It’s filed notice to expropriate 36 parcels of land on the north side of the highway

Heather Wright/The Independent

The Ministry of Transportation is planning to plant 30 km of snow hedgerows along Highway 402 in London and Middlesex.

And it’s served notice it may use expropriation to claim the land it needs for the project.

“The Ministry of Transportation is planning to plant snow hedgerows along approximately 30 kilometres of Highway 402 between Oil Heritage Road and Kerwood Road,” says Tanya Blazina, Senior Media Relations officer for the ministry in an email to The Independent.

“The snow hedgerows will be planted only in existing gaps in vegetation along the north side of the highway.”

Blazina says the snow hedgerows are expected to “help reduce blowing and drifting snow along Highway 402 by capturing snow before it reaches the roadway.

“This will improve visibility for motorists, help reduce the formation of snow drifts on the highway, and support safer winter driving conditions.”

The OPP doesn’t release official statistics on the number of crashes on Highway 402 between Oil Heritage and Kerwood Roads but anyone who drives in the area is aware of the hazards in the area.

Last winter, the accidents started with a large snowfall on Nov. 10, when two transports crashed near Nauvoo Road closing the highway for hours. The rest of the winter seemed like one long whiteout to many, with the link between London, Sarnia and the gateway to the United States closing several times in January and again in Feb. 6 when a full-on blizzard led to the closure of the highway for nearly a full day as crews worked to pull stranded cars off the highway.

Jason Cole, general manager of infrastructure and development in Lambton, was unaware the MTO was looking at snow hedgerows as a safety measure along the highway. He says the county has used natural hedgerows for some
time with success. Lambton often convinces farmers to leave several rows of corn along roads which are normally problematic in the winter.

“The concept is that it lifts the snow up above the roadway when it’s blowing and doesn’t create drifting across the road directly,” he says. The living snow fence program, which has been copied by other county governments, requires a willing partner. “We need to find those property owners who are willing to have the plantings or leave the corn on them,” Cole said.

The ministry has published a lengthy two-page advertisement in The Independent for its Notice of Application for Approval to Expropriate Land today. It’s the first step in a process that could lead to the provincial government claiming strips of land along the highway for the project.

The provincial government website explains “an expropriating authority like a municipality or government agency uses this form to officially notify every registered owner that it is applying for formal approval to take their land.”

Under the Expropriation Act, the government must serve notice directly to registered owners and publish it publicly, the website adds.

While the notice starts the legal process, farmers are entitled to fair compensation for the land under the Expropriations Act, according the act. It allows for the “fair market compensation” for the cost of the land, compensation for any damage to the land, or if the value of the remaining land is reduce and to cover the
cost of legal fees, according to the legal firm Mathany & Higgs Law which specializes in expropriation law.

The notice also starts the clock on the opportunity for landowners to appeal the province’s expropriation plans, first at a hearing of review to see if the project actually requires the land and possibly as far as the Ontario Land Tribunal.

Cole says municipal governments rarely use expropriation as a tool to access land, saying the roads department hasn’t tried to expropriate land in the time he’s worked in Lambton County.

The Highway 402 snow hedgerow project isn’t the only safety measure the MTO is looking at in Lambton.

The MTO plans to install snow fencing along the west side of Highway 21 from the edge of Forest all the way to Kettle and Stony Point where Lakeshore Road meets the highway. The work, the MTO says, it to address the drifting problems on the highway.

The MTO is accepting comments for that project until Oct. 8. The work is expected to be done this fall.

Landowners affected by the snow hedgerow project on Highway 402 have 30 days to submit their concerns and requests for review at Property.Process@ontario.ca.