The Concerned Residents Coalition (CRC) and James Dick Construction Limited (JDCL) offered Wellington County council an overview of their positions on the proposed quarry project in Guelph-Eramosa on Jan. 26.
James Dick Construction, proponents of a 24.8-hectare (61.3 acre) quarry operation just south of Rockwood on Highway 7 at the 6th Line, has applied to Guelph-Eramosa to rezone the site as well as to Wellington County for an Official Plan amendment permitting aggregate mining at the site.
A quarry application first came to Guelph-Eramosa council in December 2012 and was sent to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) by James Dick officials in the summer of 2015, after the township did not make a decision on the application in the required time frame.
However, JDCL is re-applying after OMB vice-chair Steve Stefanko adjourned on Oct. 13 a hearing to decide the quarry’s fate. Stefanko’s reasoning was that the original JDCL application for a quarry was made under a bylaw that was repealed and replaced in August.
Stefanko said that means the OMB no longer had jurisdiction over the matter.
The company’s application for a licence under the Aggregate Resources Act is still valid and awaiting OMB assessment. It will be considered along with the new zoning application, if appealed to the OMB.
The county deemed the application complete on Dec. 9, starting a 180-day clock to make a decision.
Doug Tripp, president of the CRC, said the organization has raised over $400,000 to fight the proposal, including municipal contributions from Guelph-Eramosa Township, the Town of Milton and the Town of Halton Hills.
Tripp told council the “two over-arching themes” in the application are the “conflicting priorities” of the need for aggregate versus the impact on the community.
On the question of “who bears the risk” if the project proceeds, Tripp said, “the risk will be borne by the communities … and the residents of those communities.”
For example, Tripp said the proponents are pointing to Highway 7 as an available haul route for aggregate but “one needs to bear in mind that Highway 7 is also Main Street” in communities along the route.
Tripp said there is no local benefit to the proposed extraction of aggregate.
“This is not an operation that is proposed to serve Wellington County market needs. The proponent says it’s all going to the GTA,” said Tripp.
He told council there is a need for a new evaluation of the application because a new policy framework now applies to the “hidden quarry” and studies provided by the applicant and peer reviews obtained by the township are “badly flawed.”
JDCL lawyer David White told council the application has received “ a great amount of scrutiny from various government regulatory agencies and approval agencies,” including the ministries of environment, transportation and tourism, as well as the local conservation authority.
“And it’s CRC’s position that all of these ministries that have all signed off on the application and have no outstanding issues with it, that they are all wrong,” said White.
“So the only one that’s right in this entire exercise is CRC, and their material has not been put through a peer review.
“Actually, that’s not quite correct as some of their reports were presented to the peer review … their (hydrogeological) report did go to the conservation authority and it was rejected.”
White continued, “So the CRC hydro-g material has been looked at by everyone and isn’t accepted by anyone and the James Dick material and the township peer review material has been accepted by all approval authorities, so I think that has to say an awful lot about this application.”
White told council the current Greenlands designation in the Official Plan does permit aggregate production and there are exceptions to the Greenlands protection for forest features under an expectation for forests “planted for purposes of management and cultivation.”
He said the existing tree stand on the property was “planted for removal because this property has been identified since the early ‘90s” as an aggregate resource.
“We encourage you to take a serious, hard look at our application. We are certainly prepared to work with the county and respond to any questions and concerns,” White stated.
Asked by councillor Gregg Davidson about the lifespan of the quarry, White replied, “I think were looking at 20 years, approximately 20 years, depending on the market … market determines the rate of extraction.”
Planning director Gary Cousins told the Advertiser that council and the planning committee “have received some good information from both the applicant and the CRC” and are “listening carefully” at this point.
He anticipates a public meeting will be held in the near future.
