Wellington North council has set a precedent by voting in favour of two aggregate haul route agreements that would bring in extra revenue for infrastructure upgrades.
In September council directed staff to negotiate an agreement with applicants for the Ghent Pit and Stack Pit, both located on Concession 4N.
CAO Mike Givens brought forward a draft agreement at the Dec. 5 council meeting.
Council voted 3-2 in favour of adopting the agreement, with councillors Steve McCabe and Sherry Burke opposed.
The agreements include a one-time $10,000 contribution to be used as the operator’s share of the haul route upgrades and maintenance, an additional annual contribution of $0.06 per tonne, installation of truck entrance signs at the operator’s expense and compliance with seasonal half-load restrictions.
“Both agreements are basically parallel to each other,” Givens said in an interview after the meeting.
“The biggest issue that council raised, and I think residents in the area have raised, is that the increased traffic from the gravel trucks that are basically going to be along the road will impact the road.
“The idea is to have these agreements in place so there’s additional funds to lessen any impact that there may be on the road.”
McCabe said in an interview he was opposed to the principle of allowing new gravel pits – not to the agreement itself – when he voted in opposition.
“Mike Givens worked long and hard and put a lot of effort in this agreement, which is good for the township in the long run, but it’s just the principles of it that I still have some issue with,” he said.
McCabe added he doesn’t see the need for new pits in the township, noting these pits will take “good agricultural land out of production.”
However, Mayor Andy Lennox said in an interview with the Advertiser that’s not the township’s fight.
“Unfortunately that’s not really a decision we get to make at the local level; it’s really governed by provincial policy,” he said.
“But given the fact that provincial policy does say under the circumstances we are going to have gravel pits there we don’t want it to have any negative impacts … on the township as a whole and on the neighbours and neighbourhood.”
Council approved the Ghent Pit rezoning application in January, but it has been appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board by the Citizens Coalition of Wellington North. The next hearing is set for Jan. 24, 2017.
Council has not yet approved the Stack Pit rezoning application.
But the haul route agreements have set a precedent for any future gravel pit application in the township.
“Certainly staff and council talked about that, yes. This is kind of laying the framework for any future applications,” said Givens.
Lennox said these agreements will help recoup costs.
“The fees that are already collected on gravel extraction are really hardly enough to compensate for the cost associated with it,” he said.
“Until that changes, I think we’re going to be looking for things like these haulage agreements to try to make sure the impact on the road and the neighbours are minimized.”
