Highway 413 Preliminary Design and Assessment of Environmental Impacts: Permission To Enter (PTE)

Q: What is the Preferred Alignment?

The Preferred Alignment illustrates the layout and interchange locations for the Highway 413 corridor. The Project Team is currently developing the Preliminary Design and investigating opportunities for refinement as the results of fieldwork investigations are received.

Permission To Enter (PTE)

Field investigations are being conducted to inventory existing environmental and engineering conditions within the Highway 413 Project Study Area. Permission to Enter (PTE) grants the Project Team temporary access to private property with the consent of the property owner(s) to conduct these investigations. This important step in the assessment of impacts allows the Project Team to confirm existing conditions, determine anticipated impacts, and develop appropriate mitigation measures along the Highway 413 Preferred Alignment.

Property owners within the Preferred Alignment were sent a PTE notification package, including a PTE letter, agreement, questionnaire, and fact sheet. Property owners in receipt of a PTE notification package are encouraged to follow the instructions below.

01

Step 1: Receiving your PTE Form
Property owners will be notified by letter and/or email and will receive a PTE form.
02

Step 2: Review and Sign your PTE Form
Property owners are requested to review and sign the PTE form. Please complete the Owner(s) name, mailing address, and the required email and phone number sections.
Where applicable, complete the associated questionnaire that is included in the PTE notification package.
If you would like to receive an electronic copy of the PTE form and questionnaire for e-signature, please email PTE@highway413.ca, with your first and last name, property address, PIN number and Key ID number (all found on the PTE form).
03

Step 3: Submit your PTE form and questionnaire to the Project Team
Return a signed copy to the Project Team by email to PTE@highway413.ca within three (3) weeks of receipt.
ATTN: Nadia Dabagh
25 York Street, Suite 700
Toronto, Ontario M5J 2V5
04

Step 4: Property Access
Property owners will be notified by a member of the Project Team three to five business days prior to field staff entering your property.
Property owner cooperation through the signing and returning of the PTE form is greatly appreciated.

Background, Progress to Date & Timelines

Fieldwork is vital in Preliminary Design. It is a data-collecting exercise that informs decisions on aspects like bridge designs, pavement types, interchange locations, and configurations. This data also allows the Project Team to identify existing environmental conditions and determine potential negative and positive impacts so that the negative impacts can be mitigated or avoided altogether.

The Phase 1 field investigation program was completed in December 2020. The Phase 2 field investigation program began in September 2021 and was completed in December 2022. The Phase 3 field investigation program began in December 2022 and was completed in December 2024.

Phase 4 field investigations will begin in April 2025 and may continue until December 2026.

Phase 1 PTE Fieldwork – Completed

Phase 1 PTE field investigations consisted of field staff documenting observations, taking photos and mapping existing conditions.

The Phase 1 field investigations began on March 9, 2020 and continued intermittently until December 31, 2020. The Phase 1 fieldwork program included a combination of the following investigations undertaken by the Project Team field staff:

Natural Environment Investigations – natural resource observations, including fisheries, wildlife, wetlands, and vegetation inventories; groundwater and drainage conditions (including water well surveys).
Socio-Economic Environment Investigations – land use and agricultural review; contaminant and waste management observations.
Cultural Environment Investigations – cultural heritage landscapes and built heritage resource assessments.
Engineering Investigations – engineering surveys to understand existing conditions that may influence design.

Phase 2 PTE Fieldwork – Completed

The Phase 2 fieldwork program included a combination of the following investigations undertaken by the Project Team field staff:

Natural Environment Investigations – natural resource observations, including fisheries, wildlife, wetlands, and vegetation inventories; groundwater and drainage conditions (including water well surveys).
Socio-Economic Environment Investigations – land use and agricultural review; contaminant and waste management observations.
Cultural Environment Investigations – Stage 2 Archaeological Assessments.
Engineering Investigations – geotechnical and borehole investigations; utility locate surveys; topographic surveys.

Phase 2 fieldwork began in September 2021 and was completed in December 2022.

Phase 3 PTE Fieldwork – Completed

The Phase 3 fieldwork program included a combination of the following investigations undertaken by the Project Team field staff:

Natural Environment Investigations - natural resource observations, which included fish community and fish habitat surveys, vegetation classification and delineation, plant species inventories, Significant Wildlife Habitat surveys, amphibian call surveys, breeding bird surveys, and certain species-specific surveys for threatened or endangered species.
Socio-Economic Environment Investigations - land use and agricultural review; contaminant and waste management observations.
Cultural Environment Investigations - Stage 2 Archaeological Assessments.
Engineering Investigations - geotechnical and borehole investigations; utility locate surveys; topographic surveys.

Phase 3 fieldwork began in December 2022 and was completed in December 2024.

Phase 4 PTE Fieldwork – Underway

The Phase 4 PTE program is a continuation of the work undertaken in 2023 and 2024 under the Phase 3 PTE program. This fieldwork will focus on properties we were unable to investigate previously and properties where further investigations are required.

Phase 4 field investigations will include fieldwork that may require some temporary property alteration. Temporary alteration to a property may refer to open-test pitting, installation of monitoring well(s), drilling of boreholes, and/or limited interference with the use of a portion of a property. Once the investigation is complete, temporary changes to a property will be returned to its original condition at no cost to the property owner.

The Phase 4 fieldwork program will include any combination of the following investigations being undertaken on your property by the Project Team field staff:

Natural Environment Investigations - natural resource observations, which may include fish community and fish habitat surveys, vegetation classification and delineation, plant species inventories, Significant Wildlife Habitat surveys, amphibian call surveys, breeding bird surveys, and certain species-specific surveys for threatened or endangered species. All of these surveys are nonintrusive and will involve trained ecologists walking the subject property, recording ecological data, mapping features, and photographing natural features.
Socio-Economic Environment Investigations - land use and agricultural review, contaminant and waste management observations.
Cultural Environment Investigations - archaeological assessments and photographic documentation of the property, including photos of the exteriors of buildings and other landscape features.
Engineering Investigations - geotechnical and borehole investigations; utility locate surveys; topographic surveys.

Phase 4 fieldwork will begin in April 2025 and is anticipated to be completed by December 31, 2026.

Property Acquisition

If you receive a PTE form and are subject to a PTE requirement, this does not mean we will need to acquire your property. PTE will be used only to establish environmental conditions and assess the engineering feasibility of the new transportation corridor. Property acquisition requirements will be confirmed at the conclusion of the Preliminary Design.

Special Considerations

Please advise us if there are any special requirements or precautionary measures that staff should take while visiting your property. For example, if we need to accommodate sensitive farm operations, harvesting or seasonal breeding.

PTE Contact Information

If you would like to speak with someone directly regarding a specific question, concern or clarification related to the PTE process or form, please contact:

Nadia Dabagh, PTE Coordinator
Phone: 289-835-2519
E-mail: PTE@Highway413.ca

Nadia will provide you with a response within 3-5 business days.

PTE Resources

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are these field investigations required?

Field investigations allow researchers to assess the natural, socio-economic and cultural environments and conduct investigations to determine the most responsible way to move forward, while avoiding or minimizing negative effects. There are a wide variety of field investigations that can occur in support of this project (as outlined in the above Fieldwork Phase descriptions).

It is important to obtain information from field investigations to document existing conditions and avoid or minimize negative effects and develop appropriate mitigation measures for any areas containing significant/sensitive features.

What is the Preferred Alignment?

Highway 413 Preliminary Design and Assessment of Environmental Impacts: Permission To Enter (PTE)

Permission To Enter (PTE)

01

Step 1: Receiving your PTE Form

02

Step 2: Review and Sign your PTE Form

03

Step 3: Submit your PTE form and questionnaire to the Project Team

04

Step 4: Property Access

Background, Progress to Date & Timelines

Property Acquisition

Special Considerations

PTE Contact Information

PTE Resources

PTE Phase 1 – Factsheet (February 2020)

PTE Phase 2 – Factsheet (February 2022)

PTE Phase 3 – Factsheet (December 2022)

PTE Phase 4 – Factsheet (April 2025)

Frequently Asked Questions

Highway 413 Preliminary Design and Assessment of Environmental Impacts: Permission To Enter (PTE)

Permission To Enter (PTE)

01

Step 1: Receiving your PTE Form

02

Step 2: Review and Sign your PTE Form

03

Step 3: Submit your PTE form and questionnaire to the Project Team

04

Step 4: Property Access

Background, Progress to Date & Timelines

Property Acquisition

Special Considerations

PTE Contact Information

PTE Resources

PTE Phase 1 – Factsheet (February 2020)

PTE Phase 2 – Factsheet (February 2022)

PTE Phase 3 – Factsheet (December 2022)

PTE Phase 4 – Factsheet (April 2025)

Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions