Councillors here speculated why a delegation from Melancthon and Mulmur Townships would be coming to another county about an official plan amendment, but they were interested enough to start gathering information about the project.
Carl Cosack is a member of the Board of North Dufferin Agricultural and Community Task Force, and he came to Mapleton to warn council about a gravel pit in the two townships that could have implications for places far away.
“In about 2006, the Highland Companies, owned by a U.S.-based hedge fund operation with offices in Boston and other major U.S. cities, began amassing land holdings in the Townships of Melancthon and Mulmur in the County of Dufferin,” Cossack said in a written statement. He told council to date the company has amassed about 8,500 acres of prime agricultural land.
“The soils on this land are specialty soils known as Honeywood silt loam, and are known for growing potatoes,” he said.
Cosack said in July of 2009 the company held a public meeting and revealed plans for a huge quarry, with extraction approximately 200 feet below the water table. It recently filed an extraction application for 2,400 acres.
He showed maps with an overlay that indicate the quarry would be larger than the town of Shelburne, and would take up a huge portion of the much larger Orangeville.
Cosack said he is approaching communities from farther afield because his board believes they will be affected by the quarry in a number of ways, including water supply.
“Melancthon and Mulmur Townships are situated on the headwaters of the Grand and Nottawasaga Rivers, which is the source water for more than one million Ontarians, including those in your community. Dufferin is referred to as the Hills of the Headwaters for a reason. We are one of the highest points of elevation in Ontario and we all know water runs downhill – in the case of the Nottawasaga and Grand Rivers, it runs downhill from us to you.”
Cosack said the company has floated a number of proposals to the public for its water management system for the quarry, including a grout wall curtain “to ensure the safety of our water, ditching around the five parcel excavation cells.”
He said the company’s plan is to “allow the water into the pit we dig and then pump it back into reintroduction wells to maintain the purity and sanctity of the water as it runs into the Pine River system. It is like a sump pump in your basement.”
He told council, “The scary part for us who live there is we have seen three different proposals.” He said that leads his group to believe, “They do not know what they are doing.”
Cosack said recently the Ontario Municipal Board turned down a similar application with a grout wall curtain that was filed by James Dick in Caledon.
He said his board has filed an official plan amendment with Melancthon to have approximately 9,000 acres in the township designated as specialty crop. To date, council has not moved on that application.
He said if the Highland Companies proposal proceeds, not only could water in the Grand River be affected, but also the provincial food supply, since all those acres would suddenly be taken out of production.
The group’s website estimates that the number of destroyed buildings has already reached over $6-million in assessment, and lost taxes that residents will have to make up.
But, Cosack noted, the big issue is water.
“The true fear of everyone is, once you dig a hole, you can’t fix it. The damage has been done,” he said.
He asked council to send letters of support to Melancthon council for the official plan designation proposed by his group.
Councillor Jim Curry noted the Ontario Federation of Agriculture is opposed to the pit, and wondered if other groups think that way.
Cosack said the application was filed only four or five days earlier, and the OFA has not stated opposition, but supports the specialty crops designation.
“It is already prime agricultural [land]. It supplies 60% of all the potatoes that enter Metro [Toronto],” Cosack said.
Mayor Bruce Whale asked if the pit is an open one. Cosack said it is.
Whale asked if the agricultural surface will be destroyed.
Cosack said, “They say they will rehab 200 feet below what is there today.”
But, he said, “It’s not going to happen. The legislation says if you go below the water table, you don’t have to rehab.”
Curry said his township can understand the group’s feelings with such a major issue.
“Our issue is wind turbines,” Curry said.
Cosack said those are already in Melancthon.
Whale asked if Cosack’s group has been in contact with the conservation authorities.
Cosack said it has “been out everywhere,” but members kept hearing nobody could do anything until the application was filed.
Cosack said the pit would be the largest in North America if all the land is used, and possibly the largest in the world.
After Cosack was finished his presentation and left, councillors wondered why he had chosen Mapleton instead of Centre Wellington Township, which has the Grand River running right through it, but they were still interested about the proposal to keep informed.
Council passed a resolution that indicated they would like to be notified of any applications filed by the Highland Companies including aggregate, zoning or official plan; and that the clerk be directed to provide a copy of the resolution to the Township of Melancthon, the Township of Mulmur, The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs and the North Dufferin Agricultural and Community Taskforce (NDACT).
One reason given was the immediate area of the proposed quarry contains a system of underground streams and rivers, as well as fragile water recharge areas, which form the headwaters of the Grand and Nottawasaga River systems, which in turn directly feed into the Great Lakes.
Council also noted that more than 190,000 people live within the Nottawasaga River watershed and more than 925,000 live within the Grand River watershed and they could be potentially impacted by the open pit limestone mine.
