Sundre and surrounding area residents with concerns or questions about a newly proposed gravel pit west of town near the airport are invited to attend an open house next week.
The South McDougal Flats Area Protection Society plans to host a public forum on Tuesday, Aug. 15 at the McDougal Flats Hall ó located on the north side of Highway 584 west of Sundre ó starting at 7 p.m. and Robin Tudor, the society's president, invites anyone who is interested to drop by to fill out a survey to provide officials with feedback.
The proposed project is a joint, cost-shared effort between Mountain View County and Rolling Mix Concrete to re-designate approximately 800 acres of land east of the Sundre Airport and bordering the town along the north to aggregate extraction ó or a gravel pit ó from agricultural.
Background information about the project outlines plans to use progressive reclamation techniques that would open only 30 acres at a time, with the long-term end use of a regional day use park.
"There's always the concerns, for a gravel pit, of noise and dust and traffic," Tudor said during an interview with the Round Up.
"But in this one, there's a bunch of other concerns, like do we really need to open up another gravel pit with all of the other gravel pits we have around there?"
There are already six gravel extraction operations in that area and if this proposal goes through the overall footprint in the McDougal Flats area would be substantially increased, he said.
Additionally, an area structure plan drafted and developed by the county through feedback gathered from residents outlined and acknowledged a recurring concern that people not only do not always feel heard, but that their biggest concern is "uncontrolled proliferation of gravel pits," he said.
And despite a recommendation by the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties to in such circumstances prepare a cost benefit analysis first and foremost, that step has not yet been part of the proposal process, he said, citing information obtained through correspondence with county officials.
"That's a concern, going to the proposal stage without even having the cost benefit analysis," he said.
"I understand we need gravel, but they have to be responsible."
Residents with concerns to share who might not be able to attend the public meeting have until Aug. 16 to submit written comments to the county.
