Halton Crush Stone Ltd. (HCS) appeared before council on May 3 to seek permission to include the 10th line as part of the company’s aggregate extraction permit.
HCS acquired the pit on either side of 10th Line, south of Wellington Road 52 and north of Sideroad 10, from Dufferin Aggregates in 2014.
The company is applying for approval to extend the operation northward on either side of 10th Line and is seeking approval from council to include the 1km road allowance in the application.
Neal DeRuyter, planner for HCS, said there was significant sand and gravel resources located within that road allowance, which would be given to the town.
“As the owner of the 10th Line the Town would receive the aggregate that is located within the road allowance. Based on our initial calculations there’s about 140,000 tonnes located within the road,” said DeRuyter.
The town has had this type of agreement in the past. In 2008, the town allowed Dufferin Aggregates to extract a portion of 10th Line but the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry requested a new licence application for the road allowance. Ultimately, the company did not proceed with the application.
Currently, HCS is just seeking permission in order to move ahead with the process.
“Details in terms of the closure, the extraction, the rehabilitation all of that will be discussed at a later date,” said DeRuyter.
Councillor John Brennan, who was on council during the agreement with Dufferin Aggregates in 2008, said, “There’s a lot of opportunity to save the taxpayers a great deal of money in terms gravel acquisitions over the next number of years.”
Councillor Jeff Duncan suggested the town should be getting aggregate from the buffer zones as well.
“The extra benefit for both yourselves and the municipality is not just the roadway… on each side of that, if the road was here, you’d have a 20 to 30 metre-wide buffer you couldn’t extract from so I would say we would want half of the aggregate that’s in the buffer area,” he said.
Duncan also asked if council would have a conflict of interest if they approve this.
CAO Kathryn Ironmonger said, “Being that we are the owners of the property and you’re the custodian of the municipality and making decisions in the best interest of the community, I would assume that we do not, but that might be a question to ask our lawyer.”
Council unanimously passed a resolution to agree that HCS can include the road allowance in its pit application, but clarified the town will not made a decision on the application until it has gone through the proper procedures.
Councillor Matt Sammut declared a conflict of interest as he is lives close to the property in question.
