Wellington North council has passed a zoning bylaw amendment that will allow asphalt and concrete recycling at the Reeves gravel pit.
Council approved the amendment unanimously, without discussion, at the Nov. 9 meeting.
During a public meeting earlier in the evening, council heard from Wellington County planning and environment manager Mark Van Patter as well as two residents with concerns about the pit.
Van Patter explained the zoning amendment would allow the recycling of asphalt and concrete on site to be blended with sand and gravel.
The Reeves pit, owned by Douglas, Peter, Scott and Edwin Reeves, has a licence for 40,000 tonnes of extraction per year and has existed for 35 years.
“This is a fairly straightforward application,” said Van Patter. He added the province is strongly encouraging on-site recycling to prevent material from ending up in a landfill.
Van Patter explained he was unsure about the amount of recycled material that would be removed from the site, but added a similar situation in Mapleton involves about 5,000 tonnes per year.
“There is also a proposed extraction increase (for this site) … to increase the tonnage rate from 40,000 to 80,000 tonnes per year. In my mind it’s separate and unrelated to this proposal,” added Van Patter.
Wellington North resident Cliff Booi was concerned about extending the life of the already-aged pit and asked if putting a sunset clause on the amendment was possible.
“I don’t think I’m supportive of that. I think that gravel pits, part of their policy is that they don’t need to demonstrate need, so putting a sunset clause on it almost seems like indirectly giving it a question of need,” said Van Patter.
Booi said his concern “is if it gets secondary use industrial extractive it is exhausting the aggregate so there’s no incentive for them to remove the licence.
“I think the last thing Wellington North needs is a another aggregate operation that’s going to last indefinitely,” he added.
John Northcote, another resident, asked if the recycled material becomes part of the extraction rate limit. Van Patter said he did not believe so.
Northcote said he was concerned because Van Patter implied the pit would extract 5,000 tonnes of recycled material, but was not sure of the amount.
Northcote added the bylaw amendment could allow the pit to become a primary recycling facility instead of gravel extraction.
Council members did not ask questions during the public meeting, nor did anyone from the Reeves pit speak for the rezoning.
