A planning consultant hired by Guelph-Eramosa Township has recommended in-principle approval of a zoning bylaw amendment for a quarry near Rockwood.
The 89-page report, posted online on Sept. 3 in advance of its presentation to council on Sept. 10, was prepared by Elizabeth Howson of Macaulay Shiomi Howson Ltd.
It recommends the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) approve the James Dick Construction Limited (JDCL) application “in principle, subject to detailed conditions” being met “to the satisfaction of the township in consultation with the Region of Halton, Town of Halton Hills and Town of Milton and County of Wellington” as well as other appropriate agencies.
The recommendation specifically mentions conditions “established through the Aggregate Resources Act licence approval,” Guelph-Eramosa’s zoning bylaw process “and through other available mechanisms.”
In December 2012 the township received a completed application from JDCL to rezone land southeast of Rockwood – from agriculture and hazard land to extractive industrial – to pave the way for the company’s proposed quarry.
This May the company took the zoning amendment to the OMB, “citing council’s lack of decision on the application,” the report said.
The OMB is now responsible for making the decision regarding the zoning amendment application.
The planning report states the OMB has received the appeal and has scheduled a pre-hearing for Nov. 9. Guelph-Eramosa Mayor Chris White said he believes council will state the township’s position prior to that date.
The proposed site, about 39.4 hectares (100 acres) in size, is located at the northeast corner of Highway 7 and the 6th Line. The quarry proposal includes extraction above and below the established groundwater table at a rate of up to 700,000 tonnes of aggregate material annually.
Howson stated the report recommendation was formed after considering whether the quarry can “be permitted in a manner which provides an appropriate balance between all the various goals and objectives of the province and local community.”
She wrote that the township carried out a detailed technical review of the application and supporting reports, which showed the quarry can be permitted from a technical perspective.
The report states it’s anticipated there will be minimal impact, given that specific conditions, requirements and recommendations are met on hydrogeology, natural environment, air quality, traffic, haul route (study approval still outstanding), noise and blast vibration, archeology, cultural heritage, visual impact, agriculture, and economic impact.
JDCL spokesman Greg Sweetnam said the company is “pleased” with the report.
“The planning report is the culmination of three years of very hard work by both our company and by the peer review team that had been hired by the Township of Guelph Eramosa and it basically settles the technical case for the quarry,” Sweetnam told the Advertiser.
“There’s still some loose ends to be worked out, but it appears that in-principle the quarry impacts are acceptable.”
Howson said public input was also taken into consideration and the report specifically cites the contributions of the Concerned Residents Coalition (CRC). As of Sept. 1, there were 135 written submissions made by 95 individuals and 24 delegations to council from the CRC.
The report states all concerns have been reviewed by JDCL and their response has been reviewed by township consultants – and a number of changes have been proposed to the application involving hydrogeology, species at risk and the haul route study.
“Based on the policy and extensive technical and public review, in my opinion, the proposed quarry can, in principle, be developed in a manner which provides an appropriate balance between all the various goals and objectives of both the province and local community,” Howson wrote.
“It is appropriate, in my opinion after considering all the technical and public input to date, to make the mineral aggregate resource available for extraction given its proximity to the key GTA market and, the fact that based on the technical review, together with consideration of public input, extraction can be undertaken in a manner which minimizes social, economic and environmental impacts.”
However, a representative from the CRC said the organization’s concerns have yet to be adequately addressed.
“We certainly agree that (the hydrogeology, species at risk and the haul route study) are important, but … we think there’s lots of other ones that are important and they haven’t been adequately addressed by the applicant and aren’t adequately addressed by the planning report,” said CRC planning specialist Dan Kennaley.
“But certainly the fact that the haul route study is not even complete yet, nor has it been properly evaluated by the steering committee … (which) makes the planning report premature and also continues to make the application premature.”
Kennaley said the planning report is inadequate as it stands. He pointed out the fly rock issue hasn’t been investigated, there isn’t a set contingency plan for the impact on domestic wells, and the impact of the quarry on the cultural heritage landscape on the 6th Line hasn’t been adequately addressed.
“So far (from) our preliminary review of the planning report I expect that we will be asking council to actually oppose the quarry rather than take the position that it should be approved in-principle,” Kennaley said.
Sweetnam, on the other hand, said the planning report provides an unbiased review of the information presented by all concerned parties.
“People should take a sober look at the report because this report, more or less tells it like it is and it’s not flavoured by any bias one way or the other,” said Sweetnam.
“So before people make the choice to invest their hard-earned family savings into an opposition at an OMB hearing, they should know that an unbiased group of consultants and professionals have looked at the application very carefully and have been satisfied … that it’s not going to have the negative impact.
“We hope that it will focus the opposition to take some sober second thought at the information that they’ve been kind of waving around and hopefully it will shorten the approvals process so that we can work with them to address their fears in a more efficient way.”
Guelph-Eramosa council was scheduled to officially receive the report on Sept. 10 at 7pm at Rockmosa Community Centre and the public will have a chance to provide input at a meeting on Sept. 15, also at 7pm at Rockmosa Community Centre.
White said after the meetings “council will decide through legal advice and planning advice and advice from … stakeholders, we will state our position.”
The full report is available at http://www.get.on.ca/hiddenquarry.
