Natural gas service could come to Ballinafad

Residents of Ballinafad could see a natural gas expansion into the community.

Erin council supported a resolution on July 11 for Union Gas to expand the existing natural gas system into Ballinafad through a provincial government grant.

The government of Ontario announced in January a $100 million Natural Gas Grant Program available to natural gas providers to expand service.

In correspondence sent to council, Union Gas’ proposal includes extending east from existing infrastructure at Highway 7 and 4th Line to past Trafalgar Road, including Worden View road, 6th Line north and south of Highway 7 including Bridlewood Boulevard, Highway 7 and Trafalgar Road intersection and Trafalgar Road north of Highway 7 including Allison Court, and the community of Ballinafad, both north and south of Sideroad 32, the border between Erin and Halton Hills.

Part of the grant program involves a financial contribution from the town, equivalent to the property tax that would be recovered on new natural gas infrastructure for a period of 10 years. Union Gas states this would be approximately $700 a year.

“It’s a great win of Ballinafad,” said councillor Matt Sammut. He asked if any natural gas providers were interested in other parts of Erin.

“It was a bit of a struggle, as council’s aware, to get any sort of momentum on this whatsoever... we’ve been able to get (Union Gas) to treat this as a priority mostly because they’re dealing with the Halton Hills side of things,” said CAO Nathan Hyde.

Councillor Jeff Duncan agreed this is good News for the town.

“If this comes through, it can save our residents thousands of dollars a year,” he said.

The motion was passed unanimously.