Cover Letter Revised Oct09

Agriculture Business Community Chapters: Perth East, Perth South, Wilmot West. C/o 3649 Road 107 RR#2 Tavistock, Ontario N0B 2R0

Oct. 30, 2009 Charles Organ C.E.T. MTO South Western Region Project Manager Planning and Design Section 659 Exeter Road London ON N6E 1L3

Brenda Jamieson, P. Eng., Consultant Project Manager AECOM 300 Water Street, Whitby, Ontario L1N 9J2

The attached Brief represents the concerns of the Agricultural Business Community of Perth East, the Agricultural Business Community of Perth South and the Agricultural Business Community of Wilmot regarding the PIC 3 and the associated Highway 7&8 Transportation Corridor Planning and Class EA Study Reports. We again, appreciate the assistance of the project managers providing us with background copies of the reports, their willingness to meet with individual producers and their participation in our September public meeting for our members. We have reviewed the material provided at the last round of PIC’s, and recognize the effort the study team continues to make to better understand the business of agriculture. We are however very concerned about the application of some of the new criteria and how it will be applied to the confirmation of the final corridor and the selection of the final route. We ask for precision in the evaluation as individual operations, family farm history and the future of some individual producers is now on the line. We also have serious concerns about one stretch of the study area and recommend that special attention be paid to it before proceeding. These issues must be addressed. In the spirit of meeting the consultants’ stated report expectations of “informed decision making” (Report A, page 19) the agricultural business communities in the study area are continuing to provide information. In this round we have provided more recommendations to better inform the consulting team about our activities and we have volunteered our services and expertise in one area to assist them in reaching more enlightened decisions in the development of the proposed corridor and route options. The committees preparing this report are not opposed to growth or changes resulting from innovation. In fact many of the agricultural businesses represented within our group are innovators in their own areas. Fundamentally, we require accurate information reflective of our community be used in the decision making process. Please contact us at [email protected] or the undersigned if you have any questions regarding our report. We want to help and contribute to the best decision for our community. Sincerely, Agriculture Business Community of Perth East, Perth South and Wilmot West

C/O 3649 RO AD 107, R.R. # 2 • TAVISTO CK, O N • N0 B 2R0 PHO NE: 519-655-2613 • EMAI L [email protected]