Mountain View County council has given approval to a land use bylaw amendment that creates an aggregate extraction/processing district.
Gravel pits are among operations covered by the change.
Reeve Bruce Beattie said the new district will allow for more public input into future gravel pits and other aggregate extraction operations.
“It was a long process with a fair amount of public and industry input and I think that it will bring clarity around all gravel pits in the entire county,” said Beattie.
“Obviously they (gravel pits) impact residents and transportation links so we needed to make sure we had a better handle on where resource extraction might take place. This change ensures that developments that are in that process are doing it in an environmentally sensitive way and that serves the needs of residents and ratepayers.”
The second and third reading votes on the bylaw amendment came during the regularly scheduled council meeting on Oct. 22. The amendment received first reading on June 25 and the public hearing was held on Aug. 27.
The new district requires anyone wishing to conduct new aggregate extraction – which includes gravel, peat, clay, shale or stone – to have their land re-designated prior to the aggregate development permit applications being accepted.
Re-designations are a public process, which, among other things, requires notification of adjacent landowners, advertisements and public hearings prior to being considered by council.
Additional unique uses under the new district include heavy equipment training facilities, portable batch plants, and work/lay down camps.
Existing gravel pits will not be required to re-designate until such time as the existing permit expires, is modified, amended or expanded.
In the past, aggregate development fell under agriculture and heavy industry districts and did not require re-designation.
The new district includes setback requirements for aggregate operations, with 165-metre radius required for occupied lots to be measured from existing dwellings for a residential lot. If the residential parcel does not contain a dwelling the radius is measured from the applicable yard setback.
The new district also requires sound mitigation measures be in place for aggregate operations.
The approving authority may impose conditions on aggregate processing, including setting standard hours of operation, parameters of operation, buffering and noise attenuation, road use agreement, reclamation schedules and environmental protection measures.
Regarding review and reapplication under the district, Section 10.8 reads: “The approving authority shall require a review of the development permit every 10 years for compliance.”
As well as the land use bylaw amendment, councillors also approved a related amendment to the municipal development plan.
That amendment reads: “applications for new or expansion of existing aggregate extraction/processing shall be subject to redesignation and the provisions of the land use bylaw.”
