Meet Lee Bott
I have lived in Wainfleet for 43 years.
I would like to introduce myself to the residents of Wainfleet.
My name is Lee Bott and I have lived in Wainfleet for 43 years.
I have been married to my husband Jeff for 45 years, and I am a mother of two and grandmother of five.
I camped at Morgan's Point campground every summer from the age of three with my family until I got married to a young local Fleeter I met at the park. It was that campground that started my love of Wainfleet.
I have been active in my community for most of my 43 years here through church, schools, sports and community groups.
I helped stop the Big Pipe. I will keep standing up for Wainfleet.
I was part of the Wainfleet Ratepayers Association, the residents' group that formed to fight the Big Pipe.
In 2007, Niagara Region planned to run municipal water and sewer lines from Port Colborne along 15 kilometres of our lakeshore. The estimated cost at that time was $72 million. Lakeshore homeowners were told they could face bills of $30,000 or more per household. Neighbours on fixed incomes were afraid they would lose their homes.
We were told the pipe was the only answer. We did not accept that. Our Association went to Township council and Regional council, challenged the Region's findings, and made the case for fixing problem septic systems one property at a time. We also said plainly what many residents already suspected: the pipe was a gateway to high density development on the lakeshore.
That same year I wrote to the Welland Tribune and asked my neighbours a simple question: Did you move to Wainfleet to have it become a city?
The residents won. In 2011 the Township withdrew its support for the Big Pipe, and in 2012 Niagara Region agreed to cancel it. The replacement was a septic inspection that cost homeowners $114, not $30,000. Inspectors checked 1,126 lakeshore septic systems and flagged 203 for repair or replacement. More than four out of five needed no work. The problem was real, but it was fixable one property at a time, without a $72 million pipe.
That fight taught me something I have never forgotten. When residents organize and do their homework, Wainfleet wins. I will bring that same determination to the council table.