Chelsea’s culvert construction contradiction

The Editor,

On June 26, a culvert was installed at 3 ch. de la Carrière beside the turtle pond. A group of concerned Farm Point citizens have been asking the municipality of Chelsea for specific details regarding the protection of the turtle pond and about environmental assessments for more than two years.

At an extraordinary meeting on Feb. 21, 2023, council approved a payment of $35,000 to the Quebec Ministry of the Environment to compensate for encroachment of the setbacks from the river and the wetlands for six kilometres along Chemin de la Rivière.

There are other, more turtle and frog-friendly ways to install culverts that are used in many other jurisdictions around Quebec and throughout Canada. Even a quick internet search provides numerous examples of how this might be done (e.g. Eco-Kare, Ecopassages Guide – Lake Simcoe, etc.). Why has the municipality of Chelsea, which apparently prides itself on its environmentally-friendly and green approaches to development, not undertaken an approach that would have ensured that the abundant wildlife living in the ditches and ponds along Chemin de la Rivière were protected during the road construction?

Jennifer Haire and Barb Shaw

Farm Point, QC