By Dan Singleton
MVP Staff
Mountain View County’s municipal planning commission has approved a development permit for an aggregate extraction and processing facility in the Eagle Hill-Westward Ho rural community.
The move came by way of motion during the commission’s recent regularly scheduled meeting in council chambers.
The 50-hectare subject parcel is located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Rge. Rd. 41 and Highway 587 on the county's northern boundary.
The owner and applicant is Central City Asphalt Ltd. The permit also includes berming at the site.
The subject parcel was rezoned from agricultural district to aggregate extraction and processing in January together with 80 acres in the NW 23-4-4-5 and 64.62 acres in the NE 22-34-4-5.
“The applicant is applying for a wet pit extraction pit with all associated pit operations including stripping and stockpiling, aggregate extraction, loading, crushing, hauling and truck traffic,” administration said in a briefing note to the commission.
“In addition the applicant is proposing to place berms to provide visual and noise mitigation on the north, easterly and westerly portions of the property and is limited to 50 hectares in order to retain a 165-metre undisturbed buffer from dwellings to the north, east and west.”
The proposal will include two types of berms: construction overburden berms approximately 3.5 metres high around the processing area to deflect noise; and topsoil/subsoil berms between operation to reduce noise and visual impact of approximately two metres in height, members heard.
“The applicant states that the estimated volumes of material to be removed from the site are 1.2 million cubic metres with the processing and stockpiling of 50,000 cubic metres per year.”
Gravel pits of this size are considered Class 1 pits by Alberta Environment and require provincial registration, members heard.
“Administration has contacted Alberta Environment and the applicant has not submitted an application to the province at this time (April 18). Through conversations with the applicant, this will be completed, and any additional permitting requirements, should the development permit be approved.”
The commission has received a number of letters of objection to the proposal, with letter writers expressing concerns over air quality, hours of operation, impacts on property values, environmental concerns vis-à-vis the Eagle Creek, and flooding concerns.
One letter writer said, in part, that, “The negative impacts of this operation will be greatly felt by all residents surrounding the gravel pit. We would be one of the most impacted residents as this operation will exist within hundreds of feet from our home. We do not feel that ‘rubber-stamping’ a standard aggregate extraction permit is applicable in this situation.”
Another letter writer stated, in part, that, “Mountain View County and gravel pit companies insist that the operation of these gravel extraction/asphalt companies do not affect our property values. This in fact is not correct.
“If Mountain View County and gravel pit companies truly believe this then they should be willing to guarantee that our property values will not decrease due to the continued addition of gravel pits in our area and be willing to pay out our assessed value when the residents decide to sell.”
In a letter received by the county responding to resident concerns, the applicant said it has plans in place to address concerns.
The approved development permit comes with a number of conditions, including the following:
• That the applicant shall enter into a road use agreement with Red Deer County which will confirm the haul route and any road upgrade requirements prior to pit operations.
• That regular hours of operation for the gravel pit including stripping and stockpiling, aggregate extraction, loading, crushing, hauling and truck traffic shall be Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• That the applicant shall provide dust control within the operation of the gravel pit to ensure there are no adverse impacts to adjacent landowners and residences.
• All trucks leaving the pit shall be free of materials outside of the haul box of the vehicle.
• Positive drainage shall be maintained throughout the life of the pit and shall be in consultation with Mountain View County.
• The applicant shall ensure all gravel pit operations meet required setbacks as determined by Alberta Energy Regulator.
