PUSLINCH – After several decades, the Glen Christie Quarry has come back to life.
Though still owned by the Glen Christie Company Limited, the site is now being operated by James Dick Construction.
Following a recent request by Puslinch council, the company wrote a letter to area residents about the restart of the operations at the pit, which is located near Forestell and Roszell roads.
In the letter Greg Sweetnam, executive VP of James Dick Construction, explained, “This site formerly operated as a lime plant by Domtar has been dormant for several decades. This site started crushing stone in 1904, and has been active on and off since then.”
He continued, “Blasting, crushing and shipping operations commenced in May of 2018, so you have already experienced the busy spring, summer and fall, a full operating season for our industry (winters do slow everything down).
“All truck traffic exits the site directly onto former Highway 24. No local roads are used as haul routes. All operations are confined to the lands west of the Speed River.”
Sweetnam said no water is pumped at the Glen Christie operation and no chemicals or additives are used in the production process – “We just take big stones and make them into small ones.”
He added, “Due to the lack of operations over the past decade the site had been frequented by people using the site for recreational purposes although not with the owner’s permission.”
Now that the site is reactivated, mining regulations and safety concerns require the use of both video security and security personnel to turn away unauthorized visitors.
“As we get the site in order we would be happy to host a public open house if you are interested in seeing the operation up close. We will keep you advised of this in the future,” Sweetnam wrote.
Councillor John Sepulis said in regards to an invitation to visit the operation, “I think we should do that.”
Mayor James Seeley hoped that would be after January, as council is dealing with a number of issues, including the budget.
No blasting notification
Councillor Ken Roth expressed disappointment in the letter, noting the company has been operating at the site since May, but there’s been no notification to residents about when there would be blasting.
“This is part of residents’ concerns,” said Roth.
He added he believes the company must have some schedule as to when blasting could occur, or at the very least, a schedule indicating at which hours in a day blasting can occur.
“It would be decent of them to let the neighbours know that (information),” Roth said, adding, “We certainly cannot stop them from blasting.”
Roth concluded he is “not impressed” with James Dick letter, adding the company should send a revised letter to residents to address blasting concerns.
“We owe that at least to the neighbours in the area,” he said.
Sepulis said a similar request was included in council’s previous request of the company to send a letter to area residents.
Councillor Matthew Bulmer said council might need to do some homework of its own on the matter.
“This is a fairly old licence … there may not even be a site plan or conditions of licence,” he said.
Deputy clerk Nina Lecic said staff would look into the matter.
Seeley also wanted to see a bit more clarification about operations, noting, “There may or may not be stipulations on when blasting could happen.”
He said when the original licence was issued, there may not have been as many residents living nearby.
