Mountain View County councillors have given first reading to a bylaw that would amend the land use bylaw to create a separate aggregate extraction and processing district.
The vote came during the regularly scheduled June 25 council meeting following months of work by the aggregate extraction committee.
Under the change, new extraction operations, including for gravel pits, would require re-designation prior to further development.
Current gravel pit and mining operations are considered discretionary uses under the agriculture and heavy industry districts.
In 2013 council instructed administration to explore the possibility of creating a new district to accommodate gravel pits and mining operations.
The aggregate processing and extraction committee was created to examine a possible re-designation. The committee made its final report to council in May.
The new district would accommodate anything that is “mined”, which includes sand, gravel, peat, clay, shale and stone. Additional uses such as heavy equipment training facilities and portable batch plants (which are used in the preparation of concrete and asphalt aggregate mixtures) would also fall under the new district.
Under the new district, all proposed gravel pits and other uses defined under the district would be required to be appropriately re-designated prior to any development permit applications being accepted, council heard.
“Re-designations are a public process and require circulation to the adjacent landowners, advertisements, and a public hearing prior to being considered by council. This gives an opportunity to all who may be affected to voice their concerns in front of council. Gravel pit or extraction operations would not be permitted in any other district,” John Rusling, director of planning, said in a note to council.
Under the new district, “aggregate extraction shall not be permitted within 165 metres of an existing dwelling, nor shall a dwelling be permitted within 165 metres of an aggregate extraction operation. This minimum setback requirement shall not be applicable if an existing dwelling is on the same parcel as a proposed aggregate resource extraction operation.”
Another section reads that the “approving authority shall require the applicant to submit a comprehensive site development plan.”
Existing gravel pits would not be required to re-designate until such time as their permit expires, is modified, amended or expanded.
“These operations can continue until such time as a new development permit is required. Any pit operations working without the appropriate permits in place will require re-designation and will not be grandfathered. County pits will also require appropriate re-designation through the public hearing process,” he said.
Re-designation would not be required for borrow pits, which are one-time uses where excavations are dug to provide material for fill at another location, he said.
As well as giving first reading to the amending bylaw, councillors also set an Aug. 27 public hearing date for the bylaw.
Minor changes will have to be made to the municipal development plan to accommodate the new district. Those changes will also go to public hearing on Aug. 27.
