"No choice but to approve quarry" : Mayor

This is taken from an article by Brendan Wedley of the Peterborough Examiner.


Municipalities can’t block the development of quarries, Galway-Cavendish and Harvey Mayor Janet Clarkson maintained Wednesday after township council gave planning approvals for a controversial new 432-acre quarry the day before.

The issue has galvanized the community with one meeting on the project drawing an estimated 500 people.

Even with council’s approval of official plan and zoning bylaw amendments Tuesday, there are more approvals needed before Dewdney Mountain Farms Ltd. can start its quarry on Ledge Rd. about 15 kilometres northwest of Buckhorn.

Galway-Cavendish and Harvey council will need to lift a hold that it put on the zoning change to give the township and developer time to negotiate over improvements to Ledge Rd. that it argues is needed to handle trucks carrying aggregate from the quarry. And the official plan amendment will be considered by Peterborough County council.

When the approvals are in place, the provincial government will consider whether to issue an operating licence for the proposed quarry.

With about 35 quarries in the township, the municipality’s roads are being battered by the trucks carrying aggregate from the pits, Clarkson said.

“The provincial government has said ‘there will be quarries,’” the mayor said. “Our roads are being destroyed, but at the end of the day our provincial government is pulling the strings.”

Clarkson voted in favour of the planning applications for the quarry, but she argues council decided it didn’t have a choice on the matter after it discussed the issue with a lawyer and its professional planners. “It looks like the municipalities are making these decisions. These decisions are being mandated by the province,” she insisted. And there are more applications being prepared by developers for other quarries in the township, Clarkson added. “We’ve got too many,” she said. “There’s many more on the way.”

Groups such as the North Pigeon Lake Ratepayers’ Association and Stop the Quarry have lobbied against the project, citing concerns such as traffic, noise from blasting and the need to protect water sources.

Dewdney Mountain Farms Ltd. had several studies done to support its applications, including hydrogeology, noise, blasting impact, traffic impact, archeological and natural environment reviews. Those studies were peer reviewed by other professionals.

Adri Eastman, who lives on Ledge Rd., remains concerned about the quarry possibly affecting her well water and a nearby fish sanctuary. "We tried to talk with (council). We tried to reason with them. We’ve been giving them information,” she said. “They did have the opportunity to turn it down if they wanted to.”Eastman shared that she and her husband built their house in 2010 on a quiet country road. “I’m less than two kilometres from the quarry,” she said. “I built on a dead-end road thinking that I wasn’t going to have any neighbors out in the middle of nowhere.” Eastman tried to block the project by appealing a severance application to the Ontario Municipal Board in November. The quasi-judicial body decided in favour of the severance application last month.

After the expense of the first Ontario Municipal Board appeal, Eastman’s not sure if she’ll appeal the most recent decisions on the project. The Stop the Quarry group is going to discuss the option and possible fundraising for an appeal.

Clarkson commented she’s sure the item is destined to go to the Ontario Municipal Board, whether was from the company appealing against council’s rejection of the applications or in the current scenario the residents appealing council’s approval of the applications.

“It’s way better if it goes on their dollars than on ours,” she said.

Local Council approves OP and rezoning

On Jan 15th 2013, Council gave the go ahead and granted Dewdney Mountain Farms the ok for rezoning and change to the OP. This all needs to be ok'd by Peterborough County before a license can be issued.

Notice of Public Meeting

NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING  THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT! NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING to update you on issues regarding the local QUARRIES SATURDAY DECEMBER 8th 2012   10 AM At the CKL BOBCAYGEON SERVICE CENTRE   At the lights, intersection of King and #36,  123 East Street South, Bobcaygeon. Upper entrance. (across from the Legion) COME AND HEAR THESE EXPERT SPEAKERS ADDRESS THE ISSUES WE ARE FACING: Ross Morton   President of the North Pigeon Lake Ratepayers Association  Moreen Miller  CEO - Ontario Gravel Sand and Stone Association  Stephen Janes   P. Eng. - Urban Planning and Environment  Ric Holt  Professor - President of Gravel Watch Ontario  Adri Eastman Community Leader - Galway Cavendish Harvey Township  Council representatives have been invited Written questions will be submitted for the Q&A. Closing Comments by Ross Morton PLEASE ATTEND. YOUR PRESENCE IS VITAL !!! Thank you! To support us with your valued membership or for more information please go to www.nplra.ca Note:  Please forward this to anyone you think wants to receive this notice. If you do not want to receive these notices please go to the link below and your name will be removed from the list. Miriam Newton NPLRA Membership & Publicity Bobcaygeon, Ontario K0M 1A0 705 300 2196

Thank you for all the support!

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

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

Studies presented by the applicant

All the reports and peer reviews can be found here

656 hits in 2 days...

Glad that this blog is reaching so many people. So far at this moment we have had 656 hits in 2 days, amazing since up until a couple of days ago no one even knew about this proposed "Mega Quarry" and concrete plant! Thanks to everyone who showed up to the Council Meeting today in support, or rather opposition to this Quarry. I know I speak for everyone in the neighborhood saying thank you, we appreciate it! We're not done! Keep spreading the word!

Ministry of Natural Resourses Contact Information

Well it seemed that Paul Cutmore had better things to do than to attend our council meeting to hear our concerns... so here is all the information you need to get a hold of him! I would strongly suggest calling him and letting him know ALL the information he missed today!

Paul Cutmore
Aggregate Inspector
Ministry of Natural Resources
Regional Operations Division
Southern Region
Peterborough District
300 Water Street
Floor 1
Robinson Place South Tower
Peterborough Ontario
K9J 8M5
Phone: (705) 755-3110
Fax: (705) 755-3125

Traffic Issues

How would you feel if there was to be an estimated 50 trucks a day passing by your home? We did the math and here is what it equates to...

Based on an 8 hour day
50 truck a day = 6.25 trucks per hour = a truck every 9.6 minutes (one way) = a truck passing by our homes every 4.8 minutes!!!

We live here because we love the peace and quiet this area has to offer, kinda hard to do when there is a semi or dump truck passing by your home every 4.8 minutes.

These numbers are only ones that have been thrown out there, no one seems to have exact numbers on how many exactly there will be.

Stop the Quarry

  We feel like we have no choice but to make our frustrations public. Any one who has any interest in enjoying Ledge Rd or the surrounding area as is currently stands is invited to attend a public Town meeting Tuesday April  10  at Galway Harvey Cavendish municipal office at 1pm to stop a concrete plant and mega quarry, being a resident of the affected area, I hope to see all there that this may impact!