Booi details opposition over proposed gravel pit license in Wellington North

Wellington North resident Cliff Booi has considerable concerns about H. Bye Construction’s Ghent Pit in the north end of the township.

In short, Booi said “Wellington North does not need more gravel licenses.” He asked council to deny the application.

On May 11, he spoke to council and presented a 23-page report outlining various concerns he has over the proposed gravel pit.

Booi had spoken at a previous public meeting regarding the gravel pit but this time was armed with more information to justify his position.

Alluding to existing gravel licences within Wellington County and the township, he said, “The demand for gravel is not increasing in either the county or the township. Demand has been below the 14-year average for the past five years.”

He said Wellington County has gravel licenses allowing the extraction of 34 million tonnes per year, of which only 25 per cent is being extracted.

The township is licensed for the extraction of 1.76 million tonnes but only 6.05% of existing licenses is utilized.

“That means the township could extract 16 times the amount it does and still be in compliance with existing licenses,” Booi said.

Relative to demand, he said Wellington North has three or four times more licenses than the county average.

“That means in Wellington North we have three to four times the amount of farmland tied up in gravel operations.”

He suggested this buffer allows the township to take a responsible approach in looking at future gravel pit operations.

Booi noted the applicant has repeatedly stated the gravel pit was temporary in nature and that the lands would be rehabilitated back to prime agriculture in 20 years.

“This simply can’t be the case,” said Booi, suggesting that based on the number of trucks per day the applicant stated would be used, it would take over 80 years for the gravel to be extracted.

Booi asked that council not consider a potential 80-year operation as “temporary” in nature.

He suggested the amount of new pits being approved be equal to the land area being rehabilitated back into prime agricultural land.

“Wellington North Township does not need to allocate any more land for aggregate extraction,” he again stressed.

He said it is not sustainable to continually rezone for aggregate without a balance of land being rezoned back to agricultural.

“It is not responsible to license every acre of land with gravel under it for industrial extraction. These pits need to have lifecycles. As one pit is rehabilitated to prime agricultural land another pit should be licensed.”

He also spoke to the preference of placing gravel pits on paved roadways as opposed to gravel roadways. Booi said the benefits are great enough that other townships have policies in place that require that new gravel pits be built along hard-top roadways.

“It is not H. Bye Construction’s responsibility to pave every road that they wish to have a gravel pit on. They would not be the only beneficiary of having the road paved.”

At the same time, Booi said the amount offered to the township to assist with road safety would be negligible in actually addressing costs that could be incurred by the municipality.

He said not all areas that are thought to have sand and gravel are appropriate for extraction.

“As we protect all areas within 300 meters of our towns and hamlets, it stands to reason that there may be other areas that are not appropriate for the same reasons,” Booi stated.

“In 1994 the Township of Arthur provided maps that outlined areas for new residential development within the township. The intersection of Concession 4N and Sideroad 3E was highlighted on this map (both roadways along the proposed property). Since this time two new residences have been built, the old Clare school house has been renovated into a permanent home, and a new school house has been built.”

While the official plan does not strictly prohibit the development of an aggregate resource within 300 meters of this settlement area, it does encourage municipalities to implement the spirit of the plan when considering new zoning bylaws, Booi said.

He noted there are already three gravel pits within a mile of Sideroad 3. While he agreed it is not always easy to say “enough is enough,” Booi said adding a fourth gravel pit to the area seems “beyond unfair to residents.”

Mayor Andy Lennox said he read Booi’s report and was amazed at the amount of detail.

Councillor Sherry Burke said “obviously a lot of time and effort went into this report,” adding she hopes when the matter returns to council, there will be further discussion.

“I hope this council will take this into consideration and all of the concerns of residents in the area. While we want economic growth in our municipality, we need to be careful.”

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