I am concerned about the…

I am concerned about the Blanding’s turtles that are found on this site. The Blanding’s Turtle, a medium-sized, bright yellow-throated turtle, is listed as “at risk” in Ontario’s ESA. Federally it is listed as endangered. Blanding’s turtle habitat in the North Bay area is extremely important because so much of the wetland where these turtles live has been diminished or destroyed in Southern Ontario. I would very much like to know, therefore, what provision has been made for the safety of the endangered Blanding’s turtles whose habitat is found in the area affected by this application.

In Section 9 of the Storm Water Management Plan for this application, which is titled "Existing Ditch Erosion and Blandings Turtle Boundary" there is a brief reference to Blandings turtle habitat and a 5 metre boundary that is described in a report that was not filed with the application, but is identified "as set out by Dillon Consulting Limited”.

This information is insufficient. I am not convinced that the proponent is taking this very important issue seriously, especially as considerable contouring on the site has already taken place.