6 things to know about upper Stoney Creek’s Saltfleet Conservation Area expansion

Upper Stoney Creek's new Saltfleet Conservation Area is growing again with the acquisition of about another 20 hectares of land on Ridge Road that is home to the popular Punch Bowl Market and Bakery.

Here are six things you need to know about the expansion:

Scott Peck, deputy chief administrative officer for the Hamilton Conservation Authority, told the Stoney Creek News the purchase agreement should be finalized by mid-July and will lease the building to the market's proprietors for the foreseeable future.

Richard Baruzza, whose family runs the Punch Bowl Market and Bakery, declined to comment on the sale, calling it a private matter.

It's the second-biggest land purchase for the Saltfleet park, a string of properties along the Dofasco 2000 Trail that includes the 72-hectare main hub on First Road East acquired in 2015. The park is now about 128 hectares in size, or about 316 acres.

The new property was identified by a 2018 class environmental assessment study as an ideal site for one of four wetlands that will be created to help reduce flash flooding along Stoney and Battlefield creeks below the escarpment.

The site's proposed wetland will hold an estimated 204,000 cubic metres of water, enough to fill nearly 82 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Construction of the first two-pond wetland, which will have a 221,400-cubic-metre capacity, began at the main hub in January and is expected to be finished by early July, allowing the site to reopen later this summer.