Modernization of Approvals?

This EBR posting states that "the MNR is going to streamline the permitting, licensing and approvals processes to help individuals and businesses access these services faster and more efficiently. The goal is to provide faster and improved services and to reduce the burden on individuals, businesses and government."

Translation: The MNR would like to fast track these developments before anyone knows what is going on. Making local government powerless to make decisions based on what is best for their communities. Get your comments in ASAP! Deadline in November 13th 2012.

Click HERE for the link. Get your comments in ASAP! Deadline in November 13th 2012

Thank you for all the support!

It was standing room only yesterday during the NPLRA delegation infront of council! Lets hope they heard us!

Aggregate Review on hold

Photo Credit: National Post

In the wake of Dalton McGuinty stepping down on Monday Oct 15th as the Premier of Ontario, the legislature has been prorogued until a new Premier is elected.

This basically means that anything that was happening legislatively is effectively dropped.

Click HERE to read the article in its entirety at Orangeville.com.

Why is June 23rd so important?

Many people are asking why the June 23rd meeting is so important to attend? It is important for a few reasons. It will give you a chance to be more informed about what is going on, a better idea of the whole picture. This is the last chance to oppose at the municipal level. This proposal is destined to go to the OMB (Ontario Municipal Board) It is our job to convince council to force Mr. Ritchie to take it to the OMB (on his dime) and not the community. The more bodies that show up to this meeting, the clearer the message. If one does not show opposition at this level then they cannot oppose it once it gets to the OMB level. Please set aside 2 hours of your day next Saturday June 23rd at 10am and stand by your neighbor together we can Stop This Quarry!

Informational Meeting

Meeting Date officially changed due to poor weather forecast. Rain date is Sunday June 10th 11:30am

We have retained a Planner! He will be coming up Saturday June 9th. You are all invited to join us at 11:30 at 2024 Ledge Rd. Please bring your own lawn chairs. This will be a very important meeting regarding the up coming June 23rd Meeting at Caygeon Lanes. He will be offering us strategy regarding our next steps. Prior to the meeting we will be accompanying him to the site, through the haul route and to surrounding communities so he has a feel for the area and what we are up against.  We at this point have raised the funds to retain Mr. Rowe but this will only take us to the preliminary review stage. Fundraising will be a must and we are as always still accepting donations (there is a donation box at the Bobcaygeon Chamber of Commerce) any little bit helps, cash, check, loose change.

   As you have all seen the council has put notice in The Promoter and Kawartha Lakes this Week regarding the up coming meeting. We need as many people as possible to attend this meeting, council has to know that we are serious about this issue and have previously scoffed that only about 150 turned up against another proposed quarry. This doesn't just affect a small area, Bobcaygeon and surrounding areas will be greatly affected. Noise and dust travel, and the increase in truck traffic on the roads will be unbelievable.

   I am happy to announce we now have a website, although this website will be going thru some drastic design changes in the next week or so you can simply access it through the url www.stopthisquarry.com

Looking forward to seeing you all Saturday!

HERE IS A VIDEO CLIP FROM A PUBLIC MEETING HELD ON THE MAY LONG WEEKEND

Short term benefits vs. long term impact

    Far to often the planning of land use is done using the short term impact approach. We need to take care when making decisions today, we need to consider how these decisions are going to affect future generations. We are more than ever more cautious of the way we do things, faced with a decision to make... Do we approve yet another quarry or do we say NO, enough quarries... for now. Lets maybe hold off on some new quarries until some of the thousands of quarries in operation in Ontario have reached their end. We understand the need for aggregates, but at what cost? First the trees are removed, this displaces animals from their natural habitats, then we start blasting away, making holes, consuming the surrounding water and what do we have left? A big hole in the ground, a concrete plant and silos sitting in the woods all boarded up because they have taken everything they can and have moved onto the next.

    We do more now than ever to protect what we have for future generations. We turn off lights to conserve energy, we compost and now more than ever before we recycle. We do ALL this for future generations.

    It is stated that "Government land use planning policies, as reflected in the Provincial Policy Statement, 2005 (PPS), give a high priority to aggregate operations". This is a social issue, not once did we hear about a study on the social impact that this is going to have. Many of us grew up here, others moved here to get away from the noise, pollution and fast pace that the cities suffer from. It is time that the government starts giving some priority to the people that live and/or vacation around these operations.

    We need to make decisions based on long term sustainability of the proposed land and all that surrounds it vs the short term benefits. 

    Join us at the Public Meeting on June 23rd to have your voice heard! We look forward to seeing you all there!

Video

Quarry Alley

Some of you have been wondering why we refer to Hwy 36 between Bobcaygeon and Buckhorn "Quarry Alley" The picture below should demonstrate why! Not hard to find on a map what is quarry. Upon closer look at this map we figure the image is about 4-5 years old! Wonder what it looks like now? Check back and we will post it when we get it!

Note: NONE of these quarries operate under "unlimited tonnage"