A proposed quarry at 111 North Diagonal Amabel, in South Bruce Peninsula, has made residents in the area unhappy and they’ve brought their concerns to town council.
One of the residents is Bill Klingenberg who says “The concerns of the residents is that it’s a below-the-water-table quarry application for aggregate purposes which means drilling, blasting and dewatering of the site.”
Klingenberg says upwards of 50,000 litres of water will be pumped off site each day.
He says when all the issues are taken into account such as environmental, traffic and operation noise, it becomes an “incompatible use with the lifestyle of North Diagonal.”
Klingenberg points out he was before council looking for support of a request that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) conduct a “peer review” of the application before any decision is made.
The MNRF will make the final decision on licensing.
Mayor Janice Jackson says other than writing a letter of concern to the MNRF, the issue is out of their hands.
Bruce County director of planning and economic development Chris LaForest also addressed council suggesting the town ask the ministry to do a more thorough review, “Particularly in relation to the impact of surface water and hydrogeology.”
LaForest calls it a fair request to make but it’s still up to the MNRF to accept the suggestion or make a decision on the quarry without a peer review.
The municipality’s letter of concern must be in the hands of ministry officials by October 23rd.
The proposed quarry would have an annual tonnage of 100,000 tonnes.
The property is on 6.6 hectares of land.
North Diagonal runs off of Highway 6 between Hepworth and Wiarton.