Council passed a resolution to go to In-Camera session to discuss the following matters:
- Personal matters about an identifiable individual - Municipal Staff and advice subject to solicitor-client privilege regarding Private Road (One Mile Road) and Quarry Application.
After resuming from the In-Camera session, Mayor Rochefort advised that there were two resolutions that would be brought forward. One resolution was pertaining to One Mile Road. The second resolution was pertaining to the Quarry Application. Mayor Rochefort read a statement and CAO Trottier read a letter that will be sent to Pebble Beach Aggregate regarding the Application for a Class "A" licence to operate a quarry above the groundwater table by Ministry ID number: 626565.
The following is Mayor Rochefort's statement that was read at the meeting:
As was stated publicly at the last Council meeting, the Municipality does not have the authority to decide or approve in the matter of the Lavigne Road quarry license application. It is a decision of the provincial government to change the existing license from B to A. The Municipality would have more options if the application was accompanied by a zoning or Official Plan amendment request: matters that are the responsibility of a municipal government. However, in this case, because it is a long-standing operation, no Official Plan or zoning by-law amendment is required.
The Municipality is therefore on an equal footing with the residents in providing information to the government and the applicant. The question of whether Council will provide a comment was discussed by Council at our July meeting and again at tonight’s August 9th meeting. To prepare the Council for this discussion, a special public Council meeting was held a few weeks ago. For this meeting, the applicant was invited to present the project. Prior to the meeting, Council members received the full application and were therefore prepared to ask questions. Since then, Council members have had the opportunity to reflect and request additional information e.g. information pertaining to the demand and need for aggregates in our community and neighboring communities, as well information on the cost benefits of having our own source of aggregates in East Ferris.
Council has also heard from citizens, some of whom are totally opposed to the application, and some of whom are totally in favor of it. We also heard from citizens who I would define as being in the middle of the issue. My own count suggests that there are more citizens that I would position in the middle: residents who are looking for more understanding of what is involved with a quarry operation, or citizens seeking changes or modifications to the application in order to address a personal concern. And the concerns are varied: road safety, road repair and maintenance, cost to taxpayers, noise levels from industrial equipment, hours of operation, water quality, impact of blasting on wells, septic systems and home foundations, air quality and silica concerns, environmental impacts on natural habitats, setbacks, fending etc. It is good that many citizens have put their concerns in writing and submitted them to the applicant as well as with the regulator.
We also want to commend the citizens for the special information session held last week and for verbally conveying their concerns to the applicant. It was a well structured and organized meeting. It was good to witness the exchange of information between the citizens and the applicant. For those of us who stayed until the end of the meeting, I think we can all agree that the last 15 minutes of the meeting were excellent. Several times we heard the words "how can we find common ground" expressed by either the applicant or citizens.
We also heard the applicant ask residents "what would you like to see" ... as they opened the door for citizen input. On behalf of the Municipality I commend the Degagné's for their attendance at both the meeting with the Council and then with the citizens and for their willingness to listen and respond to issues and concerns. Personally I am very proud to have the Degagné group of companies as part of our community.
Marcel and Daniel's attitude at the end of last week’s meeting made us think about some articles that were forwarded to Council by Cindy Simis. These were articles about members of the Ontario Stone, Sand and Gravel Association that featured awards received by member companies. These companies were recognized for being best in class in terms of health, safety, community relations practices, etc. As an example, one of the articles featured Walker Aggregates' Orillia operations. The award summary stated, "Walker Aggregates is committed to keeping its Orillia operations safe, clean and in good standing with its neighbors. In addition, its employee safety training program, as well as road signs and vehicle beacons, help prevent incidents on its roads. At the same time, dust and noise control measures, as well as a robust complaint system, ensure that the impacts of its operations are regularly monitored and addressed. Community members are kept informed of all site activities through a newsletter. They are also invited to share their comments and concerns at a summer barbecue, holiday wine and cheese, and ongoing online and in-person interactions."
If the license application is approved in East Ferris, maybe at some point in the future we will witness this type of award directed to our quarry. It is with this wish that we now read the letter of objection from the Municipality.