment. No matter how beneficial the development promises to be, the valley is no place to put it. Save Chedoke Valley!

John Terpstra, Hamilton