CBM applies for another aggregate pit in Puslinch

PUSLINCH – CBM is applying for another below-the-water-table aggregate licence in Puslinch, this one at 4454 Victoria Rd. S. called the Anthony Pit.

This application is different in a few ways from those the township typically receives, council heard at its Aug. 26 meeting. It is:

• on leased property with the property owner living on site;
• for a short extraction period (three years, MHBC Planning Ltd. planner Neal DeRuyter explained to council); and
• very close to Mini Lakes Condominium Community, which caused councillors to worry about the safety of that community’s water and wastewater treatment systems with below water table extraction proposed nearby.

“The site is adjacent to a sewage field. That was an item we are aware of,” DeRuyter said to a question from councillor Sara Bailey, who noted Mini Lakes already has a “precarious” water and wastewater treatment system.

“I would like to see a risk assessment,” she said.

“I see a lot of red flags,” councillor Russel Hurst agreed. “The unintended consequences could be astronomical.”

The property is said to have one million tonnes of high-quality sand and gravel resources within the proposed extraction area and the maximum annual tonnage the company is seeking is one million tonnes.

Hurst asked about the timeline. DeRuyter said CBM expects to complete extraction and rehabilitation in about three years.

The material would be hauled to the Aberfoyle Pit on Concession Road 7 for processing.

“There will be no on-site processing of aggregate at the Anthony Pit,” DeRuyter’s report states.

Mayor James Seeley said Brock University is developing standards for pit rehabilitation that returns land  to agriculture and he hopes CBM could use those standards when it rehabilitates this property.

Council raised ongoing issues it has with other aggregate pits, including heavy trucks travelling on Puslinch roads, trucks lining up along roads ahead of hours of operation (staging), and the value of tearing up agricultural land with significant woodlots and wetlands nearby, for little return.

“This is another gravel pit in a dense residential area. It will impact the community,” Hurst said. “I question the value of doing it.”

DeRuyter said he will take the concerns to CBM for discussion.

Council was not asked to approve the pit that day, only to deem the application complete, which it did. That allows peer reviewers to review the studies and offer comment, and for a public meeting to be held.

The application will return to council for consideration of the zoning change application.