A public meeting last week about the expansion of a local gravel pit ended prematurely with angry residents walking out and accusing Strada Aggregates officials of name calling and verbal abuse.
Barbara Annis, founder of Concerned Residents of Erin, said she was “flabbergasted” with the way gravel pit representatives, who called the Jan. 6 information session, conducted themselves at the meeting.
“We were abused,” said Annis, who lives across the road from the pit on the 8th Line. She explained consultant Robert Long and pit manager Tom Newson at first refused to speak with about 20 residents as a group, then repeatedly dodged questions, and eventually, became very rude.
“Bob Long literally told one of the residents to shut up three or four times, and called him an ass for asking the question,” Annis said.
Several other residents at the meeting corroborated Annis’ account, including Pamela Payette, whose 10 acre property will be surrounded on three sides by the gravel pit if the 30 acre expansion goes ahead.
Payette said Strada representatives continually “beat around the bush” and exuded “attitude” in every answer. She noted Long, in particular, went too far.
“He doesn’t care because he doesn’t live there,” Payette said emotionally.
Eventually, after about 45 minutes, the residents decided to leave the meeting because of the way they were being treated, Annis said.
Long offered little information to the Advertiser reporter who arrived shortly after the residents departed, other than to say the discussion was “heated.” But he was more forthcoming in an interview three days later.
Long said one resident in particular inflamed emotions at the meeting by continually “interrupting and shouting … and it kind of degenerated from there.”
He denied calling the resident an ass.
“No, I didn’t say that,” he said. “I don’t remember saying anything like that.” Long did admit to telling the same resident to shut up, however.
“I did say that at least once and I know I shouldn’t have, but he was very persistent,” Long said.
Annis noted Newson is also not without fault.
She said when asked to comment on the issues – dust, noise, water, the environment, endangered trees, an archaeological find, and more – Newson replied the expansion would be going ahead “no matter what” because the company has found good gravel in that area.
Newson reiterated that statement in a phone interview.
“It’s already zoned for extraction,” he said.
Newson stressed the Jan. 6 meeting was intended to be an open house only and Strada went beyond its requirements by even holding the group question-and-answer period.
“We didn’t have to do that,” he said, adding it was the residents who escalated emotions at the meeting.
“You weren’t there. You didn’t see how they were acting,” Newson said.
Resident Laurie Pennie said residents remained calm for the most part, but she was shocked with what she perceived as smugness from the Strada representatives.
“They’re very cocky. They know that [the expansion] is going to happen and act like nobody has the right to fight it,” Pennie said. “They were basically laughing at people.”
Bob Long disagreed. He said the meeting “served its purpose” and noted it is not uncommon for residents to become upset when faced with a gravel pit expansion.
“They’re not always smooth, but you just accept that and move on,” he said of the information meetings.
“I’m not surprised by it and I don’t feel bad about it … if I was doing it again tonight, I’d do the same thing.”
But Long said if he had known there was going to be a group question-and-answer period, it would have been nice to have a facilitator in place to control the meeting.
Erin councillor John Brennan was present for the Jan. 6 exchange between residents and Strada representatives, and he said neither side governed themselves well.
“I heard the nasty names [Long] called you,” Brennan told a delegation of residents at a Jan. 13 council meeting. “But he was not without provocation.”
Mayor Rod Finnie also attended the information session on Jan. 6, but he was not present at the time of the heated question-and-answer period.
Finnie stressed he did not witness the discussion, but when informed of the heated exchange, he said he was surprised because he has always found Long to be “a pretty even tempered person.”
He said he personally has mixed feelings about the gravel pit expansion.
“We need gravel; it’s a licenced pit; and they might as well take out all the gravel at one site rather than having two pits,” Finnie said.
On the other hand, the mayor added, there will be “obvious disruptions” for nearby residents, so he understands why they would be upset. He said noise, dust, traffic, and water are legitimate concerns Strada must address.
While Erin council does not have any approval capacity, Finnie said councillors will likely decide whether or not to submit comments to the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) at its next meeting.
Strada filed the expansion application with the MNR in November, and a 45-day public commenting period ends on Jan. 31.
Long explained the official plan and zoning for the expansion have been in place with the county and the Town of Erin for about two decades, and the only approval needed for the expansion will come from the MNR.
In regards to residents’ concerns, Long said the pit expansion meets all legislated requirements.
“The proposal meets the provincial noise standards, but you’ll still be able to hear it,” he said.
He added nearby residents may also have to deal with some dust, but he stressed if people experience any problems as a result of that dust, Strada is responsible and will have to rectify the problem.
But for Payette, who said she suffers from sinus problems already, that assurance hardly seems adequate.
“We were told they would never gravel over there,” she said of the expansion area. She feels if the expansion goes forward it will only worsen the existing situation, which has dust blowing right over her property. She is also worried about the impact the pit will have on two ponies the family keeps on the property.
Long acknowledged both Strada and Barbour Sand and Gravel, the previous owners of the pit, may have indicated they would not expand the pit five years ago when the Payettes bought the property.
However, he said the zoning for the expansion was already in place. Also, the substantial deposit of good gravel – Strada plans to extract about 2.2 million tonnes of aggregate over four or five years – was not discovered until just last May, Long added.
He said Strada is still interested in purchasing the Payettes’ property, although during previous discussions the two sides were very far apart on an agreeable price.
Payette said Strada made just one offer last summer and gave the family just one day to consider it.
“How’s that really negotiating?” she asked.
Payette said she understands the need for gravel extraction, but having a pit completely surround her property – within just 15 metres – is a little much to handle. And the expansion will drastically lower the value of her property, she added.
Finnie said ideally the Payettes and Strada would come to an agreement for the purchase of the property, because there are legitimate concerns with that piece of land.
“I’m not sure how they’ll be resolved [otherwise],” Finnie said.
* * *
On Tuesday night Ann Holiday made a plea to council on behalf of residents.
“We ask each of you to take a stand and please oppose this expansion,” she said.
Councillor Barb Tocher asked for some time to review the report residents have prepared for council. She also suggested Strada officials be given a chance to comment on the report before council makes a decision whether or not to support the residents’ objection.
Councillor Ken Chapman suggested giving Strada questions in advance so council could make a decision at its next meeting on Jan. 27, in time to meet the MNR deadline for comments.
The rest of council agreed.
