HomeMy WebLinkAbout74-10Report #6
LQIte. rg Pits an r s -"C
At the last meeting of the Advisory Cotn,gittee, there
was some confusion about the role we were bein,; asked to play
with regard to pit and quarry license applicati ants. There also
was expressed some concern over the way in w!:ish these applic-
ations were being handled by tite '.,,inist r,f of Natural Lesulirces.
I have written the attached letter to the Minister asking for
clarification and outlining some of m,l own views on the sub,joct.
I have taken full responsibility for these views in my letter
although I believe members of the Committee would agree with
many of the points I have raised. This letter is submLf,ted
now for information only, and I will also submit a copy of the
I4lnister's reply when it is received.
//0.
CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF NEWCASTLE
TELEPHONE 6233379
40 TEMPERANCE STREET
BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO
LlC 3A6
April 3, 1)"/)4.
Hon. Leo }fernier,
.'sinister of datllral hesr)urces,
1 %oom 6327,
Whitney block,
Queen's : ark,
Toronto, Ontario.
M7A lW3
Dear Mr. Lernier:
I am writing on behalf of ttre Pia iiiing Advis, ,)ry Comi,u ttee of
the Town of �dewcastle to make certain enquiries and oxpress certain
concerns whim some neuters of the Cor ,ii ttee have rep and ini; the
operation of the Fits and Quarries tact.
We have had submitted to our Council for its co, "sideration 17
site plans fouling part of al)plic itions for licences under the
new fits and I 'luarries Act. These 111 ,,ris v,ere refe, °red t-y Council
to its Planning Advisory Committee for examination and report.
Council -ind its Planning Advisory Coirmittee were both s )mOwriat
uncertain as to the action which tfiey were expected t,(-) take with
regard to these site plans, but ttioce members who have t,oen i.� -Votved
in Planning in Ontario for some tine have becume accustomed to
having plans submitted to them by a number of t'rovincial i,.inistries
on various occasions for tneir comments a -)d local i_,put. I think
most members assumed that a similar procedure was being ndopted,
here.
The plans with which we are ,ill most iarnil iar are, of course,
the draft plans of sui)division w�,ic'ri are to its for comment by
the Ministry Of housing. Altho>>i�,!, tiie type of land iise proposed in
the site plans we are currently receiving y, >>ir Ministry is
very di,ferent from teat proposed in plans of subdivisZon, T note
from my reading of tine Hits al,d Y tarries _pct, tli(lt under : e.,tion 6
the Minister has similar broad powers of a,prov -zl, rejection, or
adproval with conditions that apply to glans of s>)bdivision.
As planner for this municipality I have inspected a number of
the locations of the 17 site plans submitted to pis taus far. All of
these plans save one provide for the exparisiul) of e ,ista' , g operations
rather than the initiation of new un,iertakin�s. After visiting
these sites I prepared comments foz, ollr i'lu lint; idvisory Coj�lfjittee
2
(cont'd)
and for ultimate submit sion to yo,ir Ministry. These comments dealt
with matters such as:
i) removal from a pror)os °d site plan of a po-tio,i of the
site which is not yet leing mined and which is not,
zoned to permit pits and quarries,
ii) removal from a proposed site 1-,Ian of a 1)ortion of the
site which intrudes lntu lands l(,si,_n.tted "Environ-
mental Protection" in the new draft ifficial flan for
Darlington township,
iii) prohibition of grnv(,l was;iL,-rL; on a site close to a
major stream in tree lo,-ality,
iv) restriction of ace, ss to a site where some sections of
abutting roads are not sui taL1(2 for heavy tr,if fic,
v) requirement for an owner to ma'' «e i mdroven,ents to a
short secti.uii of ,unicitjal ro,, ,d wr icn i s c,irrentl y not
adey,iate for the iflcreased traffic wciich trit granting
of a license would impose.
The kinds of comments and recommendations w;iich we were preparing
would in no case have suggested or implied tt.e cic,siri dow,j of any
existing operation, nor would ti.e,, t aVc it l,r,sec1 any 1indre Orden on
any operator when the degree oi expansio-; proposed was t"IlLorr ir_tu
account. Even where the comments su�,�ested some reduction of the
future area of excavation, there was always left available a good
many years of supply at current rates of extraction.
The Committee invited t're local Pits and qu :rries 1- spector to
attend the me, ting wherein tree first group of site plans wore to be
discussed, in order that he could clarify the role we were being
asked to play. At the meeting i, ,e Inspector infc,rmed us thint our
comments were not actually wanted ,t all; what i,as wanLeo was some
kind of approval whose purpose was not exactly clpar, vie were
told that since the present apl1ications all cc) corned licences
for bits and quarries already i!r opc—ation, the liinI stry we ulc?
approve all of these site plans as sifl,ritted ;grid v ithouf, :any (,ondi-
tions other than a limit on the an ival ton is Je extracted. We were
further advised that tLis would t apPen re(,a—dles- of any comments
we chose to make.
The applications curr(,ntly being processed in this municil,ality
deal mainly with existing operations wnicrt are eittler )ermi',ted
uses under local zoning by -laws or legal nc� cot foz °ming uses l re--
dating such by-laws. Ministry officials ii this area appear to nave
been told that in these cases t'rjey have no c[ioi ce O)t to approve
these site plans uncond ltio Tally as s,ibmitted so long as trle plans
meet ti:e bare minimum rein rements of tune rict and ILeglalations.
® 3 -
(cont'd)
This seems to oe a liKtati )n wain Oe mictr;; Kqs imposed
on itseli; this reuric0 d c,ncept of to- ; ini, t is powp is not
contained in the Fits and QuarriNs Act itself. Indead l I thi nf-
most of its here understood it to be one of ti o funct suns of the
Act to overcome tr,e inadequacies of muni r ipal zonK4 >: y- W2 as
a means of controllir� surface mineral e7trocLion. Poch of the
value of tt e new Act would Oerefc;re be loJ if any application
which met zoning requirements were automatically approved.
The rehatilitation requirements in the Wt will mnrlr>ybtedly
yield many benefits to foture ;enerations, K"t I Wink shat it is
quite natural that people in local municipaii t i c ; Or"Yahout the
Province appear to be more cone, rnrd with t. o reVulation of Pits
and Quarries during their oyeratln„ y�ars t ,ati with vitirrate
rehabilitation. In many cases even toe more J"hior of our -itizens
will be quite long in the toota by Kn t iqe ultimate ranabi 1 i tat i orl
occurs, and in the wee itime many of ovr people will nave to live
with crushing and screenint, plants as their rye i_,t,wurs and witi,
gravel trucks as tnei r constant travel la n, ca span i ons for many
years.
I think that the cone rn felt here vita toe r, aviation of
existing nits and marries is also lelatimat( sigce there are many
small pits prescritly in open• do w in this municipality and the
greatest portion of the minerals extracted here over t"e next
twenty years will undogbtedly c-me iru; pits which are expansions
of existing operations ratUr twan tot• lly new "ndertaki i,s.
The purpose for which site glans are t_eing forwarded to us
remains unclear at the moment. It seemed at one point that we were
being asked merely to comment on YLctner or not those plans con-
formed to zoning requirements; nowever, toe local Cit: and Quarries
Inspector has stated that plans which do not conform to our zoning
are screened out first by the Ai nistry aid are not forwarded to
us. Those we receive Loop tnercfore alrendy beer checked for con-
formity with zoning by -laws.
At present the appearance is being; created that somt kind of
approval of t "ese site plans is w"nted but that any critical_
comments which local -people have to make arc unwanted. Prankly,
an unfortunate impression is reins liven, I hope unjustified, that
Ministry officials see themselves as working more Or too mineral.
extraction industry than for tt e public c living in tl_eiz areas.
The present methods of consultation are a rdly designed to foster
empathy between local municipalities and Ke Ministry in Torunto,
and it seems unrealistic to me to expect local officials to remain
silent on applications which, in many cases slave direct advert e
impact on their own constituents.
(cont'd)
I feel that if the Mnistry is also foro4oing a vary useful
source of information and advice if it fails to seek frank and
detailed comments from local municipalities before issuing pit
and quarry licences. Often the local plannin j staff, planning
boards, etc. are able to see wider im)licatiogs of a particular
proposal which are not always obvious to the Ministry's own staff
with their more specialized training and tale much wider areas
they nave to cover.
To return to the primary dnrduse of this enquiry, I think my
Committee would like to know the aiswers to the ioi.lowing two
questions:
1. Does the Kinistry intend to approve all site flans for
existing pits and quarries as submitted and without
conditions or are soca plans open tD sni aestioas for
modifications and conditions? We need to know this bec-
ause, if the former is t"e case, t "ero is little point
in our municipality gi.vin� detailed cunsideratioq to
these plans. I tninL yo z wiil appreciate that as a new
municipality in a new re„ron, we nave a jreat many matters
pending wnich are cryin ,.nor attention and we really
shouldn't undertake any now task unless some productive
result can ensue.
2. Is the Ministry asking the municipality for ge Feral
comments on site Awls covering w4atever aspects we think
fit, or are we being Nsked to ,confine our remarks to some
specific aspect of the application? I think our munici-
pality is ready and willing to play a part in the implem-
etation of the new Act it our active participation is
being sought.
Some of the views expressed in this letter are purely personal
and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Planning Advisory
Committee or Council of this municipality. levertheless, the
Committee are anxious to nave your advice on now tu proceed in deal-
ing with the site plans whicn are currently Leing submitted to us.
I am presenting a copy of tnis letter to the Koygittee and will
pass on your reply as soon as it is received.
Thank -you for your kind attention.
Yours very truly,
_�o 5,_ 91,10—
Ueorge F. nowden,
Plannin; Director.
GFH:dc