Mountain View County council has given first reading of a proposed land use bylaw re-designation for the expansion of an existing aggregate extraction operation in the Elkton-Rugby rural neighbourhood.
Councillors also set the public hearing date for the re-designation.
The application is Richardson Bros. Ltd., and the property owner is Curtis Ray and Bonita Jean Penner.
The property is located in Division 2 at SW 30-30-4-5, approximately five kilometres north of Cremona on Highway 22 and four kilometres west on Twp. Rd. 304.
The re-designation will be from agricultural district to aggregate extraction/processing district and will cover 25.99 acres.
“The purpose of the application is to request a re-designation of the additional 10.8 ha of future development from agriculture to aggregate extraction/processing as well as obtain a development permit that encompasses the entire pit,” the applicant said in a comprehensive development plan sent to the county.
“This pit has been in operation for many years under the assumption the entire quarter section was covered under the current development permit, issued in 2014. The applicant has been informed that this is not the case and therefore they wish to obtain the proper permitting to ensure compliance.”
Although the pit is not operated on a continuous basis, when in operation the typical hours of operation are from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday.
“Typically operations are not in progress from Nov. to March, however, operational season are weather dependent. No extended hours of operation will be required.”
It is anticipated that between 10,000 and 20,000 tonnes of aggregate would be extracted from the site annually.
Regarding methods to minimize adverse impacts to surrounding neighbours, the plan states, in part, that “trees to the north and east will not be moved to maintain a visual as well as acoustical buffer. Stockpiles will be placed in areas to surround the active area as much as possible to reduce any acoustic nuisance.
“During dry times water will be used to spray the access road and working area to reduce any dust that may become an issue.”
In a letter received by the county, one nearby landowner stated, in part, that, “As you can imagine, our main concerns are noise, dust and an unsightly view. The gravel pit will impact our quality of life through loss of beauty, loss of peace and quiet, and decreased air quality.
“There is not much you can do about noise; even the current operations are noisy when the pit is active. You probably can’t do much about the dust either as the prevailing wind in the summer tends to be from the southwest.”
In a letter responding to the landowner’s concerns, the applicant said, in part, that noise and dust mitigation measures will be in place.
“In regard to the visual barrier of trees on the north side of the operation, we strive to be good neighbours and are happy to leave as many trees as possible to create the visual barrier mentioned,” the applicant stated in the letter.
The public hearing for the proposed re-designation has been set for May 8 in council chambers.
