Many residents from the McDougal Flats area as well as a few others from Sundre recently expressed written concerns regarding two proposed adjacent gravel pits.
Following a public open house hosted by the South McDougal Flats Area Protection Society at the McDougal Flats Community Hall, feedback gathered from 118 surveys was compiled into a comprehensive document submitted to Mountain View County officials.
The meeting was organized in response to two proposals to re-designate agricultural land near the Sundre Airport as aggregate extraction. The two separate applications for gravel pit developments are for an operation on county-owned land near the airport, as well as another application by Rolling Mix Concrete on land adjacent to the east of the airport, said county planner Dolu Mary Gonzalez.
The top concerns identified through the survey included the following: air quality and dust, 90 per cent; traffic and noise, 86 per cent; and environmental impact, 80 per cent.
Additionally, 89 per cent of those who answered the survey do not believe there is a social boon to re-designate the large parcels of land to aggregate extraction, and 72 per cent doubt the economic benefit.
"This area already has a serious problem with truck traffic through Sundre in particular ó and this will only exacerbate the problem. Neither is this compatible with developing the area as a tourist destination," reads one of the 100-plus comments compiled by the society following the public meeting.
"The information being released is insufficient for the citizens to have an informed opinion. MVC's gravel pit mania is short-sighted and ignores the economic value tourism brings to the area. If this continues, the county name will have to change to ëPit View County'," says another.
Only five per cent of those surveyed said they feel the county responds adequately to people's concerns.
"The myriad of concerns and strong opposition regarding aggregate extraction expressed by residents of the McDougal Flats area have to this point been almost entirely disregarded by county officials," states one of numerous responses.
But Mountain View County reeve and Division 4 councillor Bruce Beattie recently told the Round Up that concerned residents and property owners would have an opportunity to speak to council in October.
"Any of those concerns, council will consider them at the public hearing," said Beattie.
"We're open to all of those concerns. That's a very important part of our process," he said, adding the county is bound by regulations and procedures as outlined in the Municipal Government Act.
In accordance with the law, a public hearing is required for proposed re-designations, he said.
"We'll listen to the public's input and make a decision based on all of those factors," said Beattie.
A public hearing for the airport pit is expected to be tentatively set for county council's regular Oct. 11 meeting following first reading on Sept. 13, while the other application by Rolling Mix Concrete remained as of last week under circulation, and a public hearing has not yet been set, Gonzalez confirmed Friday.
