Quarry, business expansion, community safety hot topics at debate

The proposed quarry, business development, environmental preservation and pedestrian safety were some of the hot-button topics covered during all-candidates debates at the Marden and Rockmosa community centres on Oct. 1 and 2.

Each meeting spanned roughly two hours and included a brief introduction from each candidate, followed by a question and answer period with members of the community.

The ‘hidden’ quarry

A highly contested issue within the township for some time, it came as no surprise that a number of questions directed at candidates involved the prospective rezoning of 61 acres at the northeast corner of 6th Line and Highway 7 for a pit that will produce sand, gravel and dolostone. It also aroused some of the most impassioned responses from council-hopefuls.

Ward 3 council candidate Louise Marshall said she is concerned the pit may affect the water table in surrounding areas such as Eden Mills.

“This quarry is in a very densely populated area with farms and homes. I’m afraid of the 26 trucks an hour that are planning to go down there and if you change the water table you dry up wells (in one place) and flood basements (in another),” she said.

Mayoral candidate John Scott said the large area of land surrounding the quarry site is also problematic.

“What if they want to continue to develop this quarry? We have no idea – the size of the rock formation that’s available for them to take is extensive,” he said.

Ward 4 council candidate Mark Bouwmeester said one does not need any background experience in land-zoning to see allowing a quarry to be established in Rockwood is a bad idea.

“This is an absolutely insane location for a quarry on the edge of an urban centre,” he said. “While we all need aggregate, I’m against the hidden quarry application as it stands. I’m committed to a fair and thorough investigation of the application and will defend that vigorously.”

Robbin Wood said he needed more information before he could form a final opinion on the issue. “I’m not a huge fan of quarries. I know there is a place for them, but I don’t know that it’s so close to our community,” he said. “It’s not something I see a lot of pluses for but all the issues aren’t settled yet so my final decision hasn’t been made.”

Incumbent Chris White said some possible effects of the quarry may include: increased traffic and cracked home foundations due to blasting. He said if no solutions were brought forward to assuage these concerns, the application would continue to receive resistance.

“If they can’t fix these issues, if these cannot be resolved, which is the CRC’s position, I will not be supporting the quarry,” said White.

“And I will tell you this: I deeply care for this community. I fought for rural garbage pick-up and I won. I fought for a medical centre and I won. I fought for an ambulance and I won. I fought for new schools and I won. I’m going to fight this quarry if that’s necessary, and I will win.”

The environment

Both ends of the township were eager to know what candidates plan to do to continue environmental stewardship in their communities. While many contenders voiced a personal interest in sustainability, they said larger projects are unrealistic at the municipal level.

Mayoral candidates Scott and White highlighted recent work done by the Green Legacy Program to promote tree planting and environmental education in schools.

“Part of what we’ve done here, although small, is the use of trees,” Scott said. “Growing young trees for the Green Legacy Program, it’s a small project but we’re still doing it. As far as the overall operation of our municipality, I know for example we’ve taken strides, even changing all the lighting in our buildings.”

White said, “At the lower tier municipality we don’t have a large footprint, but there’s things we can do. We’ve passed a resolution to promote tree planting … we supported a grassroots effort from Eden Mills to support going carbon neutral … so the things we have control over … things we can help support, we’re doing.”

Because the municipality receives a limited percentage of overall tax revenue, the majority of that money needs to be funneled into core services and infrastructure improvements, candidates told the audience.

“I probably wouldn’t support a lot of lower tax dollars going toward planting trees and stuff like that,” said Bouwmeester. “I might not get a lot of support from some people but I think the reality is, in this economic climate that’s the responsibility of other levels of government.”

County council Ward 7 hopeful Kevin Johnson was of the same opinion, “I’m a core services guy. I think the government should do very, very few things, but I think they should do them very, very well,” he said. “We need to go back and review programs to see where we can trim some unnecessary things.”

Another resident wanted to know why Wellington County doesn’t have a green-bin composting program.

Johnson said the cost of implementing a county-wide pick-up similar to programs in Guelph and Cambridge wouldn’t be worthwhile for the number of people who actually utilize the service. He said educating people on how to compost themselves  would be a more worthwhile venture.

“My parents live in Cambridge and when I’ve been there visiting, the green bins haven’t been out, people aren’t using them,” he says. “When I went door-to-door … the majority of responses were, ‘it’s yucky.’ If you teach people how to compost properly it doesn’t smell.”

Acclaimed Ward 8 county councillor Doug Breen said the fossil fuels emitted from trucks picking up compost negates the purpose of green bins.

“I live on probably the smallest lot in Rockwood and I compost. If everyone is composting in their own backyard, I don’t see the point of having huge, diesel-fueled trucks driving around collecting it.”

White said starting this October a committee recently established at the county level, will be examining the effects of climate change across all seven lower-tier municipalities.

“The county will have a much greater impact on this across the board with the implementation of resources,” White said. “The environment’s a huge issue for us, the county already does a lot of good work and I think this is the best place for the county to work with the other partners.”

Economic development

Another lengthy discussion revolved around the need for increased industrial and commercial growth.

White says because Rockwood is so close to Guelph, the city acts like a vacuum drawing in shoppers and making it difficult for new businesses to succeed. Rockwood’s geographic layout has also caused a schism within the town itself.

“There are some things working against it; businesses are spread out, they’re on a hill, it’s a busy highway – so at the end of the day, businesses have to up their game,” he said. “What we have done for the downtown in Rockwood is put in a privately-funded medical centre, renovated the cenotaph, cleaned up the church fence and put in sidewalks.”

John Scott said work needs to be done to make Rockwood a destination and not just a pass-through – whether that is through marketing the conservation area more effectively or creating a dialogue with current downtown landlords.

“There are too many blank storefronts. A reality unfortunately is many of those stores actually have absentee landlords [that] dictate whatever price they want to have for real estate and they’re basically placing themselves out of the market,” he said. “We could, as a township, get together with those landlords and say this is … what we’d like to [see].”

Bouwmeester said since Rockwood is their home, it is the residents’ responsibility to make it a vibrant place to live. “We either have to drive to Guelph or Milton or Acton for everything or we can say, ‘okay how can we have more here,’” he said. “The flip side of that is it lowers the tax burden on residential home owners and since there’s been so much residential growth, particularly in Rockwood, it’s off balance.”

Marshall said the absence of a business association in Rockwood might be hindering communication among owners.

“I shop in Rockwood myself, but I can’t make my neighbours shop in Rockwood. I remember one man telling me there were weeks that went by where he never crossed that bridge into Rockwood, so it’s almost a mindset you have to change,” she said.

“It’s a difficult question that I don’t know we can legislate the answer to … because we’re a heavily taxed community, a committee of volunteers might be able to help.”

To a similar effect, acclaimed Ward 1 councillor David Wolk said Rockwood residents need to speak up about what they want to see in their town.

“We have had businesses come in here, they’re not supported and then they leave. There needs to be a stronger representation of what you would like to have here so the township can facilitate (that),” he said.

Johnson agreed. “This issue is dear to my heart. It’s about bringing the right businesses … and long-term business that will stay in the community.”

White said a recently established economic development committee at the county level will help provide some solutions to the problem. In the meantime, council is doing what it can at the lower level.

“Rockwood will stop growing, as will the township, so we need to diversify our industrial and commercial basis to continue to provide services going forward,” White said.

“We’re talking about a Timmies, we’re talking about a potential grocery store, so whatever the municipality controls, we try to improve and bring it home.”

School safety in Rockwood

In the last year Rockwood has grown from having one school to two, with plans for a third in the works, which  is raising concerns about traffic on Highway 7 and Wellington  Road 27 (Main Street).

Previous requests had been denied, but many Rockwood residents say it is time to again lobby for a community safety zone.

Bouwmeester said it tops the list of his priorities.

“On the highway somebody’s going to get murdered there – whether it’s a school crossing guard or a student, and if I’m elected I’m going to try and get lights there,” he said.

Breen said it is especially a problem in the south end and was an issue that eventually would reach a “critical mass”. He said in the last decade growth has exploded in the town, increasing traffic flow.

“A policeman actually told us last night that they were concerned that the crossing guard was actually going to get killed by traffic. Never mind the kids they were trying to get across the road,” he said. “I would be in favour of a community safety zone however you want to define that.”

Upper Grand School Board trustee candidates Kathryn Cooper and Brandon Moyer said they are willing to work with council and the ministry to ensure pedestrian safety around their schools.

“It’s always better when multiple people get together to address a situation than one individual person,” Moyer said. “I don’t think anybody should have to get injured or scared by any kind of traffic before something gets done.”

Cooper said, “We do have the Minister of Education in Guelph and she’s been a trustee on the UGDSB. Maybe we can get her somehow engaged and pulling some strings with the Ministry of Transportation.”

County council Ward 7 candidate Don McKay said he has fought to have a similar community safety zone implemented in Morriston.

“I petitioned and got a safety zone (there). I worked with the county staff to make that happen. I worked with the residents to make that happen. I’ve worked with the OPP and the Ministry of Community services … If you’d like some advice let me know.”

Scott said recent expansion on Harris Street makes that area a problem as well.

“[It] is just as much of a problem area due to new housing developments and the lack of sidewalks … so how do we reduce the speed limit on that road as well? It’s a combined problem,” he said.

White said the recent implementation of sidewalks in Rockwood was the first step in combatting the issue of pedestrian safety in the village – but at this point it’s not enough.

“We thought the crosswalks would save people, but they’re not,” White told the audience. “I spoke to (MPP) Ted Arnott, I went to the [MTO], telling them that we absolutely need a traffic light down there … we need to go to the next level.”

 

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