Dear Editor:
RE: Province gives green light to controversial ‘Hidden Quarry’ after 13-year saga, Dec. 11.
The largest reason that the fight against the Hidden Quarry was lost is because Guelph/Eramosa council abandoned the people fighting against the quarry by not calling a case and presenting evidence at the hearing.
The Ontario Land Tribunal would have better understood by the township’s presence at the hearing the significance of the problems with the quarry.
On top of that, the additional resources that a township case would have brought to bear would have meant a more thorough investigation and presentation of those problems.
So for the mayor to suggest that the matter was outside of the township’s control is inaccurate and repugnant. They could have helped, but chose not to.
The comments of Greg Sweetnam from James Dick Construction, the owner of the quarry, that quarries across the province haven’t proved a problem over hundreds of years flies in the face of the 2023 Ontario Auditor General’s damming report concerning the lack of compliance with the site plans of aggregate operators and the lack of enforcement by the Provincial Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.
The Auditor General’s report found significant failures in oversight, inspection and enforcement, leading to widespread non-compliance, environmental risks (dust, noise, water) and delayed rehabilitation with municipalities and communities bearing the brunt of negative impacts.
Guelph/Eramosa council’s deplorable performance with regards to the Hidden Quarry serves as an important lesson for any community group fighting a development proposal in the township. For instance, the transport establishment that has been proposed on Highway 7.
At what had to be one of the largest public meetings ever held in the township, the community group opposed to the application did an excellent job of demonstrating why the application should be denied.
With a municipal election approaching in the fall of 2026, the community needs to make sure that, not only are the candidates opposed to such a bad proposal, but that they will not, once again, abandon the people if the matter gets referred to the Ontario Land Tribunal, and instead fight for what is right.
Dan Kennaley,
Rockwood
*Editor’s note: Guelph/Eramosa Township did appear as a party at the Ontario Land Tribunal hearing, represented by a lawyer. The township also provided $70,000 to the Concerned Residents Coalition (CRC), which was used for CRC witnesses at the hearing.