Councillors here have decided to delay a decision on the possible closure of a portion of the 10th Line.
Most area residents are opposed to the idea of closing the road to allow Dufferin Aggregates and the town to access gravel located within the road right of way as well as along setbacks on the adjacent Dufferin Aggregates property.
The plan, presented by last week by Roads Superintendent Larry VanWyck, includes extracting gravel from a 466-metre section of 10th Line between Sideroad 10 and County Road 54, with both Dufferin and the town receiving the gravel taken from their respective properties.
Dufferin would be responsible for most costs, VanWyck explained, including licensing, stripping, and loading, while the town would cover costs for closing the road plus any crushing and trucking of the gravel.
VanWyck said the town would not be making the best use of the aggregate material if it did not approve the extraction. But councillors felt the town was not getting the best deal.
“We’re not getting much out of this,” councillor John Brennan said. “We’re essentially getting our gravel taken out of the ground for us and that’s all.”
Meanwhile, he added, Dufferin is getting access to over 100,000 tonnes of aggregate it otherwise would not be able to extract, and also would benefit from time and labour savings by not having to build a berm and fence (because post-extraction, the road would sit lower than the surrounding property).
“I think we need a much larger piece of the the pie,” Brennan said. He hinted the company would probably ask to extract the northern portion of the road at a later date, and also noted he wants a timeline followed if the road is to be closed.
“I’m not in favour of closing a road without an end point in sight,” Brennan said.
Dufferin Aggregate officials say it will take at least two years to extract the material in the agreement area.
Councillor Ken Chapman agreed with Brennan and suggested the town ask for a 10-acre piece of land that could be used for a possible location for a future sewage plant. Otherwise, he said, the town is not getting enough out of the deal.
Mayor Rod Finnie said while an average of just 50 cars a day use that section of the 10th Line, he thinks all of them were represented at a public meeting last month.
Originally, there was discussion about a permanent closure, Finnie explained, but residents were opposed to that idea. He asked what councillors thought about a temporary road closure, noting there has been discussion of a three-year period.
Councillor Barb Tocher told council a three-year term is an optimistic goal.
“I think we’re day dreaming if we think we’re not going to get asked for an extension,” Tocher said. She added it’s time the town and Dufferin Aggregates went “back to the bargaining table.”
Finnie agreed there has to be some sort of timeline in place. He said perhaps Dufferin could come back to the council’s next meeting on Aug. 12 with a different proposal, including more details about who rebuilds the road and also considering Chapman’s idea about a piece of land for the town.
In the meantime, the mayor said, he would meet with Dufferin, along with VanWyck and Brennan, to try to negotiate. Council was agreeable to that approach.
