Dear Editor:
Guelph/Eramosa council blew it again.
They have advocated terms of reference for the Hidden Quarry Community Liaison Committee without public consultation by way of negotiations with the prospective quarry operator.
To add insult to injury, the public is now being denied a copy of the township’s Terms of Reference for no good reason and despite the Terms of Reference having been prepared at the taxpayers’ expense.
Township council should be ashamed of themselves.
During the hearing concerning the Hidden Quarry, a Community Liaison Committee (“CLC”) was recommended by the planner for the Concerned Resident’s Coalition, and in his decision, the presiding member of the Tribunal agreed, indicating that “for a quarry of this scale and duration, the Tribunal considers a CLC the appropriate conduit for sharing information and maintaining open communications.”
The Tribunal’s reference to open communications is now particularly ironic since the township is denying the public a copy of its Terms of Reference. And in the recent (December 2023) Ontario Auditor General’s damming report concerning the lack of compliance with the site plans of aggregate operators across the province and the lack of enforcement by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, it should be noted that a Community Liaison Committee with a strong terms of reference would have gone a long way towards holding the operator of the Hidden Quarry and the ministry accountable for compliance.
In these circumstances, for the township to not provide for public consultation and to now deny the public a copy of its terms of reference is undemocratic and repugnant.
The people of Guelph/Eramosa deserve better.
Dan Kennaley,
Rockwood
*Editor’s note: Guelph/Eramosa officials say the Community Liaison Committee is not a municipal committee (it will be run by the quarry proponent) and its terms of reference will be made publicly available by the province once a final order is issued by the Ontario Land tribunal.