County of Brant Council heard more about the new St. George Water and Wastewater Capacity Allocation policy and the St. George Infrastructure Front-Ending Agreement during the regular Council meeting on Tuesday, July 22, 2025.
As the County of Brant continues to grow, staff have been working to find ways to ensure critical access to safe, reliable, and sustainable water and wastewater services, particularly to the community of St. George.
Given that the town’s servicing capacity is currently limited, the County has been investing in major upgrades to support long-term growth. Projects currently include upgrading and expanding of the St. George Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) to 3,900,000 litres (3,900 m3) a day, and a new water treatment facility with additional wells in order to improve system reliability.
With that being said, the amount of proposed development in the town exceeds the upgraded wastewater system’s capacity and in response, the County developed a draft Water and Wastewater Capacity Allocation Policy and presented it to Council back in June.
The draft policy outlined how the County will ultimately allocate limited wastewater servicing capacity in a way that is both sustainable and cost-effective.
“Staff prepared the draft St. George Water and Wastewater Servicing Allocation Policy (draft allocation policy) to allocate the available capacity (3,900 m3/day) of the expanded wastewater treatment plant to the proposed development lands,” read the report from David Mellor, General Manager of Operations.
While the estimated cost of the proposed wastewater plant is $60 million and the water plant is $14 million, the Province awarded the County a $35 million grant to be used towards the cost of the WWTP.
With that being said, the cost and ability to borrow all the money required for development-related projects is putting a financial strain on the County and so the St. George Landowner’s Group (Losani, Empire, Riverview, Pinevest and Stremma) has since agreed to front-end finance some of the costs of the infrastructure in a another agreement with the County.
“As a result of this arrangement, some allocation is reserved for the Landowners Group (LOG) in exchange for the financing,” said Mellor.
According to his report, the allocation of the 3,900 m3 a day will be as follows:
- For the existing St. George community (2024): 625 m3 a day
- For the LOG (Losani, Empire, Riverview, Pinevest, Stremma): 2,500 m3 a day
- For infill developments within the built boundary: 363 m3 a day
- For higher density developments or that have not previously been considered: 412 m3 a day.
As for eligibility and timing in regards to development, only those with Draft Plan Approval who meet all registration conditions are eligible and developments will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis (with the exception of the LOG). Infill developments will have priority access only while capacity is available.
After presenting the policy to Council back in June, staff then went on to conduct several streams of public consultation through Engage Brant and through direct communication with potential developers.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Mellor presented the results of the consultation to Council.
“We received 12 comments online, and the majority of them were related to specific inquiries from a technical nature like the flows,” he said.
Other inquiries included:
- The disproportionate allocation between the existing community and the developers.
- Comments related to responsible development.
- Preserving the existing community character.
- Protecting infrastructure and ensuring services expand with the community.
- The cost to residents and taxpayers.
- Environmental concerns related to Fairchild Creek.
- Project timing and a specific policy inquiry.
Overall, staff’s recommendation was to put out more explanatory documents along with the policy, and that the final policy be passed with no changes.
After a few questions for councillors, the vote to approve the St. George Water and Wastewater Servicing Allocation Policy as a final document was carried, and Rob Walton, the General Manager of Operations, in consultation with Senior Management was delegated the authority to administer the St. George Water and Wastewater Policy.
Council then moved on to the next item on the agenda, being the St. George Infrastructure Front-Ending Agreement, which goes hand-in-hand with the new policy
Back in June, Council heard that the LOG approached the County in an effort to to assist with the financing and the construction of various transportation, water and wastewater servicing projects within the St. George community. The partnership will ultimately help to provide services which will allow housing development to proceed in the town.
“Between water, wastewater and roads there is approximately $85 million of infrastructure to be constructed external to the developments. With the other infrastructure needs in the County, this amount could be difficult for the County to finance,” read Mallor’s report. “…To show their commitment to development in St. George, the LOG approached the County offering to build and finance the needed infrastructure which includes the wastewater plant ($60 million), water plant on Howell Road ($14 million), Hwy 5 Roundabout ($5 million) and the sanitary trunk sewer ($6million). Staff have agreed that the LOG can build the roundabout and the trunk sanitary sewer through the Losani Development.”
On top of the $35 million grant the province awarded the County for the WWTP after the financial agreements with LOG commenced, the County will also be applying for $10 million of funding for the water plant as well. If successful, the LOG may not have to provide as much money as initially proposed.
In the end, Council voted to approve the St. George Infrastructure Front-Ending Agreement with the LOG.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
