York Region is getting nearly $140 million in provincial funding to help it build the sewage system that will lead to more new homes.
The Ontario government is funding projects for the sewage expansion from its housing-enabling water systems fund, which will give northern York Region the capacity needed for new homes to come online. The province estimated it can enable the building of 8,000 new homes in Newmarket, Aurora and East Gwillimbury.
Newmarket Mayor John Taylor, quoting Jerry Garcia, said “What a long, strange trip it’s been” to get to this point, at the announcement this morning at the York Region Administrative Centre.
“It is a very significant step forward,” he said. “This is going to unlock housing.”
Newmarket, Aurora, Georgina and East Gwillimbury are facing challenges with sewage capacity that limited their ability to expand for their growing populations. York Region has planned for a sewage expansion for years to allow these municipalities to continue to grow.
After several years of a proposed solution for sewage expansion laying idle, the province decided against York Region’s preferred Upper York Sewage Solutions, which involved waste going into Lake Simcoe, in 2022. Since then, the province and municipalities have worked toward a southern expansion through an existing plant in the Durham Region, which uses Lake Ontario.
That sewage expansion has been in planning work since then, with the province giving tentative approval for the first steps in May. At the time, York Region staff estimated the first phase of the project could cost $515 million.
Newmarket-Aurora MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy said today sewage expansion has long been a priority for municipalities in the region.
“I realize this is not the most tantalizing announcement,” Gallagher Murphy said, but added, “Without this critical piece of infrastructure, our communities cannot grow.”
York-Simcoe MPP Caroline Mulroney talked about the conversations that led to this and the decision not to use the Upper York Sewage Solution, which was opposed by environmental groups and the Chippewas of Georgina Island. That solution dates back to 2014, but successive governments did not make a final decision on it until 2022.
“People would talk about the fact that the phosphorous runoff into Lake Simcoe was a real issue for then,” Mulroney said. “We needed to take action so we wouldn’t cause any potential harm to the lake. And we needed to respect our Indigenous partners, the Chippewas of Georgina Island, and their concerns.”
Currently, Newmarket has the capacity for about 2,000 more homes, well short of the 12,000 the province wants to see the town build in the next 10 years before the municipality can receive more infrastructure funding.
Taylor has also questioned the timelines for the sewage expansion. The province has suggested a twinning project could be complete by the end of 2026, an aspirational timeline Taylor has previously refuted.
Regardless, Gallagher Murphy said the additional capacity will come.
“Having the necessary infrastructure in place will help unlock housing opportunities so that more homes can be built faster.”
